Jurbid knows that as practicing lawyer, there are many Ethical and Professional rules lawyers are subject to. These rules vary from state by state and can be complex. From discharging conflict checks, to safeguarding confidential information and client property, Jurbid has you covered. Prior to designing our platform, we considered a number of rules to ensure your compliance. Below are some of the obligations we considered.
Safeguarding Confidential Data
A lawyer must act competently to safeguard information relating to the representation of a client. Specifically, a lawyer has to take competent and reasonable precautions to protect client information. In this regard, it is important to make yourself familiar with Jurbid’s technology safety features.
Jurbid ensures your compliance with ethical and legal obligations to exercise the care needed to safeguard your client data. Our system is designed to guarantee state of the art user access control and user monitoring. In addition, as an AMAZON Web Services customer, we benefit from a data center and network architecture that meets the requirements of the most security-sensitive organizations in business and governments (for further details, please see : Amazon Security).
Jurbid ensures your compliance with ethical and legal obligations to exercise the care needed to safeguard your client data. Our system is designed to guarantee state of the art user access control and user monitoring. In addition, as an AMAZON Web Services customer, we benefit from a data center and network architecture that meets the requirements of the most security-sensitive organizations in business and governments (for further details, please see : Amazon Security).
Fee Sharing
Most marketplaces charge a transaction fee ranging from 20% - 30% on the service rendered or the product sold. Lawyers are, however, generally prohibited from sharing profits with non-lawyers. As a result, the transaction fee model for marketplaces is not conducive to the legal industry. In developing our business model, we considered the Ethics and Professional rules surrounding splitting fees with non-lawyers.
Bars have opined that lawyers do not violate the splitting fees with non-lawyer’s rule for accepting credit card transactions. For facilitating payment via the platform, there is a nominal transaction fee of 8.9% + $0.30 which covers our overhead and the use of the platform even after getting a new client.
Bars have opined that lawyers do not violate the splitting fees with non-lawyer’s rule for accepting credit card transactions. For facilitating payment via the platform, there is a nominal transaction fee of 8.9% + $0.30 which covers our overhead and the use of the platform even after getting a new client.
IOLA Accounts
We highly recommend you link your trust bank account at the time of creating their profile. In the event the banking information is not provided and a client hires you, your earned fees will be routed to Jurbid until you collect. In addition, depending on the state rules, we also recommend that you link your IOLA account to Braintree payments and not the operating account.
Safeguarding Client Property
We believe that the safeguarding of client property is of utmost importance. Generally, marketplaces hold client funds for a period of time before disbursement to the merchant. Depending on the marketplace, funds may be held up to 30 days in the marketplace’s escrow account. This is a clear violation of safeguarding client property because such funds must be held in the lawyer’s IOLA’s or operating account. In order to facilitate compliance with safeguarding of client property, Jurbid does not hold client funds but instead, the payment is directly routed to your account minus the transaction fee.
Refunds – Safeguarding Client Property
Prior to choosing a credit card payment vendor, lawyers must ensure that the vendor does not debit the lawyer’s IOLA account in the event of a dispute. Debits from the IOLA account would be a violation of safeguarding client property because the debit would be for a full refund of the client payment and not just the payment minus the transaction fee. For instance, a client makes a payment of $1,000.00 via a credit card to your IOLA account. You, however, only receive $950.00 in the IOLA account as a result of transaction fees. In the event of a debit, the refund would be for the full $1,000.00 and the deficit would result in the failure of safeguarding other client property.
Jurbid’s model prevents automatic debits from your IOLA account. In order to issue a refund, you have to initiate the process via an account of your choice. Your client funds are safe and so are you.
Jurbid’s model prevents automatic debits from your IOLA account. In order to issue a refund, you have to initiate the process via an account of your choice. Your client funds are safe and so are you.
Client Agreement
Jurbid enables you to create your client agreement via our platform to avoid any confusion or misunderstanding of the services you agree to provide for the client. Moreover, most jurisdictions require client agreements depending on the amount of the lawyer fee. Here too, we have you covered. When submitting your proposal, just add your specific terms and outline the services you plan on providing for the client in the “Scope of Representation” box.
Conflict of Interest Check
Prior to accepting a client, lawyers have a duty to ensure there is no conflict with an existing client. In our client intake form, we included a question to identify the opposing party. When reviewing the client’s request for proposal, you therefore also have a way to discharge your obligation prior to submitting your proposal.