We believe in making South Africa’s
the story of pop.law
In early 2020, Claire woke up to a message on Instagram. It was Sinal, taking a leap of faith. One spontaneous brunch later and Sinal’s hunch was proved right: that our stars might just perfectly align. When we met, Claire was designing a web app to help people navigate the legal aspects of death; Sinal was running a lower cost legal consultancy. In our different ways, we were trying to solve the same problem - access to justice. It wasn’t long before we realised that our unique combination of inside knowledge and outside perspective combine perfectly for us to “do law differently”. We work at the intersection of law and design. And so, on the first day of South Africa’s national lockdown, pop.law started.
The people who make pop.law happen
Claire Keet Pollock
co-founder
Claire's story
Claire’s varied career is woven together by the use of design as a powerful tool to solve problems for people - meaningfully and distinctively. Not one to fit into any shape, least of all a box, Claire’s entrepreneurial pursuit began as a fresh out of university 23 year old somewhere in South Korea. Since then, she has designed and run businesses across the Design, Wellness, Sex and Legal industries for the past decade.
Lean Startup Methodology is the framework she adopts to bring business ideas to life, being a firm believer that it’s always better to go full steam on something that might fail than not trying at all or waiting for ‘everything to be perfect’. The only exception to this rule, of course, being her perfectly made bed.
Claire believes in getting things done herself, regardless if anyone else believes she has the qualifications to do so. It comes as no surprise then, that she co-founded pop.law in 2020, with the ambition to democratise access to legal help through the design of legal products, services and content that breaks down barriers - without having spent a single day studying the law. She has been recognised for her efforts as the only non-lawyer listed as one of the Mail & Guardian’s 200 young people for 2020 in the Justice & Law category. She is also an Allan Gray Orbis Foundation Mentor, and uses her vast experience in the entrepreneurial ecosystem to advise and guide young entrepreneurs on a similar path.
Sinal Govender
co-founder
Sinal's Story
Growing frustrated by living her life one billable hour to the next, Sinal left her job as a Senior Associate at one of the world's largest law firms in 2017 to start delivering legal services on her own terms. She is equally passionate and committed to use technology as a tool to change the socio-economic landscape of South Africa.
This journey lead to her starting her first fixed cost legal consultancy a few weeks after walking out of her glam Sandton office. She has since worked with a legal-tech company based out of London, an ed-tech maths NGO here in South Africa, and walked the start-up path with many other entrepreneurs as their legal advisor. She co-founded her latest tech venture, pop.law, in 2020.
Sinal’s only goal in life is to be the most ethical person she knows (and she knows a lot of people). An integral part of this pursuit is to make sure that she always uses her talent, knowledge and resources to make things easier for the people she works with. She has always enjoyed learning from younger people, and has taken an active interest in developing young minds since she lead the team at the Lexden Leadership School whilst still at university. Sinal is currently an advisor to the OLICO Maths Foundation, as well as a mentor and coach with the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation.
Pam Padayachee
virtual assistant
Pam's Story
Pam brings over 20 years in the legal industry to the pop.law team. She has worked with some of South Africa’s leading lawyers, fastidiously behind the scenes, to ensure that nothing short of exceptional service is delivered to clients.
Pam believes that order and creativity can co-exist harmoniously, as well as in making things happen on her own terms. She has proved this through her own growing VA start-up, as well as self-publishing her own adult colouring book.
Nomsa Maswera
intern
Nomsa's Story
Of her own accord, Nomsa found us through social media, and was the first university student to reach out to us. Our souls smiled when we read Nomsa’s email and saw that, like us, she is passionate and committed to making the law more accessible to people.
Nomsa has known since her second year of university that law, as it is, desperately needs to change. Notwithstanding her age, Nomsa is already acutely aware of how the law intersects with all aspects of life. She is currently gaining practical experience with our team to see how the law can be done differently, in order to ensure that the law is seen as a help, not a hindrance.