Surprise, surprise even the change resistant legal industry has shown some kinds of entrepreneurship recently. germany still features a protected legal market were advertising of legal service is prohibited and fees (for courtroom services at least) are fixed and set by law. As more lawyers rushed to the market in the last decade and clients looked for cheaper alternatives, there are some new ways to provide legal services that have been established. JuraXX is franchisor that is building up a chain of discount legal service shops with very competitive rates. Lawyers are, were the client is - supermarkets, shopping malls. There have been quite some start-ups with such a concept in t last months, but JuraXX seems to be in the lead.
Several years ago JanoLaw an online legal service provider has been quietly building up a comprehensive database of legal documents that support customers finding legal answers. These forms do the trick in many cases and come cheap (5-15�). Also many smaller companies have set up dunning procedure services that use electronic documents to save costs for this procedure. But still Germany is worlds away from the divorce via online consulting...