A new system for accepting booking requests

Since yesterday, a new system for accepting booking requests has been implemented on our website. *"This system is the result of the feedbacks we have received from our clients and from the lawyers registered on our website." explains Matthieu Sarrazin, CEO of Legal Finder.

So what exactly is it all about ? "Until now, the client would fill in a booking request form. The lawyer, for his part, accepted it by clicking on a button. If the request for an appointment was made to more than one lawyer, the process added another step: the lawyer said he was "interested" and the client then had to validate which of the "interested" lawyers he preferred. Hhowever, this meant two different paths to handle from a technology perspective, and there was a lack of information on the lawyer's working conditions and billing method." says the co-founder of the LegalTech.

To remedy this, the startup therefore set up a new, unified and more comprehensive acceptance system. First of all, the client has a slightly more complete form at his disposal. He can thus specify whether he wants to start a procedure, whether a procedure has already been started, whether he wants advice or simply information, where previously only the distinction "I need a lawyer/I want information" was made.

Once the application had been submitted, the acceptance paths were unified. The lawyers (whether one or several) that the client wishes to contact receive the information on the booking request, and they can accept it, this time offering their pricing and how they wish to organise the first appointment. "It's a bit like if the lawyer was offering a fee quote, the difference being that it is only a tariff proposal that the lawyer is free to modify. It avoids the difficulties that we have seen, either on the client side, who expected to pay less or a different billing method, or on the lawyer side, where the client was no longer interested when the question of price came up." Matthieu Sarrazin details.

In the final stage, once the lawyer has offered to accept the request for an appointment and indicated, if he so wished, his pricing, the client must validate the proposal made. "This second intervention by the client, to validate the whole, was only present in collective requests before. We have noticed that some customers, once the appointment request has been submitted, end up changing their mind. This additional validation by the client thus makes it possible to avoid the lawyer being billed if the client has changed his or her mind between the request and the lawyer's position on it. Because with this new system, the lawyer is only invoiced once the client validates everything, i.e. not only his request but also the lawyer's tariff proposal." continues the startup manager.

This ensures a bit more the seriousness of the booking requests submitted on the Legal Finder website, and allow the lawyer to start the relationship with an idea of the benefit he will be able to get from it. Matthieu Sarrazin concludes as follows: "We do not expect this new system to revolutionise our matching system. But we anticipate stronger and more interesting relationships for both parties, which is and remains our main priority.".