Legal ‘Airbnb’ launches online

The service will be a platform on which clients will be able to search for registered lawyers who match their descript needs, allowing for the best possible match between client and solicitor.

Lawyers on Demand was created by Berwin Leighton Paisner in 2007 as part of the firm, before becoming an independent venture in 2012, although BLP remains the majority shareholder.

Co-founder Simon Harper thinks that the platform will sign up around 500 solicitors and barristers once it goes live in July. Preliminary registration has already opened at www.spoke.law, and Harper expects the majority of client users to be in-house teams who want some part time expertise in a particular fee.

Lawyers will be charging their own rates, and all the service does is make sure that a fee is agreed. Registration for the service will be free.   

“Spoke signals another stage in the new law evolution,” Harper concluded. “The big law firm was one way for lawyers to work that grew out of the 20th century. Spoke is about harnessing what the 21st century has to offer.”