A contract to read or to write
A lease, an employment contract, terms of business, a shareholders' agreement: reading it before you sign costs less than undoing it afterwards.
Legal practitioners
Hiring a legal practitioner
Most legal questions are settled without ever going near a court. A legal practitioner is for those.
What people hire a legal practitioner for
- A contract to read or to write
- A letter that has to be taken seriously
- A negotiation to run
- Knowing where you stand
The work
What people hire a legal practitioner for
A letter that has to be taken seriously
A formal demand, a termination, a reply to an insurer. The form and the tone matter as much as the content.
A negotiation to run
Ending a lease, settling final pay, a dispute with a neighbour: most of it is decided before a judge ever hears about it.
Knowing where you stand
Sometimes the question is simply “am I right?”. A clear answer beats a procedure.
Why a legal practitioner
Why this may suit you
Often a lower rate
Each practitioner sets their own hourly rate and publishes it on their profile. You compare before you choose.
The same framework as a lawyer on ora.
Degree checked by us, fees stated up front, payment by card on ora.
The person doing the work
You write to someone, and that same person answers you and handles your file.
The limits
What a legal practitioner does not do
Two limits, and they are clear-cut. If either matters for your situation, hire a lawyer — you will find them on ora. too.
A legal practitioner holds a university degree in Swiss law but has not sat the bar examination.
They advise, draft and negotiate, which is often all a legal question needs.
They do not hold the title of avocat and cannot represent you in court where the law reserves that to registered lawyers.
Professional secrecy under article 321 of the criminal code applies to lawyers. A legal practitioner is bound to confidentiality by contract, which is not the same protection: if that matters to you, choose a lawyer.
Firms
Legal practitioners and firms
A legal practitioner can found a firm on ora. or join one on the same terms as a lawyer: a verified profile, and a firm checked by the ora. team before it appears on profiles.
Joining a firm, even alongside lawyers, changes nothing about what a legal practitioner can do: the limits above remain theirs, and every profile says whether it is a lawyer’s or a legal practitioner’s.
In a firm owned by a legal practitioner, the fees of member lawyers go to those lawyers, not to the firm.
How to choose
If your matter is going to court, or might, hire a lawyer. Otherwise compare the two: every profile states the qualification, the practice areas and the rate.