Juraxx
juraXX Rechtsanwälte is a trademark of the Dortmund lawyer Eugen Boss. A law firm called juraXX Eugen Boss Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH is the first attempt in Germany to offer legal advice and representation at discount prices with a large branch network. The first branch in the Ruhr area opened in 2003. At the time of its marriage, the company operated 34 nationwide branches and was the first national law firm in Germany to be forced to file for bankruptcy . The opening of the insolvency proceedings was initiated in June 2007. The company is admitted to the bar in the Hamm Higher Regional Court .
concept
JuraXX was a regular law firm that offered the full range of legal activities. In contrast to conventional law firms, however, the individual branches had a uniform design to promote recognition at all locations. Access to legal services should be more transparent and the inhibition threshold to seek legal advice should be reduced. For this purpose, shops close to the city center were selected for the juraXX branches, which were easily accessible on foot and which could be visited without having to make an appointment beforehand; there were externally recognizable price notices with the average costs of an initial consultation in selected areas of law. Legal advice and representation was usually provided by the responsible lawyer on site, but legal advice could also be given by telephone or online (by email). On-site lawyers with knowledge of at least the core legal areas of labor law, traffic law, criminal law, tenancy law, family law and general civil and administrative law should be available. Knowledge going beyond this should be able to be used through supra-local exchange.
JuraXX was considered a " discounter " among lawyers and acquired this reputation through an advertising campaign in which it was advertised with inexpensive initial advice from € 20.
CEO and founder
- Senior partner (majority shareholder) and management: Lawyer Eugen Boss
- Co-founder and business strategist: Oliver Kupper (today Oliver von Ameln)
concept
The concept did not envisage the employment of young lawyers, but the direct entry of young lawyers as partners in the large law firm. The new partner concluded a so-called juraXX Partnership agreement and undertook to grant juraXX a partner loan of € 50,000; In return, the company undertook to pay the attorney a minimum monthly amount of 1,667.00 euros ("withdrawal") from the partner loan (the payout amount being continuously reduced by the fee commission earned by the attorney), as long as the commission from fee sales received this minimum amount not reached and as long as the loan granted has not been used up. In the first branches, the partners were no longer absorbed in this on average after 1½ - 2 years. Withdrawals instructed. This system was later accused of having used the partner loans of the new lawyers to cover ongoing losses due to the poor economic situation since mid-2006, the concept being a “fraudulent pyramid scheme”.
JuraXX provided new lawyers with an office including office equipment, participation in the so-called juraXX network and a centralized administration and dunning department as well as IT support.
development
Development from 2003 to 2006
The company juraXX Eugen Boss Rechtsanwalts-GmbH was founded in 2003 with its headquarters in Dortmund-Hörde (Faßstrasse). The first branch was opened in October 2003 directly at the Stadttheater (Hansastraße) in downtown Dortmund, and the second branch opened in Lünen (Münsterstraße) in the same month. At the beginning of 2004, further new openings followed in the Rhine / Ruhr area (e.g. Bochum, Essen, Hagen, Recklinghausen). In October 2004 the branch opened in Würzburg , in September 2004 the branch opened in Lübeck . The Cologne branch followed in March 2005 and the Berlin branch in April 2005 . In May 2005 the head office moved within Dortmund. Two complete office floors were rented in the HDI insurance building on Märkische Strasse. The branch opening in Munich followed in November 2005 and the branch opening in Frankfurt am Main in December 2005 . In January 2006 the company became a cooperation partner of the television station JobTV24 and from March 2006 tax advice was also offered throughout Germany. There were cooperation agreements with ARAG (legal expenses insurer ) and DEKRA. At the end of 2006, the chain already had 33 branches with a total - according to its own estimates - around 300 jobs.
Crisis from summer 2006
An auditing company commissioned in summer 2006 predicted that JuraXX would exceed the current account line in September 2006 . The reason for this forecast was the assessment that the investments required for the concept and the withdrawals made would no longer be covered by the expected fees and the loans of the new lawyers. By the end of 2006, two insolvency applications had been fought off. The loans received by new shareholders were used to cover existing liabilities, and business practice began to resemble a so-called pyramid scheme. After the monthly remittance to the lawyers involved stalled from the beginning of 2007 and the rent for 29 branches was not paid from March / April 2007, the lawyers involved began to give notice. Sales (2006 € 6.5 million) collapsed. In April 2007, a consulting company certified juraXX GmbH as having a life-threatening crisis. When Amtsgericht Dortmund bankruptcy applications filed with the public prosecutor Dortmund are investigations into against the founder Mr. Boss and four other shareholders fraud and Insolvenzverschleppung added.
On June 4, 2007, Boss presented a restructuring concept. This envisages the conversion into a franchise system . The individual branches are to work independently and transfer 5% of the respective sales to JuraXX. The company headquarters should only be responsible for financial accounting and the computer network. However, the vast majority of shareholders refused.
As a result of the application for insolvency, the Dortmund District Court appointed a preliminary insolvency administrator on June 26, 2007. Shortly thereafter, the company had only 18 branches and 65 lawyers. Seven of the branches were taken over by the lawyers working there. It is to be expected that the Hamm Bar Association will shortly withdraw juraXX GmbH's approval as a law firm due to the uncertain financial situation.
On September 1, 2007, the bankruptcy proceedings were opened.
The domain juraxx.de, which was temporarily inaccessible from November 2007, now redirects to the website of a Bavarian individual lawyer.
Several of those former branches were taken over by the respective lawyers. Two, one in Essen and one in Bochum, still carry the "juraXX Rechtsanwälte" brand today.
criticism
The concept of the chain was initially criticized as a discount concept, especially by the lawyers' associations. It would be a form of dubious price dumping, which would ultimately affect the quality of advice. In contrast, JuraXX points out that these are entry-level offers. The clear pricing should clearly explain to the clients what the legal advice would cost. In February 2007, Stiftung Warentest announced that an employee working for its magazine Finanztest went to a sample in six JuraXX branches, each with a problem on tenancy law and one on internet sales. According to the Stiftung Warentest, the lawyers should not have taken current case law into account and neglected a significant demand in tenancy law. JuraXX could not comment on this without releasing it from the obligation of confidentiality .
Since summer 2006, the financial difficulties of juraXX GmbH have been known internally through an expert report. Despite this fact (or perhaps because of it), JuraXX continued to hire lawyers, presumably to pay off outstanding debts with the partner loan. Since newly recruited young lawyers were not informed about the financial situation during the interview, some of them filed charges of fraud from December 2006 onwards , as they not only gave JuraXX loans, but also assumed its security costs . In the event of impending insolvency, this would mean that external outstanding liabilities were settled before internal ones, i.e. with the loan.
In a press release, JuraXX described the press coverage as "caused by partners who do not consider their economic expectations to be met". This should try to exert pressure.
Individual evidence
- ↑ rescue for law discounter Juraxx , Handelsblatt July 4, 2007
- ↑ http://www.wiwo.de/unternehmen-maerkte/vorlaeufiges-insolvenzverfahren-bei-kanzleikette-juraxx-227924/
- ↑ a b Corinna Budras: "Lawyers discounter pulls the rip cord", FAZ from August 12, p. 14 ( Corinna Budras, Law Firms: Lawyers discounter pulls the rip cord , FAZ from August 12, 2007 ).
- ↑ a b c Katrin Schmiedekampf / Christine Zerwes, Legal advice without registration , Financial Times Deutschland of May 22, 2007 ( Memento of September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b Andreas Kurz, More Bad Than Right , Financial Times Deutschland July 1, 2007 ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Andreas Kurz, More Bad Than Right , Financial Times Deutschland June 1, 2007 ( Memento of September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Andreas Kurz, With Empty Hands , Financial Times Deutschland of June 5, 2007 ( Memento of July 31, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ a b Dortmund District Court, file number 257 IN 67/07, http://www.insolvenzbekanntmachungen.de/
- ↑ juraxx.com, accessed on 29 June 2007
- ↑ juraxx.com, accessed on 29 June 2007
- ↑ a b Court starts insolvency proceedings against Juraxx , Financial Times Deutschland from June 26, 2007 ( Memento from June 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Nataly Bleuel, Aldi lawyers - your right to bargain prices , Stern.de of October 13, 2004
- ↑ Stiftung Warentest: Lawyer Search - Finding the Right One In: Finanztest 03/2007
- ^ Corinna Budras, Difficulties with the Billiganwalt , FAZ from June 1, 2007