It’s an offer hard to refuse. “Give us money and be recognised as a top startup, top law firm” etc. 

I get these offers once in a while, of course, like everybody else in the industry. I have always ignored them. As an entrepreneur, there was a time when I wanted all the publicity I could get. I would do anything to get my product before buyers and my company, before potential partners and investors. Soon I understood the workings of many awards, journals and “top 50” or “top 100” lists. They always wanted the same thing: my money in exchange of their recognition.

Now while I wanted recognition, I also knew that if I had to pay for it, the recognition was probably not real and wouldn’t last. Over time, I even learned the value of quietly and consistently focussing on building what you want to build, instead of expending your energy on getting the spotlight. The 15 minutes of fame doesn’t give you any lasting satisfaction, competitive advantage or new clients.

Check that. About clients… that part I am not sure about. Maybe you can get clients. Fake and paid ‘B-school’ or law school ranks exist because they serve a demand. They would have ceased to exist many years back if there was no money to be made. In reality, they survive because there are those vulnerable students who believe the fake rankings and hand over their precious money to those colleges. This perpetuates the fake rankings.

What about the evidently-paid “Top Legal Service Provider” listings or “Startup of the Year” award? Of course, they have a market too. There must be clients out there who will get impressed by that listing or award. Clearly, from the growing number of such awards and listings, it’s obvious there is a demand for such things and money to be made. This scam is to defraud hapless clients, because no proper legal practitioner would take these seriously.

My intention with this article is very clear: to expose this fraud. If you come across one like this, please expose that one too.

So here is what happened.

On June 14, I got an email with this in subject line: “iPleaders.in among Top 25 Legal consultants of the Year 2016”. The mail stated the following:

Hello Mr. Ramanuj,

I am Soumya, Marketing manager for Siliconindia Magazine. Siliconindia Magazine is a 18 Years old business and technology magazine which reaches to all CEOs, CIOs, Entrepreneurs and CXO group people.

Siliconindia Magazine is coming up with it’s most awaited review on “Top 25 Legal consultants of the Year 2016” in the month of July. This issue will be a collective edition, where we will feature the best “25 Legal consultants”. Here we are going to speak about your company, Key legal advisers, success story, client review etc.

Siliconindia glad to invite “iPleaders.in” to be a part of this global special issue, where we will speak about your services as well as the success story.

Circulation Details:

• The Total circulation of the magazine is 95,000 copies which will reach India and US.
• The Magazine will reach to all MNCs and SME’s.
• The core readership of Siliconindia magazine is CIOs,CTOs,CXOs, Entrepreneurs, Directors etc.

Note: We also have premium coverage options like “Legal Company of the Year” and “Cover story”.

Please do let me know your interest in this special issue, so that I can share further details on the same.

Regards,
Soumya,
Siliconindia magazine
[Phone number redacted]

Funny thing is that iPleaders.in is not even a legal consultant. It’s an online legal education business. I knew this was another scam and being as busy as I am with running two start-ups and one not-for-profit (actually, just trying to learn how to run them), I chose to ignore the mail. That would have been the end of it normally.

Not this time. This mail showed up a few days later:

Hello Mr. Ramanuj,

Hope you are doing good. Please consider this as a gentle reminder for the below mail on Top 25 Legal consultants of the Year 2016, which is an annual edition by Siliconindia Magazine.

This issue will be a collective edition, where we will feature the best “25 Legal consultants”.

Please do let me  know about your interest so that I can share you a complete proposal on the same. Looking forward to have a quick reply.

This time, intrigued and a little shocked by how brashly these people are following up on their cold call, I chose to reply with this: “Go ahead, please share the proposal.”

Guess what they sent me? A proposal to pay for coverage and to be included in the list. Here is the text of the soliciting mail.

Hello Mr. Ramanuj,

Thanks for your revert. Please find the below complete proposal on Top 25 Legal consultants of the Year 2016:

Deliveries:
1. Inclusion of “iPleaders.in” in “Top 25 Legal consultants of the Year 2016” listing .
2. One Full page of content in the magazine about your company, which will be designed by our editorial team after having an interview with CEO.
3. Same Profile will be promoted in Siliconindia Website as E-Magazine.
4. Recognition certificate for the title.

Sponsorship: Rs. 30,000/- only.(Not Negotiable)

This is a great opportunity for iPleaders.in to reach out the major industry leaders in India, which may increase your business in many ways. As there are only few slots, try to take a quick decision before your competitors will take.

Looking forward to hear from you.

Regards,
Soumya,
[Phone number redacted]

At this point, I was curious if they are approaching only businesses that have been around for a while or just about anyone. iPleaders is a relatively-known name, has been around for a while and been written about in the media to an extent. It also has large number of followers and supporters on social media as we have been talking about law on social media for years now. Siliconindia could have made an honest (although very stupid) mistake when they approached iPleaders to be included in Top 25 legal Consultants.

To figure out whether the ‘offer’ was financially-motivated, I sent a counterproposal to Siliconindia. We’d launched a start-up called ClikLawyer.com. Hardly anyone knew about it outside a group of trusted friends and family who have been beta testing it or giving us initial matters to figure out. If Siliconindia would be willing to include ClikLawyer.com in exchange for money, which would clearly establish this was a scam.

So I sent the following reply:

Can you cover ClikLawyer.com instead of iPleaders.in? ClikLawyer is our legal startup, iPleaders is an education business actually.

In nine minutes, I got a reply.

Hello Mr. Ramanuj,

Sure we can do it for ClikLawyer.com

I understand that everyone — lawyers, start-ups and publishers — wants to make a quick buck. There is demand and supply. However, who is paying for it? Is it in long-term interest of either lawyers or publishers? What about the consumers?

The legal marketplace is already really screwed. There is no easy way to distinguish the really capable lawyers from the ones who are hot balloons, pumped up by fake publicity like this. This is also a challenge in the way of common people, including an average entrepreneur who’s dreaming big.
It is time we stop tolerating this kind of nonsense and prevent the market environment from becoming even more distorted. I invite the publisher (whose name I recognise, so they can be called a brand) to stop engaging in this shady business of paid lists and rankings.

I hope this article will be a small step in calling out this nonsense. Please share it with your friends to create awareness against false lists and rankings.