Unless you have very specific taste in romantic partners, the words “Tinder” and “lawyer” are unlikely to go together as an immediate word association. A new app hopes to change that, though. No, it’s not about finding you love with a litigator or amore with an attorney, but rather using the same matching process you’d most commonly find in a dating app, and applying it to the task of pairing up lawyers and clients for the perfect match.
The concept is simple: You download the iOS or Android app and then post a description of the work you’re hoping to have carried out. Your request will then be passed on to attorneys in the appropriate practice area and geographical location. You hear back only from those lawyers who are interested in taking things to the next level. You can also research the attorney profiles on the site to help you evaluate the best match, see how others have rated each attorney, and use the app’s searchable attorney directory to investigate further.
“[Legal Services Link] is solving two very serious problems,” CEO Matthew Horn told Digital Trends. “First, finding and hiring the perfect attorney is an intimidating and time-consuming process for many, and most don’t know where to start. That results in most people not having their legal needs fulfilled, which, in many cases, has lasting consequences. Second, even those that do try and have their legal needs fulfilled quickly realize that legal help is prohibitively expensive. Our platform addresses both of those issues.”
Most of us don’t necessarily know enough to make an informed choice about who to hire — and since lawyers may charge a fixed hourly rate regardless of what they do, it might not be in their interests to inform you that you could get the same service elsewhere for less cash. This app hopes to right that wrong by making the process more transparent when you pick between a younger attorney who charges flat fees and a pricier, more experienced one who charges $500 per hour. “It’s all about providing options, and much like dating, there’s someone out there for everyone,” Horn said. “This platform just makes finding that perfect someone that much easier.”
It’s definitely an interesting idea — and one that could potentially shake up an industry that’s already being disrupted by technology like artificial intelligence. After all, in a world where robot lawyers are helping thousands of people, why shouldn’t finding the right (human) lawyer be just a smartphone swipe away?
