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Klarlaw — Participation Terms for Lawyers

Version 2.1 · effective 9 October 2026. For lawyers who accepted version 2.0, it applies from 9 November 2026.

Operator: Oscar Rojas, sole trader, Alt-Mariendorf 50, 12107 Berlin, Germany ("Deep Insights") · lawyers@klarlaw.de

1. What Klarlaw is

1.1 Klarlaw operates klarlaw.de, an online platform that passes requests from people seeking legal help to lawyers admitted in Germany. Klarlaw decides which client groups, languages and practice areas it serves, and may change them. Klarlaw is not a law firm, provides no legal services, and is not a party to any mandate.

1.2 These terms govern your participation as a lawyer. You participate as an independent professional; these terms create no employment, agency or partnership. If you join on behalf of your firm, the firm is the contracting party and pays the fee; the account remains personal to you.

1.3 Your own terms and conditions do not apply, even if Klarlaw does not object to them.

2. Who can participate

2.1 You confirm that you are admitted as a Rechtsanwalt or Rechtsanwältin in Germany, insured against professional liability as required by law, and able to advise and correspond in each language listed in your profile.

2.2 You keep your profile accurate (contact details, the practice areas you work in yourself, languages) and tell Klarlaw without delay if your admission is suspended or withdrawn or your insurance lapses. Klarlaw may ask for proof of admission and insurance at any time. Your participation is paused until the proof is provided or your admission or insurance is restored.

2.3 Your account is personal to you. Your staff may use it on your behalf, and you are responsible for them; no other lawyer may use it. Every lawyer who wants to receive requests needs their own account. Once a client has instructed you or your firm, colleagues in your firm may work on that mandate.

2.4 Automated access. You may use software, scripts, browser extensions or AI agents to work with your Klarlaw account — for example to read your request list, receive notifications, or keep and export your case files — provided this does not impair the platform or other lawyers' use of it. Every decision to take a request, however, must be made personally by you or by an authorised member of your staff acting under your responsibility, for that individual request, after reviewing it. You do not take requests automatically, whether by software, by an AI agent or by rules applied without individual review. You are responsible for every action taken from your account. Klarlaw may restrict automated access that burdens the platform, and may treat the automated taking of requests as a breach of these terms (clauses 7.6 and 8.4).

3. What Klarlaw provides

3.1 Included features. The fee covers the following, and only the following:

• Requests: client requests in your practice areas and languages, each with a summary, sent to all participating lawyers in that area at the same time, with no ranking or selection between lawyers;
• Notifications: email alerts for new requests;
• Taking a request: the client's contact details once you take it;
• Case file: one case file per case you take, with notes, documents, contact records, updates shared with the client, and export as PDF and as a ZIP file with every document;
• Lawyer portal: your request list, your cases and your profile.

Requests are made available simultaneously to all participating lawyers matching the relevant practice area and language. Klarlaw does not rank participating lawyers. The first lawyer to take a request receives the client's contact details, after which the request is no longer available to other lawyers.

3.2 Other features. Anything not listed in clause 3.1 is not covered by the fee. Klarlaw may offer further features, services or plans separately for an additional fee — for example tools for clients who did not come to you through Klarlaw, or connections to other software. You decide whether to buy them, and the included features remain available for the fee without them. No paid extra gives anyone earlier, priority or exclusive access to requests.

3.3 Development. Klarlaw may improve, modify or replace included features provided that their material functionality for the lawyer is not substantially reduced.

3.4 Klarlaw does not guarantee any number of requests, their quality, or that a mandate or income follows. Klarlaw grants nobody exclusivity, priority or earlier access. Klarlaw may show clients advertising for other services, including partners such as legal-tech providers, for a fixed fee per advertisement that does not depend on how many clients respond. Klarlaw accepts no payment for referring clients to anyone, and passes client data to a partner only with the client's consent.

3.5 AI-generated summaries are organisational aids. Your own professional assessment prevails.

3.6 Klarlaw runs the platform with reasonable care but does not guarantee uninterrupted availability. Planned maintenance is announced in advance where possible.

3.7 Klarlaw may use Sentry to detect software errors. If it does, case descriptions, documents, correspondence, contact details, credentials and personal links are filtered out before anything is transmitted.

3.8 Advertising. The platform is not ad-free. Klarlaw may show labelled advertising for its own and other companies' products and services anywhere on the platform, including the lawyer portal. Advertising never affects which requests you receive, when, or in what order. Klarlaw sends you advertising by email only where the law allows it, for example with your consent.

3.9 Data access. You receive the information shown in requests made available to you and, once you take a request, the client contact details and the data contained in your case file. Klarlaw also processes account, request, contact and usage data as described in these terms and its Privacy Policy. You do not receive data relating to requests taken by other lawyers or other lawyers' accounts. When participation ends, your access to new requests ends, but you may export your existing case files for 30 days in accordance with clause 8.5.

3.10 Equal treatment. Klarlaw does not provide legal services in competition with participating lawyers and does not give its own or partners' services preferential access to client requests.

4. Fees

4.1 The fee is €69.90 per month per lawyer account. Founding lawyers pay 50% (clause 5). Klarlaw currently charges no VAT under the small-business rule (§ 19 UStG). If Klarlaw becomes liable for VAT, including after a transfer under clause 12.1, VAT is added to the fee at the statutory rate.

4.2 The fee is a flat platform fee. It does not depend on how many requests you receive or take, on contact with clients, on whether a mandate arises, or on its value or outcome. Klarlaw charges nothing per case and receives no share of your fees.

4.3 Klarlaw invoices monthly in advance by email. Instead, you may choose to pay each 12-month term in advance in one invoice; you then pay 11 monthly fees for the 12 months (one month free). You can switch between monthly and yearly payment for the next term by telling Klarlaw before it begins. Invoices are due within 14 days. If the contract ends early through no fault of yours, Klarlaw refunds one twelfth of the prepaid amount for each full month left.

4.4 If an invoice remains unpaid 14 days after a reminder, Klarlaw may pause new requests to you until it is paid; the fee remains due during the pause. You keep access to the cases you have taken and to your case files. If two monthly fees are unpaid, or a yearly invoice remains unpaid 30 days after it was due, Klarlaw may terminate for cause (clause 8.4).

4.5 You may set off, or withhold payment, only on the basis of claims that are undisputed or legally established.

4.6 Klarlaw may change the fee for the next term by notice in text form at least two months before the current term ends. You can then cancel with effect at the end of the current term (clause 8.1). Founding lawyers continue to pay 50% of the new fee.

4.7 Referral credits. Klarlaw may grant fee credits, for example when a lawyer you recommend becomes a paying participant. Klarlaw publishes the conditions on the platform and may change or end the programme for the future; credits already granted remain. Credits only reduce your fee: they cannot be paid out or transferred, and they lapse when your participation ends. Credits never depend on requests, cases or mandates, and never give earlier, priority or exclusive access to requests.

5. Founding lawyers

5.1 The first ten lawyers to join Klarlaw ("founding lawyers") pay 50% of the applicable fee for as long as their founding status continues under this clause 5.

5.2 The discount is personal. It does not pass to colleagues, to a firm's other accounts, or to a successor, and founding status ends when your participation ends.

5.3 Founding status lapses if, after Klarlaw has told you in text form that it will lapse, you open none of the requests Klarlaw sends you in the following 60 days. Your participation continues at the full fee, and Klarlaw may offer the founding place to another lawyer.

5.4 For lawyers who participated as founding lawyers on 2 October 2026, founding status will not lapse under clause 5.3 solely as a result of inactivity.

6. Requests and client data — no resale

6.1 Requests and client data are confidential. You use them only to decide whether to take a request and to handle the cases you have taken.

6.2 You do not sell, license, broker or otherwise pass on requests, their summaries, or client contact details to anyone else — other lawyers and firms included — whether for payment or free of charge. This applies to requests you have taken as well; only a mandate may be shared within your firm under clause 2.3. Taking a request in order to pass it on is a breach of this clause. You do not use client data to build a database or for any purpose other than the request itself.

6.3 If you cannot handle a case you have taken, you release it on the case page so another participating lawyer can take it. You refer the client to another lawyer only at the client's own request and without any benefit in return.

6.4 You do not contact clients whose requests you have not taken, use request data for marketing, or keep data from requests you have not taken.

6.5 For each culpable breach of clause 6.2, Klarlaw may determine a reasonable contractual penalty of up to €5,000. In determining the amount, Klarlaw will take into account in particular the seriousness and duration of the breach, the scope and sensitivity of the data concerned, any commercial benefit obtained, any previous breach, and the consequences for Klarlaw and the affected client. The amount may be reviewed by the competent court. Multiple breaches arising from the same course of conduct will be taken into account together when determining the penalty. Further damages may be claimed, with any contractual penalty paid credited against them. Klarlaw may also terminate for cause under clause 8.4.

7. Your commitments to clients

7.1 Free first consultation. For each case you take, you offer the client a first consultation of 15–30 minutes free of charge, by phone or video.

7.2 Contact within 48 hours. You make a first contact attempt within 48 hours of taking a case (weekends and public holidays extend this), using the client's stated availability where practicable. If the client cannot be reached, you record this on the case page.

7.3 Take only what you will handle. You take a request only if you genuinely intend to handle it. If, after a reminder, you have neither made contact nor responded within a further 48 hours, Klarlaw may return the case so another lawyer can take it. Klarlaw may limit how many cases you hold without confirmed contact.

7.4 Professional duties remain yours. Conflict checks, scope of engagement, fee agreements (including a clear quote before paid work begins), confidentiality and all duties under BRAO and RVG are your responsibility alone.

7.5 Client feedback. Klarlaw asks clients whether contact took place. Repeated client-reported non-contact (as a guide, three cases within 30 days) may lead Klarlaw to pause new requests to you or to terminate for cause (clause 8.4). A pause does not change the fee.

7.6 Reasons. Whenever Klarlaw restricts, suspends or terminates your participation, Klarlaw will provide you with the reasons in text form in accordance with applicable law. Where prior notice is required, Klarlaw will give that notice before the measure takes effect. You may respond to lawyers@klarlaw.de. The same address takes any complaint about the platform.

8. Term and termination

8.1 Your participation and a paid term of 12 months start when Klarlaw activates your account (for the launch offer, see clause 8.2) or, if you participated under earlier terms, on the date in your order. The term renews for a further 12 months each time unless either party cancels at least 30 days before it ends.

8.2 Launch offer. This offer is temporary: it applies only to accounts that Klarlaw activates by 3 October 2027. For those accounts the first 14 days are free. Unless you cancel during the free 14 days, the paid 12-month term begins automatically when they end. You can cancel at any time during the free 14 days, and nothing is owed. Klarlaw reminds you by email at least seven days before the free period ends. The offer does not apply to lawyers who participated under earlier terms.

8.3 Cancellation and notices require text form; an email to lawyers@klarlaw.de is enough.

8.4 Either party may terminate for cause without notice, stating the reasons. Cause for Klarlaw includes in particular a breach of clause 6, loss of admission, two unpaid monthly fees, or repeated non-contact under clause 7.5 after a warning. If Klarlaw terminates for a reason you are responsible for, Klarlaw may claim the fees for the rest of the term as damages, less the costs it saves, and you may not rejoin through another account. Otherwise fees end on the termination date and fees paid for later periods are refunded.

8.5 When participation ends, you handle or release the cases you have taken (clause 7.3), and you can export your case files for 30 days. Clauses 6, 7.4 and 9 continue to apply.

9. Client relationship and liability

9.1 The mandate exists only between you and the client, and you set your own fees. Klarlaw is not liable for your legal services, for clients' conduct or solvency, or for the outcome of any matter.

9.2 Klarlaw is liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, for injury to life, body or health, and under the Product Liability Act. For slight negligence, Klarlaw is liable only for breach of essential contractual obligations — those that make proper performance of the contract possible and on which you may rely — and only for damage that is foreseeable and typical for this contract, up to €5,000 per claim.

9.3 You indemnify Klarlaw against claims by clients or other third parties arising from your legal services or from your breach of these terms, including reasonable defence costs, unless you are not at fault.

10. Data protection and confidentiality

10.1 For requests and client contact details, you and Klarlaw are each independent controllers under the GDPR.

10.2 For content you store in case files, Klarlaw processes data on your behalf under the data processing agreement and the confidentiality undertaking under § 43e BRAO in Annex 1, which form part of these terms.

11. Changes to these terms

11.1 Klarlaw may change these terms for the future where there is a valid reason, such as a change in law or a new platform feature, by notice in text form at least 30 days in advance. Klarlaw will allow a longer notice period where required by applicable law, including where a change reasonably requires participating lawyers to make significant technical or commercial adaptations. Changes will not apply retroactively unless permitted by law. If you object before the effective date, you may terminate with effect from that date at no cost.

11.2 The fee and the term change only under clause 4.6 or with your agreement. The included features in clause 3.1 are not removed without your agreement; clause 3.3 remains unaffected.

12. Final provisions

12.1 Klarlaw may transfer this contract, together with all rights and obligations under it, to a company that continues to operate the Klarlaw platform, including a UG or GmbH established for that purpose or a purchaser of the platform. You consent to such a transfer in advance. Klarlaw will notify you in text form at least 30 days before the transfer takes effect. The transferee assumes all obligations owed to you under this contract, and your existing terms, fee and any founding discount will continue unchanged. If Oscar Rojas does not directly or indirectly control the transferee, you may terminate the contract with effect from the date of transfer.

12.2 German law applies. If you are a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law, the place of jurisdiction is Berlin.

12.3 If a provision is invalid, the rest of these terms remains effective.

Annex 1 — Data processing and confidentiality (Art. 28 GDPR, § 43e BRAO)

This annex forms part of the participation terms. For case content it prevails over them.

A1. What it covers. Klarlaw processes on your behalf the notes, documents and updates that you, your staff or your client add to the case file of a case you have taken ("case content"). The case file opens for case content once your client has agreed to its use (client terms, section 4a); Klarlaw records that consent. If you release a case, its case content stays with your matter and is not shown to the next lawyer. The purpose is to store case content, show it to you and, where you share it, to your client, notify the other side of new entries by email, and produce PDF exports. The data subjects are your clients and anyone named in case content. The data is whatever is put into the case file, and may include special categories of personal data (Art. 9 GDPR) and data on criminal offences (Art. 10 GDPR). This annex applies for as long as Klarlaw holds case content.

A2. What it does not cover. Klarlaw remains the controller for client requests before they are taken, for accounts, for billing, and for the fact and date of contact records, which it uses under clause 7 of the terms.

A3. Your instructions. Klarlaw processes case content only on your documented instructions. These terms, and your use of the platform's functions, are those instructions. If EU or German law requires other processing, Klarlaw tells you first unless the law forbids it. Klarlaw tells you without delay if it believes an instruction infringes data protection law. Klarlaw does not use case content for its own purposes and does not pass it on except under this annex. AI processing of case content takes place only where the lawyer actively enables or uses the relevant AI feature.

A4. Confidentiality.

• Klarlaw keeps confidential all secrets that it learns from case content or otherwise in connection with your mandates.
• Klarlaw obtains knowledge of case content only as far as necessary to provide the service, for example to fix a fault or answer a support request you make.
• Klarlaw has been informed that, as a person assisting in a lawyer's professional work, it is liable to criminal penalties for disclosing such secrets without authority: under § 203(4) StGB, imprisonment of up to one year or a fine, or up to two years where it acts for payment or with intent to enrich or harm (§ 203(6) StGB). Exploiting them is punishable under § 204 StGB by imprisonment of up to two years or a fine.
• Klarlaw binds everyone who works for it and may have access to case content to confidentiality in text form, informing them of these criminal consequences.

A5. Security. Klarlaw protects case content with technical and organisational measures appropriate to the risk (Art. 32 GDPR), at least:

• hosting and storage in Germany;
• encrypted connections only (HTTPS with HSTS);
• access to a case file only for the lawyer who took the case, their client (case number, email address and a one-time code), and Klarlaw's operator where needed under A4;
• limits on repeated login attempts;
• daily backups, none kept longer than 30 days;
• filtering of case content out of error reports.

Klarlaw may change these measures provided the level of protection does not fall.

A6. Sub-processors. You authorise Klarlaw to use the following sub-processors for case content:

Klarlaw engages each sub-processor under a data processing agreement under Art. 28(3) and (4) GDPR in text form, which obliges the sub-processor to keep case content confidential, to access it only as far as needed to provide its service, and to impose equivalent obligations on its own staff and sub-processors. For Hetzner Online GmbH this is Hetzner's data processing agreement together with its agreement on professional secrecy under § 203 StGB; for Amazon Web Services it is the AWS Data Processing Addendum, which forms part of the AWS Service Terms; for Heinlein Hosting GmbH (mailbox.org) it is mailbox.org's data processing agreement together with its additional agreement under § 43e BRAO, which binds mailbox.org to professional secrecy under §§ 203 and 204 StGB. You can request copies at any time. Klarlaw remains responsible for its sub-processors. It tells you in text form at least 30 days before adding or replacing one of the sub-processors listed above. If you object and Klarlaw cannot resolve the objection, you may terminate with effect from the change. Where a sub-processor must be replaced urgently to protect case content or keep the platform running, Klarlaw may do so at once and tells you without delay; your right to object then applies from that notice. Providers that receive no case content — for example error monitoring under clause 3.7, website analytics, payment and accounting services, the postal service Klarlaw uses for its own letters, or marketing partners — are not sub-processors under this annex. Klarlaw keeps case content in the EU. It transfers case content outside the EU only where Art. 44 ff. GDPR and § 43e(4) BRAO allow, and only after telling you.

A7. Assistance. Klarlaw helps you, as far as it can, to answer requests from data subjects and to meet your duties under Arts. 32 to 36 GDPR. Klarlaw notifies you of a personal data breach affecting case content without undue delay after becoming aware of it and provides all information reasonably available to assist you in complying with Articles 33 and 34 GDPR. Where practicable, the initial notification will be made within 24 hours.

A8. Return and deletion. When your participation ends, you can export your case files for 30 days. At your request, Klarlaw deletes or returns case content in accordance with Art. 28(3)(g) GDPR, unless applicable law requires continued storage. If no earlier deletion is requested, Klarlaw will automatically delete case content 12 months after the case is closed. A case is closed when you or your client close it, or automatically after six months without activity in its case file. Automatic closure is administrative only and does not affect the underlying lawyer-client relationship. A closed case may be reopened before deletion if further use of the case file is required. Deleted data is removed from backups within 30 days. Klarlaw is not an archive for your client files; you remain responsible for retaining any documents required under § 50 BRAO.

A9. Information and audits. Klarlaw gives you the information needed to show that it complies with this annex. It allows audits by you, or by an auditor bound to confidentiality, on reasonable notice. An audit normally starts with written questions.

A10. Ending cooperation. If Klarlaw cannot ensure compliance with this annex, you may terminate without notice (§ 43e(2) BRAO).