
I'm a lawyer; AMA.
As the title suggests, I'm a lawyer and good at what I do. Haven't got anything better to do, so AMA.
Very happy to assist startups and young businesses as well!
Talking product sense with Ridhi
9 min AI interview5 questions

What are some lesser known Indian laws that are actually useful in day to day scenario ?

This is very very open ended, I could perhaps give you a lot of tips in general, but one useful thing to know would be, in Common Civil Law (basically civil law ie non criminal law) "jaisa chal raha hai, waisa chalne do" is sort of a legal principle, so if something has been allowed to go on for a set number of years (different time for different things) it has to be continue.
For example - If you've ever been to old Delhi, or in certain rural or old establishments, there are certain path ways that literally go right through the middle of private property. Today, the owner's of the private property can't shut down the pathways. Another example would be, say you've lived in your house for 20 years and your terrace has always been flooded with sunlight, now your neighbour can't suddenly decide to reconstruct his house or add another floor on top of the house in a way that prevents sunlight from falling on to your roof the same exact way. They're called easementary rights.
If you've lived in a property rent free for 12 years, you can't suddenly be asked to pay rent and can lay legal claim of ownership under Adverse Possession.

@JadeArgent Oh wow, I didn't know this

What kind of legal loopholes have you used in your web3 org?

That's confidential :3

Fine then, keep your secrets ;)
Another question: Do companies consult their lawyers before threatening people that they'll take legal action against them?
I have seen non-tech folks representing their orgs threatening to take legal action if X doesn't fix or implement a feature in a FOSS project ASAP. Sounds dumb right? We usually laugh it off but I'm curious what happens at the orgs end to say stuff like that.
Like are in-house legal teams an afterthought? Let's fuck around & find out, then consult legal if we land in trouble?

What is the common opinion of legal community on AI taking over their jobs? Drafting, Consultation and stuff Any decline in business?

I'm not sure what my fellow lawyers would say about this, but I'd say it's the same as graduating from looking up cases and precedent in huge books to Googling case laws. Did it lead to a decline in the number of researchers?
I don't think AI is a threat to the legal community at all. There are a lot of subjective complexities that go into even the simplest of cases. For example, suppose Nestlรฉ Chocolates was to ask AI what would be the best taxation strategy for them, AI would tell them to cook their books a certain way or avail rebates under schemes, but, I believe only a human would be able to come up with a strategy of filing taxes as a waffer biscuit, instead of a chocolate
90% of a lawyer's job is to understand the crux of the matter on their own, something which AI can't do, it relies on you to feed it all the information and trust me, no client can articulate every variable that well.
I think AI does make for a good paralegal, you can have simple basic drafts and it can be a good research tool, but that's it. If anything, if opens up more avenues for jobs! I'm technically a Web 3 lawyer!

I have this opinion about AI in general, they're not as advanced or as big a threat as we're thinking of them today
I don't think it'll be able to give you an adequate consultation or opinion on anything. Not just legal, but ask it's opinion on any subject you've got knowledge on, I don't think it'll give you an accurate solution

Whatโs a cost effective way to draft terms and conditions, refund policy, privacy policy etc for your startup? Iโm currently YOLOโing it with ChatGPT.

Following this question!

Hit me up on TG! (Same username)
It really depends on the kind of business and jurisdiction. If you have a good understanding of what you need to comply with and how your T&C should be, by all means, use Chat GPT, but if you don't, as I mentioned in another comment, an AI software can not tell you what kind of clauses you need to comply with for PDPL or GDPR, etc
T&C, especially refund policies can act as a HUGE safeguard for your company, especially in a non - Indian scenario, so... DM, bro! I'm VERY cost efficient ๐

Any legal law or worker or state employee code available , to not serve company 30 or 60 or 90 days notice period without payins & and now a days companies are deducting salary on day to day basis for work not done eg. - https://share.gvine.app/fJFCSi2yvPwHPz6a9
Toxic Remote Policy
On 4th para you may find content of salary deduction, any law's around that?

No law around that
No one can force you to serve notice periods and payins is something that really depends the language of your employment contract and the behaviour of your company. Most of such clauses have been held to be invalid in the past (including non competes etc) The most a company can do is ask you to pay or work up to what they've spent on you (basically fulfill your training cost)
No law about tracking softwares either, the guy can take the issue to court

Sorry , missed out some points, like tag of absconding and not getting release/experience letter if notice period not served, only way i have know of is health emergency in this situation. Thanks for replying.

How many companies actually take action against employees that:
- moonlight
- abscond
- join competitors (non compete)
And succeed?

Look, I hate to quote Ashneer Grover, but the legal costs of pursuing you in court for any of these things would be more than your salary
Companies usually opt for non legal methods of action against moonlighting - such as firing the employee
As for absconding, there isn't any law against it, the most they could sue you for would be any supposed cost of training you or spent in the anticipation of your hiring, but, again, it's an extremely difficult civil suit to pursue
Non competes are not valid in India, you have a fundamental right to free trade (with reasonable restrictions as imposed by the State)
Mostly, companies might just bad mouth you or refuse to issue you fnf or experience letter on time and harass you, which, technically, is grounds for you to sue them, but then again, cost benefit analysis

Thanks for the response

Is live-in same as marriage saw some news recently that govt will treat it same as marriage. Also how to tackle 498A if itโs put on you whatโs the best way to prove that entire relationship was under consent? What are the proofs that i must keep so be safe

Live in relationships enjoy certain protections that marriage does including the child potentially inheriting property, the application of domestic violence act, etc.
However, two people in a live - in don't enjoy the same sanctity in marriage (as of now, but I see it evolving generally, internationally, it's called Common Law Marriage) like spousal privilege or being each other's legal heirs, agents, nominees, etc
As for 498A, that's a tricky one, any criminal proceeding depends highly on the facts and you need to tackle them accordingly.
Try and make sure your conversations over text include the girl explicitly consenting in multiple situations. If your relationship includes physical intimacy, try and discuss the various acts you're comfortable with over text. If she consents to oral sex but you go for anal (which she doesn't consent to) that's rape too. Keep communication open and flowing.
Look, as much as this scares men, the real possibility and statistics of women falsely accusing men is very very low. I'd really recommend to be with a woman who understands what casual relationships are, employ the same tactics a woman would to ascertain if the guy's a psycho.
A woman coming from a conservative family or environment may still enjoy the benefit of doubt, but the court has repeatedly held modern day dating and breakups can't be held to the same standard as rape or sexual offences.

So I need to maintain a conversation with the partner over texts that I have. Can I get some sort of legal document where the girlโs consent is written what she is entitled to if the relationship doesnโt lead to marriage. Currently iโm dating someone I trust her she trusts me too and I think this might lead to marriage. But I like to be protected what document or anything that I can have with her so that we both are protected from any future inconveniences that might arise due to sourness if it happens. The issue is Iโm dating a fairly young model she plans to retire from her gigs in coming months and become a home-maker for our parents and help them in daily activities. Is there something that I can do to guard her future as well as both out parents?

Does trust fund work in India? I see US reels of trust funds where they talk about transferring your assets to trust funds and let you access it. So in case of divorce you don't have to share assets and in case of untimely death, can be given to beneficiaries?

Trust funds exist in India, and while you may be able to employ some covert tactics to hide your wealth, in Indian legal system you can't use such methods to escape your legal liabilities
So, if Hakimi was indian and after his divorce, went to court and said "But, judge, I own nothing, it's all my mom" the judge would laugh and say "Nice try, now give your wife the maintenance she's entitled to"
Due to join families and mostly shared properties, it's difficult to demarcate individual assets from family assets. Even if the house is in one person's name, or main income earner is another person, the concept of Hindu Undivided Family and shared family property comes into picture.
Its a little too complicated to explain over a simple message, but the crux of the matter is, in India, justice is given more importance. Also, just FYI, it's not just the wife that can ask for maintenance, but parents, kids and husband as well

Understood about maintenance but will assets be also divided? And what if I become an NRI? Can my assets in India be considered while settlement in foreign country (assume Canada) or vice versa?

Hey, I'm a 23y/o college grad running my first company. I am trying to figure out how to make airtight contracts with international clients which can be enforced legally incase of any issues.
Also taxes are so bad and legalities around everything is so complicated ๐

Find a friendly, young lawyer who understands exactly the situation you are in and has experience dealing with a lot of international clients. I know a great one, TG JadeArgent ๐
In all seriousness, in my field there are a lot of young people running businesses and neglect legalities that come to bite them in the ass, it's best to have a legal person to help along. This guy I work with says, first time founders always neglect legal and finance; second time founders make sure to allocate like 20% of the budget to legal and finance

It's actually all not that complicated, just have a word with a competent person! (emphasis TG JadeArgent)