“The law can be used to fight corruption, uphold race or gender rights, and create a rule book for games with unequal playing fields.”
Eitan Stern has taken law and turned it on it’s head. From assisting South Africans with new Drone Laws, to helping consumers with intellectual property… the team even appear on 5fm every Monday morning with Nick Hamman. The Mail & Guardian Top 200 Young South African is doing good and helping South Africans with a different take on law. Stern has always loved the idea of how the law could be simultaneously certain and progressive.
Motivated to study law by social justice issues in South Africa, his passion led his early career towards animal rights and consumer technology, but he finally found his professional comfort zone when he founded Legalese, a creative legal agency that redesigned the way commercial legal services were offered to musicians, creatives and start-ups — making the law accessible, understandable and affordable.
Traditionally, lawyers are called to fix problems. Legalese looks at law differently – utilizing modern technology and innovative thinking to tailor-make legal solutions that suit your business and prevent problems occurring in the first place.
Their belief is that lawyers are best used prophylactically.
“The legal profession, with the fancy suits and complex legalese, just seemed inaccessible to those who needed it most, everyday South Africans — our entrepreneurs who have an idea and are throwing everything at it to bring it to life,” Stern says.
“What I noticed was that regular people and businesses needed lawyers but weren’t using them. Many SMMEs were relying on online legal tools, calling in favours or just ignoring their legal issues.”
“Because we service start-ups, I ran Legalese like a startup — we went where there was value, fought to get into each industry in which we work and put in long hours to keep our clients happy,” he says.
Legalese looks at law differently – utilising modern technology and innovative thinking to tailor-make legal solutions that suit businesses and prevent problems occurring in the first place. Its approach to legal services comes from a mix of practice in a corporate law firm, years of experience in the South African creative sector and a background in running start-ups. In this way, Legalese speaks the language of creativity as well as that of the law.
“We are not a law firm. Do not call us when you get arrested. We are here for one thing – to take care of your business’ legal needs so you can focus on what you do best; your vision and your business.”
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Stern loves being a lawyer because so many of the world’s problems can be solved by using the law.
“The law can be used to fight corruption, uphold race or gender rights, and create a rule book for games with unequal playing fields,” he explains.
There is a power and authority in a legal solution which one struggles to find in just about anything else. Nature and fate are probably more powerful, but few of the world’s issues have been solved by, say, real estate agents.
One of the keys to the development of South Africa is the ability of our people to start businesses, create jobs, build solutions, develop culture and grow our economy. At Legalese we’re able to use the law to offer support to entrepreneurs and help turn their dreams into a practical, wellstructured reality. I love the law because of its power to get things done.”
To learn more about Legalese, click here.
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