Attorney terms

These terms apply to every law firm and practitioner ("you", "the firm") that lists on lawmatch.co.za or receives leads through it. LawMatch is operated by Ophir Technologies (Pty) Ltd ("LawMatch", "we"). By registering, accepting a lead or keeping a listing live, you agree to them together with our Terms of use and Privacy policy.

Who may list

You must be a practitioner or firm registered with the Legal Practice Council and in good standing. We verify registration before a firm can receive leads, and we may check the register again at any time. You must tell us promptly if a practitioner named on your listing is struck off, suspended, leaves the firm, or if the firm closes. Firms that appear on the AttorneyOS directory are listed on LawMatch automatically; the same verification rule applies before any of them receives a lead.

You are responsible for your own compliance with the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014, the Legal Practice Council's rules and its code of conduct, including the rules on advertising and touting. LawMatch charges fixed fees for advertising and for referrals that do not vary with the value of any matter or the fees you charge. If you believe any feature of the service is inconsistent with your professional obligations, do not use that feature and tell us.

Registering and verification

You register the firm in the attorney portal. You then give us the firm's details, the practice areas you want leads in, the areas you serve, and your Legal Practice Council registration information. We verify that registration before any lead is offered to you. Only once the firm is verified does the listing go live.

Your listing

Your listing must be accurate: practice areas, service areas, contact details and practitioner names. You may not describe yourself as specialising in an area unless you are entitled to. We may edit a listing for format, remove content that is misleading, and pause a listing that fails verification. Client reviews are moderated by us; you cannot pay to remove a review, but you may report one you believe is false and we will look into it.

Keeping your listing current

Keep the listing accurate for as long as it is live: practice areas, service areas, contact details, practitioner names and Legal Practice Council status. Tell us promptly when any of them changes. If a listing is materially wrong and you do not correct it after we ask, we may pause it.

How leads work

When a person submits a matter in your practice area and service area, we may send it to you and to up to two other firms. If the client asked for your firm by name from your profile, you are offered the lead first; otherwise featured firms are offered first, then every eligible firm in turn, starting with the firm matched least recently. You will see the category, area, urgency, the client's description and the fixed price before you decide.

You have seven days to accept a lead using the link we send you or through the portal; after that the offer expires and is not billed. Declined and expired leads are never billed. You may set a monthly cap on the number of leads you accept, and you may pause your listing at any time. Leads can be delivered by email, by WhatsApp where you have given us a WhatsApp number and left that channel on, and directly into AttorneyOS where your firm uses it.

What accepting a lead means

By accepting a lead you agree to contact the client within one business day, to deal with them in accordance with your professional obligations, and to pay the fixed price shown at acceptance. What happens after that, including whether the client instructs you and on what terms, is between you and the client. We ask you to record the outcome in the portal so we can measure lead quality; we do not use it to charge you more.

Leads you do not answer

A lead you neither accept nor decline simply expires at the end of the seven days, and it is never billed. If a firm repeatedly lets leads expire, we may pause its listing so that people are not left waiting on a firm that is not responding. We will tell you first and give you the chance to fix it.

Bad leads and credits

If a lead you accepted turns out not to be genuine, for example a wrong or unreachable number, spam, a matter that is not a legal matter at all, or a duplicate of a lead you already accepted, you may request a credit in the portal within seven days of acceptance, saying why. We review requests and, where we agree, the credit appears on your next statement or removes the line before it is invoiced. A client who chooses another firm, does not proceed, or cannot afford your fee is not a bad lead.

Fees and payment

Lead prices are fixed amounts per accepted lead, set per category and in some cases per sub-area. Current prices are shown in the portal before you accept any lead, and we give notice in the portal before a price changes. A featured listing is a flat monthly fee. All prices exclude VAT at the current rate, which is added on your statement.

We issue a statement at the start of each month for the previous month's accepted leads, credits and featured listing fees. Payment is due within 14 days of the statement date, by the method shown on it. If a statement is not paid when due we may pause your listing and stop sending leads until the account is settled, and we may charge interest at the rate the law allows. LawMatch does not share in your fees, does not charge a percentage of any matter, and never charges a client for a match.

When a lead price or the featured listing fee changes, the notice appears in the portal before the new price takes effect, and the new price applies only to leads accepted after that date. A firm that does not want the new price can lower its cap, pause its listing or remove it before the change takes effect.

Records we keep

We keep a record of every lead we offer you and of whether it was accepted, declined, expired or credited. You can see your own in the portal. Either of us may rely on those records in a billing dispute.

Client information

Every lead contains personal information that the client gave us for the purpose of finding an attorney. Once you receive it you are a responsible party under the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 for what you do with it. You may use it only to assess and, if instructed, act on that matter. You may not add the client to marketing lists, share the lead with another firm, or keep the information longer than your own retention rules and the Act allow. If you are not instructed, delete the details when you no longer need them for your records. Keep the details secure, and tell us promptly if a lead is lost or exposed.

Marketing includes newsletters, seasonal greetings and firm updates, not only direct selling. Sharing includes passing a lead to a correspondent or agent without the client's instruction. Secure means access limited to the people in your firm who need it, and a loss reported to privacy@lawmatch.co.za still has to be dealt with as the Act requires.

What we promise and what we do not

We provide the listing and lead service with reasonable care. We promise nothing beyond that. We do not guarantee that the site or the portal will be available without interruption or free of faults, and we do not guarantee volume, quality, or that a client will answer or instruct you.

Suspension and ending the agreement

You may end this agreement at any time by pausing and then removing your listing in the portal; fees already incurred remain payable. We may suspend or remove a listing immediately if verification fails, an account is unpaid, a listing is misleading, client information is misused, or your conduct towards clients or our staff is unacceptable. We will tell you why and, where the problem can be fixed, give you the chance to fix it.

Ending a listing does not undo what is in place. A lead you have accepted stays yours: your obligations to that client continue, the price shown at acceptance is still payable, and your duties over the client's information run for as long as you hold it. Any unpaid balance remains due. You can export your listing content and lead history from the portal, and ask us for records it does not show.

Liability

We provide the listing and lead service with reasonable care but do not guarantee the volume, quality or conversion of leads. To the extent the law allows, our liability to you for any claim connected with the service is limited to the fees you paid us in the three months before the claim arose. You indemnify us against claims by clients or third parties arising from your professional services.

Disputes between you and us

Raise a dispute with us in writing first, at hello@lawmatch.co.za, or billing@lawmatch.co.za for an account. We will respond, and both of us then discuss it in good faith. If we cannot agree, either of us may take the matter to the ordinary courts of the Republic of South Africa. This clause is between you and us, and does not affect any right a client has against you or against us.

Relationship of the parties

These terms create no partnership, joint venture, employment or agency between us. You are an independent firm and we are an independent advertising and referral service. Neither of us may sign for the other or bind the other. Where For attorneys differs from these terms, these terms govern.

Changes, law and contact

We may update these terms; the date at the top of this page shows when they last changed, and we will notify firms in the portal of material changes before they take effect. These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa. Questions go to hello@lawmatch.co.za, billing queries to billing@lawmatch.co.za, and privacy matters to our Information Officer at privacy@lawmatch.co.za.