Online legal advice
Online legal advice is a newer form of legal advice in which the client communicates exclusively or mainly via the Internet with a lawyer (e.g. a lawyer ). The same professional regulations apply to online legal advice as to classic legal advice.
The citizen or company seeking legal advice receives legal advice without having to speak to the lawyer over the phone or in person. This can save time and (travel) costs.
To what extent the costs for online legal advice are to be reimbursed by the opponent or by the legal protection insurance is still unclear in the details. In the case of legal expenses insurance, this can be clarified in advance with an inquiry. The type of online legal advice, which can vary widely, should also be decisive.
In the meantime, some legal protection insurers have switched to providing their own online legal advice (or via telephone hotlines). The professional law problem of the possible difference between the legal enforcement interests of the advised policyholder and the cost interests of the legal protection insurer as (possibly the only or main) client arises for the advising lawyer.
For the lawyer, online legal advice is a way of attracting clients outside of his office. The liberalization of the legal advice market is forcing lawyers to market themselves more strongly.
Due to the legal confidentiality obligation , the difficult to answer question arises as to which security standards or encryption techniques are to be used. These questions are not specifically related to online legal advice.
Types of online legal advice
- Online law firm or complete mandate processing
There are lawyers who - according to their own advertising - specialize in online legal advice and handle the entire mandate through their Internet presence. The file is kept electronically and can be viewed online.
A distinction must be made here between pure advisory mandates - possibly with the creation of a draft contract - and legal work, which is expressed externally through letters, pleadings to the court, etc.
- Legal advice
These Internet pages are limited to providing the visitor with initial orientation. If further action is necessary and promising, the person seeking legal advice must then contact a lawyer directly. This can also be a lawyer from the relevant Internet portal.
If the legal seeker hires another lawyer, the question arises to what extent the costs for the online legal advice are reimbursable. There is no established case law on this yet.
Some of these Internet pages put the questions asked on the Internet in such a way that they can be read by anyone. Again a part of this also publishes the answers. This can have the advantage that the visitor can get a better impression of the mandate processing or of the activities on the site. On the other hand, there are conflicts with the lawyers' duty of confidentiality. In addition, this approach has a positive effect on search engines and reduces the inhibition threshold of users.
Some websites try to get around this by anonymizing the questions. Here the bland aftertaste remains that the lawyer may not be able to recognize legally significant aspects that would result from the details if they were communicated.
For some pages, the number of questions allowed is limited. From the attorney's point of view, this serves to reduce costs and to train the client to discipline. From the client's point of view, money may have been paid in the end, although the actual question was not answered due to misunderstandings.
In relation to Germany, the question arises to what extent the Legal Services Act (RDG) can be undermined by online legal advice provided from abroad. In 2006, the Federal Court of Justice ruled that the admissibility of a legal service provided from abroad, which affects the regulations of the legal relationship between parties resident in Germany, was to be assessed according to the Legal Advice Act (RBerG) of the time.
- Online legal documents
Some sites offer online legal documents such as a contract , power of attorney , job reference or similar documents of a private or company law nature. On these pages, the user creates the corresponding document via virtual dialogue with the provider's software instead of speaking to a lawyer or notary. These pages are therefore to be distinguished from pages with online legal advice.
Web links
- Ulrike Schattenmann: The lawyer comes with a click of the mouse . In: Berliner Zeitung . July 31, 1998.
- Christopher Hahn: Sleeping billion market Legal help from the Internet . In: Focus . February 8, 2015.
- Christopher Hahn: LegalTech is booming: Legal advice is moving to the Internet . In: Focus . 23rd August 2016.
- Catalog of links on the subject of online legal advice at curlie.org (formerly DMOZ )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kleine-Cosack: Legal Services Act , CF Müller (Hüthig Jehle Rehm Publishing Group), 2014, ISBN 978-3-8114-6039-3 . P. 45 ff. And p. 97
- ^ BGH, judgment of October 5, 2006, AZ: I ZR 7/04
