No commission for client mediation

In Germany, so-called “legal tech” models have been spreading for years. An IT company equipped with legal background knowledge selects a typical mass case (be it an aircraft delay or the diesel scandal), prepares all the templates for processing the mandate and develops a well-advertised “landing” website to acquire mandates. The only thing missing at the end is the lawyer, who has to pay a fee for arranging the finished mandate and taking over all the samples.

This system has worked well so far and from the point of view of the editors of our Newsletter it sounds like a WIN-WIN-WIN situation; the developer earns, the lawyer, who earns more with standardized cases than with individual cases, also has advantages, and the client also has advantages; he then finds a lawyer who has considerable experience in the matter.

The BGH has put a stop to this business model for the time being (judgement of 18.4.2024 IX ZR 89/23). It saw a commission model in the so-called geblitzt.de case (the clients here were speeding offenders) and referred to Section 49 b (3) of the Federal Lawyers' Act. According to this provision, the payment of a portion of fees for the brokerage of assignments is simply inadmissible.

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