FIND-A-LAWYER 3

Objectives

Find-A-Lawyer 3 (FAL 3) is the continuation of FAL 1 (EU-wide search directory for lawyers on the e-Justice portal) and FAL 2 (IT functionality for electronic verification of lawyers’ role) aiming at their improvement and further expansion. FAL 3 will be structured into the three following pillars which represent the key objectives of the new project:

  Improvements of the current FAL 1 Search Engine in order to achieve higher consistency, better data quality, full use of existing search fields by participating bars and full EU coverage (currently 21 EU countries are up and running on the portal).

Feasibility study for the inclusion of new services in the FAL 1 Search Engine such as new search fields, rating of lawyers, clients’ feedback and search by law firms.

Pilot testing of the FAL 2 Central System with other systems such as e-CODEX. This will allow lawyers role verification from their bars in e-CODEX use cases (small claims and European Payment Orders).

Type and number of persons benefiting from the project

Citizens and businesses using the FAL 1 Search Engine will benefit from a continuously improving user experience, according to users’ feedback and the needs of national bars.

The continuous operation of the FAL 2 Central System  will also allow certain improvements with a view of delivering to lawyers a more effective and reliable tool to enable their participation in e-proceedings with a cross-border element.

Efforts to improve both the FAL 1 Search Engine and the FAL 2 Central System serve also the ultimate objective of a better administration of justice, by simplifying a citizen’s access to a lawyer, introducing electronic tools to replace bureaucratic cross-border procedures and centralising lawyers’ information from the only trusted source, the bars’ registers.

Expected results

FAL 3 aims to improve the go-live experience of the FAL 1 Search Engine from a user’s perspective but also from the bars’ perspective.

FAL 3 aims to exploit the time gap between the delivery of the FAL 2 Central system and its integration on the e-Justice portal to make integration tests with other systems and increase participation.

FAL 3 will deliver a comprehensive feasibility study on sensitive features such as lawyer rating, search by law firms or search for legal aid lawyers for the first time, by taking into account market developments and the input coming from the bars.