When New York City lawyer Sachin Gadh started his law practice, he wanted to be there for his clients when they needed him. In fact, he wanted to put himself right on their mobile phones. So he developed an app to do just that. He calls it Gadh.

Gadh is an app for iPhones that gives clients direct, ongoing access to Gadh the lawyer. (I’ll call the human Gadh by his first name, Sachin.) Anyone can download the app and get one question answered free. But if they choose to pay a $19.99 monthly retainer and become Gadh’s clients, then they can use the app for:

  • Unlimited chat with Sachin. He will answer texts within 2-24 hours.
  • One 15-minute call or video call per month. The call can be scheduled and conducted via the app.
  • Evidence upload, for sending Sachin documents, images and videos.

In addition, if a client should need immediate, on-site help, the app’s “My Lawyer is Coming” feature lets the client send a GPS location and request immediate help. For the lawyer’s physical visit, the client will be charged $100. (Sachin says he does not handle DUIs or include those in this service.)

The app can be downloaded from the iTunes store. An Android version is in development. The Gadh App website provides more details about the app and how it works.

For now, the app is proprietary to Sachin’s practice. However, he plans eventually to market custom versions of the app to other lawyers to use in their practices. Before he does that, he wants to use it for awhile himself and make sure everything is running smoothly.

“I always thought the lawyer/client relationship was archaic, always emails and phone calls,” Sachin told me. “This puts the lawyer on an app for the client, and it makes it simpler for the lawyer too, because it’s all on one device.”

Sachin believes the target users for this app are lower- to middle-income people who do not have access to a retained lawyer. “There are a lot of people making $50-$80 grand who have questions but no one to give them answers.”

Sachin released the app Nov. 15 and said it has been downloaded by more than 60 people so far, some of whom are now paying the monthly retainer.

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.