Set Up Your Workspace in a Few Questions

No two practices look alike. A litigator appearing before the High Court, an in-house counsel reviewing agreements, and a student preparing for a moot problem all need different things from a legal research tool on day one. A short questionnaire after sign-up now shapes your workspace around the work you actually do.

What changed

When you create a new account, Niyam asks a few focused questions before taking you to your workspace. Your answers personalise what you encounter first — the jurisdiction defaults, the practice areas surfaced in research, and the starting prompts shown in drafting all reflect what you told us about your work rather than a generic starting point.

The questionnaire covers four things:

• Your role: advocate, in-house counsel, law student, or litigant.
• The areas of law you work in most, such as criminal, civil, taxation, company law, or family law.
• Your primary jurisdiction and the courts you appear before or follow most closely.
• Whether your work leans more toward research, drafting, or both.

How to use it

1. Sign up and confirm your email address.
2. The questionnaire appears immediately after your first login. Each question takes a few seconds to answer.
3. Select the options that best fit your practice. Every question can be skipped if you prefer to explore freely.
4. Niyam uses your answers to set sensible defaults — your home court, the practice areas surfaced first in research, and the kinds of prompts shown in the launchpad.
5. You land in a workspace that already reflects your work rather than a blank slate waiting to be configured from scratch.

Why it matters

The first few minutes with any tool decide whether it feels like it belongs in your workflow or like it was built for someone else. A lawyer practising tax before the Delhi High Court should not have to wade through defaults that assume criminal litigation. The questionnaire means Niyam can surface the right things from the start, so your first search or first draft feels familiar rather than foreign.

It also makes the launchpad more useful. The first-steps guidance shown after onboarding is informed by what you said about your work, so the suggested starting points connect to tasks you are likely to actually perform. An advocate preparing for hearings sees different prompts than a student working through a moot problem or an in-house counsel reviewing a supply agreement.

The goal is not to predict everything about how you work. It is to reduce the gap between opening Niyam and doing something genuinely useful. A small amount of context gathered at the start saves configuration time later and makes the workspace feel right sooner.

Good to know

• Every answer is optional. You can skip the entire questionnaire and go straight to your workspace.
• Nothing here is permanent. You can revisit and update your answers at any time from Settings.
• The questionnaire runs once, on first login for new accounts. Existing accounts are not affected.
• Your answers personalise your experience within Niyam and are not shared externally or used for any purpose outside shaping your workspace defaults.
• If you practise across multiple jurisdictions or areas of law, choose the ones that account for most of your work. Any setting can be adjusted later.