Online Legal Advice

We are still in the development stages of the project and want to see whether the public would be interested in this type of service, and how many law firms would like to earn additional income by providing legal advice online.

As the service has not yet been released we cannot tell you too much about exactly how the system will work. What we can tell you is that the legal advice online service will allow the public to obtain advice on their legal issues with absolute transparency surrounding legal costs and will allow legal practices to provide legal advice online in their areas of expertise with a guarantee that they will get paid for that advice.

We have set out below a short summary of the benefits for the public and of the benefits for law firms.

If you are a member of the public and would be interested using this service to seek advice you can register your interest.

If you are a lawyer or law firm interested in providing advice online you can register your interest.

We will then contact you shortly prior to the release of the online portal.

The Benefits for the Public

If you have a legal question it can be raised via an online portal. There is no need to meet with or call a lawyer and there is no need to shop around for a lawyer who specialises in the relevant area of law.

Once you ask your question lawyers who know the answer will offer to answer it for you. You can then choose your lawyer. If you need follow up advice you can ask additional questions of your chosen lawyer, or you can request that another lawyer provide the follow up advice if you would prefer a second opinion.

You will know the exact price before you are charged for any legal advice that you receive. If you don’t agree to the price then you can ask another lawyer.

If your matter becomes too involved to be dealt with online and if personal contact is needed you can at that point retain a lawyer direct. You will by then have had a number of questions answered online and have built a relationship with the lawyer that you engage.

Please register your interest in the legal advice online portal.

The Benefits for Law Firms

There is no obligation to answer any legal questions that are asked. Although the questions are asked via an online portal the questions would ‘push’ to your nominated email address, so you receive questions via email and are able to offer to provide the answer.

You choose to charge for advice via this process in amounts that you consider appropriate and there is no need to provide any advice until payment has been confirmed. We process all of the payments for your firm to streamline the process.

If you are dealing with a client via the online legal advice system then you make your money by the questions that you answer via the system. As lawyers, we know that matters can become too complicated to provide continued detailed advice in this way. So that is why you and the client can agree at any stage of the process that your firm be retained direct. You will by then have built a relationship with the client and will know whether the matter is one where your firm would be interested in a direct retainer.

Please register your interest in the legal advice online portal.

Legal Referral Service

CBL also offers a legal referral service which allows us to forward enquiries that we receive in areas of law in which we do not practice to firms who practice in those areas of law. People submitting enquiries will choose the relevant area of law and CBL will forward it to lawyers registered in that area of law. It is just a way for us to send enquiries received in areas in which we do not practice to interested colleagues who may be able to assist to answer those enquiries.

Legal Agency Services

In addition to our legal referral service and legal advice online initiative CBL provides legal agency services to interstate and regional lawyers in the debt recovery proceedings, commercial litigation and in insolvency matters including bankruptcy and winding up proceedings.

We would like your input about what you would like to see offered in a legal advice online service. Please fell free to leave a comment.