One of my clients recently had a case which I am explaining below and if you are stuck in such similar situation, here is what to do.
Note: Due to attorney-client privilege, I cannot disclose complete case details or identify the actual parties involved. However, I am sharing the essential facts and legal approach so that if you find yourself in a similar situation, you can understand the available solutions and legal remedies.
TL;DR: An online legal consultation can be a reasonable first step. It tells you roughly what kind of problem you have. It is not a substitute for an advocate who actually practises in the court where your matter will be heard, and for anything contested it can cost you time you do not have.
Nikhil Deshpande runs a small distribution business out of Pune. In early March 2025, a dispute with a former business associate went from awkward to serious, and the paperwork began piling up. He did what most people do first. He went online.
A legal services portal came up at the top of the search results. He paid the consultation charge and filled in the form. Thirty hours later a reply landed: two short paragraphs, a template demand notice, and a link to the next paid stage. Nobody had read the underlying agreement. Nobody asked which court would hear the matter, or where the limitation clock stood. A fortnight went by.
Only one version of these events is available here, and it is the client's.
He then approached the Chamber of Advocate Sudhir Rao. The first sitting ran differently, with the papers read page by page and the question of forum settled before anyone argued merits. Advocate Sudhir Rao's experience with this category of commercial dispute, and the procedural steps that go with it, helped secure the order in the client's favour. The portal had not been dishonest
The portal had not been dishonest, only generic. It answered the question in the box, not the one sitting in the file.
Two paragraphs, one template notice, and a link to the next paid stage. The fortnight was gone before anyone sat down to work out where the matter would actually be heard.
Key facts, as they appear on the file
- A commercial dispute with a former business associate, which escalated in early March 2025.
- An online legal consultation bought from a legal services portal, after filling in a form.
- A reply about thirty hours later: two short paragraphs and a template demand notice.
- Nobody at the portal read the underlying agreement.
- No one identified the correct forum, or examined where the limitation period stood.
- Roughly a fortnight passed before an advocate's chamber was approached.
- This is the client's account. The other side has not been heard, and the agreement has not been tested.
Is an online legal consultation enough for a business dispute?
Usually not on its own, and the reason is narrow. A paid written reply can tell you what kind of claim you appear to have. What it typically cannot do is settle the three things that decide whether the claim survives at all: the forum, the limitation clock, and what your own contract says.
Forum comes first
Which court hears a commercial dispute depends on where the defendant carries on business, where the cause of action arose, and the value of the claim. If the agreement contains an arbitration clause, the court route is largely closed and the dispute goes to arbitration — the early court step, if any, is an application for interim protection under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. Where the suit does lie in a civil court, commercial suits of this kind go before a Commercial Court under the Commercial Courts Act, 2015, and Section 12A of that Act requires pre-institution mediation unless urgent interim relief is sought.
An advice service that never saw the agreement cannot know any of this, and no amount of careful drafting of a demand notice cures a wrong forum.
Limitation is the clock you cannot argue with
For most contractual and money claims, the Limitation Act, 1963 allows three years from the date the contract was broken or the debt became due. Three years sounds roomy. It is not, once correspondence, notice periods and listing dates are counted. Which date starts the clock is a question in itself — depending on the facts it may run from the breach, from a part payment, or from a written acknowledgement of the debt.
Some claims are far shorter. Cheque dishonour, for instance, has its own and much tighter timelines. If you are anywhere near the end of the period, treat it as urgent today.
The contract decides more than the merits do
Notice clauses, jurisdiction clauses, arbitration clauses, and what was actually agreed about delivery, payment and default. In the file described above, none of this had been read by the time advice was given.
What a portal reply is genuinely good for
It is not useless. It works reasonably well as an early sanity check on what kind of problem you have, as a second opinion on a narrow question where you already know the forum, and as a quick read on whether the paper you have been handed is a summons, a notice or a demand. It costs less in time than travelling to a chamber for an opinion you may not need.
One thing to keep in mind: communications with an advocate carry privilege. How far that protection reaches a commercial intermediary running a portal, and the staff who process your uploads, is not something to assume. Keep sensitive documents back until you are dealing with the advocate directly.
What happens first when the papers reach an advocate
The first sitting is reading, not arguing. The agreement is read page by page, the documents are listed in date order, the cause of action and the relief are identified, the forum is fixed, and limitation is checked against each possible claim. Only then does the question of a notice, or of interim relief, arise.
On a file with a contract and correspondence, that first sitting usually takes one appointment. If urgent protection is needed, the paperwork has to be ready before filing rather than after, and that compresses the timeline sharply.
The honest position on facts like these: the value of the claim, the exact terms agreed, and whether an arbitration clause exists determine whether there is anything to argue, and where. Nobody — portal or advocate — can tell you that without seeing the agreement. On some files there is very little to work with. Better to hear that early.
If you have already paid a portal and lost time
- Do not send a template notice merely because you paid for it. A badly framed notice can lock you into a position, or start a clock you did not intend to start.
- Pull out the agreement and every email, in date order, in their original form.
- Check whether the other side has already moved — a reply, a notice of their own, or a filing you have not seen.
- Write the limitation date into a diary now, with the reasoning behind it.
- Show the portal's reply to whoever takes over. It is part of the record, not an embarrassment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are online legal consultations by advocates permitted in India?
Advising a client remotely is not barred. What advocates cannot do is advertise or solicit work. The practical difficulty is different: the person who writes the reply may not be the advocate who appears for you, and may not practise in the court where your matter would be heard. Ask who is giving the advice, and where they practise.
How much time do I have to file?
For most contract and money claims, three years under the Limitation Act, 1963, running from a date that depends on the facts. Some claims are shorter. If you are close to the end of the period, or unsure when it began, get the papers seen before you do anything else.
What should I bring to a first meeting?
The agreement in the form you signed it, with annexures. Invoices, ledger entries or bank statements showing the money. The full email and messaging thread, exported rather than screenshotted. Any notice sent or received, with the date of receipt. And a short note, four or five lines, of what happened in order.
What if the dispute also has a criminal angle?
If what happened includes an allegation of cheating or criminal breach of trust, the matter moves into the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, with procedure under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, and electronic records and their proof governed by the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. Whether a business dispute is a civil claim, a criminal complaint, or both is a judgement on the facts. A template notice built for civil recovery does nothing for that side of the problem.
Can I just send a legal notice myself?
You can. Whether it helps depends on whether it states the right claim, to the right person, with a correct deadline for compliance. A notice that ignores the notice clause in your own agreement, or is addressed to a firm rather than the person who signed, gives the other side an easy reason to push it aside. It also tells them, quite clearly, that no advocate is behind you.
What to do next if you are in this position
Do not send anything today. Do not pay for another stage on the same portal because the offer expires at midnight. Gather the agreement, the correspondence and any notice you have received, in the form you received them, and get the file read once, properly.
If you want that done here, send the following to me@sudhirrao.com or through /contact-us:
- A photograph or PDF of the agreement, complete, including annexures and any schedule of payments.
- Any notice sent or received, with the date it was received — the envelope, the email header, or the date stamp on a courier slip.
- Invoices, ledger entries or bank statements for the sums in question.
- Four or five lines, in your own words, saying what happened and in what order. Do not tidy it up.
That is enough to tell you whether there is a claim, which forum it belongs in, and how much time is left. Appointments can be booked through /book. For anything already before a court or a police station, say so in the first line of your mail.
Chamber of Advocate Sudhir Rao, Lawyers' Chamber, Chamber No. 86, Supreme Court of India, New Delhi 110001. Phone +91 97295 06771. Criminal defence, cyber crime and economic offences. Matrimonial matters are handled by Adv. Jyoti Rao, Bar Council of Delhi D/891/2023.
One last thing, and it is the part people skip. Nothing in a written reply from a portal or from this chamber takes the place of an advocate instructed on your papers, in your matter, in the court where it will be heard.
This is general information about Indian law and procedure. It is not legal advice on your own situation, and reading it does not create an advocate-client relationship.
Advocate Sudhir Rao, Supreme Court of India