As the Florida Bar (“TFB”) is aware, the United States ranks last among developed nations in providing its citizen’s access to attorneys. Eighty percent of legal needs are unmet while 40% of recent law graduates are either unemployed or underemployed. The unemployment rate among recent law graduates is twice the national unemployment rate.
In response, TFB established the Florida Commission on Access to Civil Justice in November 2014, to study the unmet civil legal needs of disadvantaged, low income, and moderate income Floridians. In conducting its work the Commission has considered Florida’s legal assistance delivery system as a whole, including, but not limited to, legal aid programs, resources and support for self-represented litigants, limited scope representation, pro bono services, innovative technology solutions, and other models and potential innovations. As part of this study, TFB proposed a number of recommendations including development of a Statewide Triage System and a revamp of its Lawyer Referral Service (“LRS”).
Jurbid appreciates the opportunity to participate in the LRS proposal process and respects TFB’s forward thinking approach to provide Floridians with greater access to attorneys.
In response, TFB established the Florida Commission on Access to Civil Justice in November 2014, to study the unmet civil legal needs of disadvantaged, low income, and moderate income Floridians. In conducting its work the Commission has considered Florida’s legal assistance delivery system as a whole, including, but not limited to, legal aid programs, resources and support for self-represented litigants, limited scope representation, pro bono services, innovative technology solutions, and other models and potential innovations. As part of this study, TFB proposed a number of recommendations including development of a Statewide Triage System and a revamp of its Lawyer Referral Service (“LRS”).
Jurbid appreciates the opportunity to participate in the LRS proposal process and respects TFB’s forward thinking approach to provide Floridians with greater access to attorneys.
As a public benefit corporation, Jurbid’s mission is to make legal services universally accessible, transparent and affordable for all.
While Jurbid launched its platform in June of 2016, the idea and the concept was conceived in 2010. Since then, our founder has followed and researched the legal services market. During his research, he uncovered the social impact of the “Access to Justice Gap” in the United States. Americans lose their homes and families are even torn apart due to lack of representation. Driven to make a change and to provide Americans with greater access to attorneys, he founded Jurbid as a public benefit corporation to make legal services universally accessible, transparent and affordable for all.
Unlike typical attorney referral services, Jurbid connects clients with attorneys using a Request for Proposal model in three simple steps – 1. Through an innovative online “intake” form, clients answer a series of comprehensive questions related to their legal issue; 2. Within hours, our proprietary technology matches the client’s issues with our vetted and qualified lawyers, who in turn, prepare individualized responses (proposals) to the client (all at no cost to the client); 3. The client compares all the proposals and makes an educated hiring decision based experience, pricing and even conversations they may have had with the attorneys before hiring them.
Unlike typical attorney referral services, Jurbid connects clients with attorneys using a Request for Proposal model in three simple steps – 1. Through an innovative online “intake” form, clients answer a series of comprehensive questions related to their legal issue; 2. Within hours, our proprietary technology matches the client’s issues with our vetted and qualified lawyers, who in turn, prepare individualized responses (proposals) to the client (all at no cost to the client); 3. The client compares all the proposals and makes an educated hiring decision based experience, pricing and even conversations they may have had with the attorneys before hiring them.
The Team
Aydin Bonabi
Aydin was an in-house counsel focusing his practice on Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act. He later assumed a role as an Executive at a multi-million dollar health care provider. Aydin is also the Young Lawyer Division’s Liaison to the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services and is a Member of the New York State Bar Association’s Access to Justice Committee. During law school, Aydin had the honor to intern for the Delaware and Florida Supreme Courts.
Sia Anasseri
Sia provides Jurbid with strategic advice and is a serial entrepreneur. He had several seven figure exits. Most recently, he steered a Florida technology company to revenues of $30 million in just four years.
Manfred Seidel
Manfred manages and oversees the platform. He has over 25 years of experience as a Platform Manager for companies such as SAP and KPMG.
Gart Flores
Gart is responsible for Jurbid’s software and technology infrastructure. Most recently, Gart lead a development team at IBM. He held similar positions at Citi Bank and Sprint.
Richard Granat
Richard is a thought leader in various delivery models and often speaks about innovative and efficient legal delivery models. He is the CEO of DirectLaw, an automated legal document preparation provider.
Aydin Bonabi
Aydin was an in-house counsel focusing his practice on Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act. He later assumed a role as an Executive at a multi-million dollar health care provider. Aydin is also the Young Lawyer Division’s Liaison to the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services and is a Member of the New York State Bar Association’s Access to Justice Committee. During law school, Aydin had the honor to intern for the Delaware and Florida Supreme Courts.
Sia Anasseri
Sia provides Jurbid with strategic advice and is a serial entrepreneur. He had several seven figure exits. Most recently, he steered a Florida technology company to revenues of $30 million in just four years.
Manfred Seidel
Manfred manages and oversees the platform. He has over 25 years of experience as a Platform Manager for companies such as SAP and KPMG.
Gart Flores
Gart is responsible for Jurbid’s software and technology infrastructure. Most recently, Gart lead a development team at IBM. He held similar positions at Citi Bank and Sprint.
Richard Granat
Richard is a thought leader in various delivery models and often speaks about innovative and efficient legal delivery models. He is the CEO of DirectLaw, an automated legal document preparation provider.
The Legal Marketplace
The Request for Proposal (“RFP”) model has been used in the legal industry for decades. Fortune 500 companies have asked white-shoe law firms to submit proposals to their legal requests since 1980. Today, it is common practice and in fact, TFB employed the same process to identify a technology vendor for the LRS. In developing the model, however, Jurbid made a specific change. Proposals to RFPs are only seen by clients and not by attorneys.
With Jurbid, a client submits a RFP via Jurbid’s intuitive intake form. Attorneys specialized in the area of law of the client’s RFP receive an automated email notification, informing them of the RFP. Attorneys review the RFP and if interested, submit a personalized proposal that includes the services the attorney will perform, the attorney’s availability, and the price for the services. The client subsequently reviews the proposals and narrows down the choices to a few attorneys and engages them. After speaking to the several attorneys, the client hires his/her attorney of choice.
With Jurbid, a client submits a RFP via Jurbid’s intuitive intake form. Attorneys specialized in the area of law of the client’s RFP receive an automated email notification, informing them of the RFP. Attorneys review the RFP and if interested, submit a personalized proposal that includes the services the attorney will perform, the attorney’s availability, and the price for the services. The client subsequently reviews the proposals and narrows down the choices to a few attorneys and engages them. After speaking to the several attorneys, the client hires his/her attorney of choice.
Value to clients
As with any purchasing decision, there is a cost benefit analysis. In the legal industry, the cost is comprised of time spent to hire an attorney and the actual cost of representation. Today, finding an attorney is unduly burdensome, inefficient and expensive. As a result, 80% of legal needs go unmet. Jurbid’s model enables clients to efficiently make informed decisions based on the attorney’s availability, languages spoken, background, experience and price.
Mark Cohen, a thought leader who writes for the Forbes, argues that “a digital marketplace will bring millions of new clients/customers into the market and provide many of them with affordable representation.” Mark recognizes that millions of Americans currently do not receive affordable representation. As a result, the legal service industry has a latent market. Our own, Richard Granat argues that the latent market for consumer legal services is about $45 billion. Reducing cost, i.e. time spent and cost of representation will reduce the size of the latent market, provide many of Americans with representation and in turn will provide attorneys with more work.
Mark Cohen, a thought leader who writes for the Forbes, argues that “a digital marketplace will bring millions of new clients/customers into the market and provide many of them with affordable representation.” Mark recognizes that millions of Americans currently do not receive affordable representation. As a result, the legal service industry has a latent market. Our own, Richard Granat argues that the latent market for consumer legal services is about $45 billion. Reducing cost, i.e. time spent and cost of representation will reduce the size of the latent market, provide many of Americans with representation and in turn will provide attorneys with more work.
Model Validation
Legal services have become commoditized. Currently, companies focused on lead generation employ the “Uber”, the “Matchmaking”, and the “Referral” models. Each of these models, however, neglect a client’s specific needs or fail to appropriately differentiate attorneys from one another. We do not believe this to be the right approach and our market traction supports our model.
Since our launch, we enjoyed tremendous success. In just six month, we increased our attorney network to 441 and on average each RFP received 5.65 proposals. Our clients are more likely to hire an attorney compared to other sites. Our conversion rate is 12.5%! Most impressive, in just six months, we had repeat clients. Seven percent of our clients posted a second RFP.
Since our launch, we enjoyed tremendous success. In just six month, we increased our attorney network to 441 and on average each RFP received 5.65 proposals. Our clients are more likely to hire an attorney compared to other sites. Our conversion rate is 12.5%! Most impressive, in just six months, we had repeat clients. Seven percent of our clients posted a second RFP.
Testimonials
All our clients who provided testimonials experienced legal issues in the past but had never hired an attorney before. They indeed represented the latent market. Through Jurbid’s legal marketplace, they have for the first time hired an attorney. It is our hope and aim to make the search for an attorney a seamless experience for many others.
Law Practice Management Essentials
Professional Conduct & Ethics
Jurbid believes it has the most compliant lead generation software in the industry. Various professional conduct and ethics rules were considered prior to developing our platform. Most notably, our platform complies with an attorney’s obligation to safeguard client property. All marketplaces hold client payment for 14 or 30 days before disbursing it to the service provider. Jurbid views this as a clear violation of an attorney’s obligation to safeguard client property. With Jurbid, client payment is directly routed to the attorney’s bank account on file. Please visit our Compliance page for more information.
Leverage your Brand
Jurbid's Project Approach
Marketing & Support Services
Future
Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns via the below contact form. We will respond to your questions within 24 hours.
Thank you for the consideration.
Aydin Bonabi
Thank you for the consideration.
Aydin Bonabi