Dostupný advokát is the law firm of the year 2023

Groundbreaking award for online advocacy services

The organisers of the Lawyers and Business Awards have recognised the pioneering approach to legal service delivery that Accessible Lawyer offers, as well as the openness in sharing performance data.

Our legal service delivery is based on a number of core pillars, which are: online client interaction, transparent pricing policy and enforcement of fixed rates, substantial speed improvements in the delivery of legal services, immediate client feedback and the use of modern technology.

“We consider the award to be a major breakthrough in the history of Czech advocacy. A few years ago, the provision of legal services online seemed like a utopia. For some, the idea was even ridiculous. But we believed that having easy access to a lawyer meant an open path to law and justice for everyone. For us, the title of Retail Law Firm of the Year means that our innovation in providing legal services is beginning to be appreciated by the traditionally conservative legal community. In our opinion, this is a major breakthrough in the perception of how legal services should and could be provided,” says Ondřej Preuss, founder of Dostupný advokát.

Zakladatelé Ondřej Preuss a Jaroslav Baier přebírají cenu (foto v článku A11, Daniel Hromada)

“The essence of our service is the deployment of modern technologies that allow us to break down barriers between attorney and client. In three clicks an order is placed and the site then guides the client through a secure online system. The problem of administration is eliminated and the order is efficiently proceeded straight to. The matter is then handled online by an experienced and specialized attorney who resolves it quickly,” adds Ondřej Preuss.

We are seeing an increase in both visitors and sales

Last year, the revenues of Available Advocate increased by 20% to CZK 15 million. More than 90% of client requests are resolved by the Accessible Advocate team within two days. Thanks to the provision of online legal services, DA services are also increasingly used by Czechs living abroad, with almost 10% of all requests from outside the Czech Republic in 2022, including Seychelles, the USA, the Netherlands, the UK, Ukraine, Germany and India.

The www.dostupnyadvokat.cz website was visited by more than 100,000 users every month in 2022, 40% more than in 2021, which, among other things, makes it one of the three most visited legal media in the Czech Republic. DA’s team of ten experienced attorneys and legal specialists handled nearly 3,000 legal cases throughout the year.

Bringing key innovations

The key innovations brought by the Accessible Lawyer that will have an increasingly strong impact on the legal services market in the country:

• Transparent pricing and the promotion of fixed rates for resolving a task at the expense of the traditional hourly rate. This is a fundamentally unique model, as most attorneys still charge on an hourly basis;
• deployment of technology (a unique system that eliminates paperwork);
• pressure to increase speed in the delivery of legal services (speed is and will be one of the most important competitive advantages);
• stronger impact of feedback from (primarily dissatisfied) clients – it is very easy to express a complaint or just throw a “hate”, this leads to pressure for good communication and strengthens the quality of the service provided, as any negative feedback expressed typically on Google or FCB has the potential to deter many others – potential customers);
• increased competition (one “national” market for legal services is created, which has so far been the case only to a limited extent, as B2C legal services are mainly provided locally – the business of lawyers works on referrals);
• high specialisation and expertise of lawyers;
• making legal services cheaper (with increased deployment of technology and further automation, the overall price of already quite cheap legal services will become even cheaper, e.g. because a lot of primarily administrative work is no longer done by humans but by artificial intelligence).

The accessible lawyer uses the online environment for the provision of legal services in an innovative way so that the client can get advice quickly and efficiently on everyday issues relating to real estate, family, employment, business, criminal and other types of law.

For more information on this year’s awards, please visit the Lawyers and Business website.