Franchise Awards 2020

Not surprisingly, the top results to find a lawyer on Google are “owned” by big law firms with thanks to their bank roll.. It’s nice and simple if your a large corporation looking for a giant firm to represent you. But how do individual lawyers get any face time or exposure for the years they studied to specialise in their field. And more importantly how do people who really need them find them? An inherently intimidating obstacle that individuals face is transparency. There is no information about lawyers quality of work or history of success.. in fact theres not even a comprehensible billing system in-place. Overall, the lack of information about lawyers’ skills and experience makes it is almost impossible for us to choose a lawyer online. Lawyerup, a Tech Start-up is taking on the legal industry and will face every major law firm in the UK. Awarded by Google as “the next start-up to watch”, it could be a total game changer to the way we find, hire and rely on lawyers. The founder and CEO Sonia Gurtata, recently named Top 100 Women in Social Enterprise in Europe, inspiringly designed the technology to solve the industry’s grand challenge. Lawyerup captured the interest of Google, Barclays Law Tech Lab & the prestigious UK Law Society. Senior officials of these impressive Giants now make up the company’s Board of Advisors, contributing to the development of what we believe is the future of Legal Tech. So what does the future look like? www.lawyer-up.co.uk You’re guaranteed to find lawyers for whatever you need and can check out their profiles which show you their hourly rates, reviews and expertise. Plus, a super cool feature; their map shows which lawyers are Online so you can message them. The smart technology they’re using to democratise the industry is a ‘dual- release escrow’ payment. So what does that mean? You deposit the fee online for your lawyer to do your work, once you receive the work and are satisfied, you release their fee to them. This will have huge implications to the obligations for lawyers quality of work. It seriously increases client satisfaction, and equally, lawyers have the certainty that they will get paid before commencing case work. What’s more, to be able to build lawyers a notable reputation for their work is something which has been seriously lacking in public domain. Using reviews to rate the quality of work and communication will hugely accelerate careers for upcoming solicitors. And with merit to the anonymous and objective nature of the site, Lawyerup diminishes any cultural biases. In today’s world, equal access to lawyers should be considered a human right as it improves people’s livelihood, secures individual’s basic needs such as healthcare, financial aid, employment rights, protection from domestic abuse, among others. As the pandemic hit, Lawyerup expedited their development to be able to launch in-time to help people most in need of legal support. What we really like about Lawyerup is their team is committed to this. They have pledged a fund toward pro-bono cases where people can explain their problems and apply for support. Yes, Wills have increased by 76% this year.. understandably, which translates to an increase in a lot of revenue, but that’s not the type of cases we’re talking about. They’ve utilised a percentage of profits to aid abuse, mental health care, and discrimination cases which increased 10% in the past year alone and have committed to funding R&D each year. In less than a year, this small start-up has rocketed by facilitating over £1Million+ transactions, helping hundreds of clients, and registering 35,000+ lawyers. With a current company valuation of £7.5Million, they will have an outsize positive impact on the UK economy and put purchasing power back in people’s control. We are proud to name Lawyerup as “The Best Online Lawyer to Client Network”. This award recognises companies that demonstrate excellence in legal technology. Company: Lawyerup Website: www.lawyer-up.co.uk What does the future of Legal Tech look like? Answer: Lawyerup They say you need a lawyer 3 times in your life: Buying a house, drafting a business agreement, and writing your Will. So why is it so difficult? 95% of people search for lawyers online and only 5% of people actually hire them. Using technology to progress the legal industry is long-overdue, but have we finally found a solution? Jan21341 “We wanted to have affordable & experienced lawyers who reply quickly and actually care about getting great results for their clients.” - Sonia Gurtata, Founder & CEO