Terms of use

1. Contracting entity

These terms of use (the "Terms") govern access to and use of the ora. platform. They are entered into between you and SO Group Sàrl, the company operating ora. ("ora.", "we"), a limited liability company under Swiss law entered in the commercial register of the Canton of Geneva (UID CHE-424.769.174). Its full details are given in the "Contact us" section at the end of this document.

ora. is not a law firm, is not registered with any cantonal register of lawyers and gives no legal advice. The lawyers on the platform practise independently and under their own professional responsibility.

2. Definitions

In these Terms, the following words have the meanings given below.

• "Platform": the website, application and services operated by ora., including lawyer search, messaging, document sharing, video consultations and online payment.
• "Client": any natural or legal person who uses the Platform to find a lawyer and instruct them.
• "Lawyer": a lawyer registered with a Swiss cantonal register whose profile has been verified by ora. and who offers services on the Platform.
• "Legal practitioner": a person holding a Swiss university degree in law who has not obtained the bar certificate and is not registered with any cantonal register of lawyers, whose degree certificate has been checked by ora. and who offers services on the Platform.
• "Service": an offering published by a Lawyer or a Legal practitioner on their profile, either as a fixed-price package or as a consultation billed at their published hourly rate.
• "Booking": a Client's choice of a Service, which gives rise to a Mandate on the conditions published by the practitioner.
• "Mandate": the contractual relationship entered into directly between a Client and a Lawyer or a Legal practitioner following a Booking or the acceptance of a fee offer.
• "Fees": the amount owed to the practitioner for their work, set by them and paid by the Client to ora., which collects it on behalf of the practitioner or, where the Fees go to a Firm, on behalf of that Firm.
• "Service charge": the amount billed to the Client by ora. for use of the Platform, shown on a line separate from the Fees, never added to them and non-refundable, subject only to the exception in the "Cancellation and refunds" section.
• "Seller": the practitioner or, where the Fees go to a Firm, that Firm. The Seller provides the service. ora. collects the Fees on its behalf, then pays them to it.
• "Weekly invoice": the invoice ora. issues on the practitioner’s behalf and sends the Client every Monday, for an hourly Mandate, for the time logged in the previous week.
• "ora. receipt": the numbered receipt ora. sends the Client for each payment, showing the practitioner’s Fees and ora.’s Service charge as separate parts.

3. Scope of these Terms

These Terms apply to anyone who browses the Platform, creates an account, publishes a profile, books a Service, exchanges messages or documents, joins a video consultation or makes a payment through ora.

They apply to Clients, to Lawyers and to Legal practitioners. Where a provision concerns only one of them, it says so.

By accessing or using the Platform you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you use it on behalf of a business, you confirm that you are authorised to bind it.

4. What ora. is, and what it is not

ora. connects people with a legal need to lawyers registered with a Swiss cantonal register and to legal practitioners whose degree certificate has been checked by ora., and provides the tools for the relationship to take place on the Platform.

The Platform brings together two kinds of practitioner: Lawyers registered with a Swiss cantonal register, and Legal practitioners whose degree certificate has been checked by ora. A Legal practitioner advises, drafts and negotiates; they do not hold the title of avocat and cannot represent a Client before the courts where the law reserves that activity to registered lawyers. Each profile states which kind it is, before any Booking.

• ora. is not a law firm and is not a party to any Mandate.
• ora. gives no legal advice, directly or indirectly, and never takes a view on the merits of a matter.
• The Mandate is between the Client and the practitioner they choose, whether a Lawyer or a Legal practitioner. Its conditions are those published by that practitioner or agreed in an accepted fee offer.
• ora. guarantees neither the outcome of a matter, nor the availability of a given practitioner, nor the result of any proceedings.

5. Eligibility, account and security

You must be at least eighteen years old and have capacity to contract to create an account. The information you provide must be accurate and kept up to date.

You are responsible for keeping your login details confidential and for all activity carried out from your account. Tell us without delay if you suspect unauthorised access.

An account is personal. It may not be transferred or shared, and a person may hold only one account per role.

6. Lawyer and legal practitioner verification

A "verified" profile means that someone at ora. checked the declared registration against the named cantonal register, on the date shown on the profile. The register consulted and the date of the check are kept on record.

For a Legal practitioner, a "verified" profile means that someone at ora. opened the degree certificate provided and recorded its title, the university and the year, on the date shown on the profile. No cantonal register is consulted, as a Legal practitioner does not appear on one. Verification covers the degree certificate provided and nothing else: it attests neither bar registration nor a right to represent anyone before the courts.

In both cases, verification covers that item and nothing else: registration for a Lawyer, the degree certificate provided for a Legal practitioner. It is not an assessment of the quality of the practitioner's work, not a recommendation and not a guarantee. Career, practice areas and services are declared by the practitioner under their own responsibility.

ora. may suspend or withdraw a profile's verification at any time, in particular if the registration ends, if the degree certificate provided proves inaccurate, or if the declared information proves inaccurate.

A lawyer's professional secrecy, protected by art. 321 of the Swiss Criminal Code, and the Federal Act on the Freedom of Movement for Lawyers do not apply to a Legal practitioner. A Legal practitioner is bound to confidentiality by their contract with the Client and by data protection law, which is a real but different obligation: it does not give the same protection against an authority or a court. A Client for whom this is decisive should choose a Lawyer.

7. Services, packages and consultations

A Lawyer publishes the Services they offer on their profile. Each Service is either a fixed-price package, describing the work included, the delivery time and the number of revisions, or a consultation billed at the Lawyer's published hourly rate, for a duration the Client chooses.

The Client does not propose a price. They choose a Service as published, describe their situation, and book. The conditions of the Mandate are those of the Service at the time of Booking.

By publishing a Service, the Lawyer undertakes to honour it on the published conditions. They may change or withdraw it at any time without affecting Bookings already made.

Where no published Service fits a need, the Lawyer may send the Client a fee offer in the conversation opened on the Platform. The Client may accept or decline it, but may not change its terms.

8. Formation and performance of the Mandate

The Mandate comes into being at the moment of Booking or of acceptance of a fee offer. It is entered into directly between the Client and the Lawyer, on the conditions recorded at that moment, which cannot be changed afterwards.

Work begins once the Mandate is entered into and, where an upfront payment is due, once that payment has been made. A Mandate whose upfront payment has not yet been made may be cancelled by either party free of charge.

The Lawyer performs the Mandate in accordance with the rules of their profession, in particular the Federal Act on the Freedom of Movement for Lawyers and the cantonal professional rules. ora. plays no part in the performance of the Mandate.

The Client provides the Lawyer, within the agreed time, with the information and documents required. A delay or omission may affect the timing and outcome of the work.

9. Fees and service charges

Every Service gives rise to separate amounts, shown separately to the Client before any payment and never added into a single figure.

• The practitioner's Fees, set by them on their profile or in their offer. The Client pays them to ora., which collects them on the Seller’s behalf.
• ora.’s Service charge, billed to the Client for use of the Platform and calculated on the Fees before VAT according to the schedule published below. It appears on its own line, "ora. service fee (non-refundable)", and ora. keeps it from the same payment as the Fees. It is not deducted from the practitioner’s Fees.
• VAT on the Fees, where the practitioner is registered for VAT, at the statutory rate, currently 8.1%. It appears on its own line and is collected by ora. with the Fees, on the Seller’s behalf.

10. Payment and weekly invoices

The Client pays ora., which collects each payment on the Seller’s behalf, in its own account with our payment provider, Stripe. ora. keeps its Service charge and pays the Seller the Fees, and the VAT on them, by bank transfer, under the rules below.

An appointment and a fixed-price package are paid upfront, at the time of Booking or of acceptance of the offer. The first appointment booked from a practitioner’s profile is also paid upfront, including where the Mandate continues at an hourly rate.

For an hourly Mandate, nothing else is paid upfront. The Client may set a budget ceiling beyond which the practitioner cannot log time. Every Monday, the time logged in the previous week, including call time and appointments booked within the Mandate, becomes a Weekly invoice, which ora. issues on the practitioner’s behalf and sends to the Client. Closing the Mandate gives rise to a final invoice for the remaining time.

Each invoice line shows the date, the duration and a neutral label. The description of the work entered by the practitioner is not passed on to our payment provider.

11. Cancellation and refunds

A Mandate whose upfront payment has not yet been made may be cancelled free of charge by either party.

After payment, a cancellation, a no-show, a conflict of interest or a transfer gives rise to the refund set by the cancellation schedule shown before any cancellation. That refund covers only the Fees and, where applicable, the VAT on them.

Once work has begun, a cancellation gives rise to a statement of the work done, drawn up by the practitioner and submitted to the Client. In case of disagreement, the "Disputes between Client and practitioner" section applies.

Refunds are made by ora., on the practitioner’s behalf, from its own account with our payment provider, to the payment method used for the original payment, within that provider’s timeframes. The amount refunded is deducted from the payout owed to the practitioner. If that payout has already been made, ora. settles the difference with the practitioner. No amount is credited to an account on the Platform.

ora.’s Service charge is non-refundable, including where the practitioner cancels the appointment or does not attend it. The only exception: a payment that gave the Client nothing is refunded in full, Service charge included. This covers a duplicate payment or a payment made on an abandoned payment attempt, and a payment received for an offer that is no longer valid or for a Booking that cannot take place.

The Client’s claim for a refund lies against the Seller. ora. makes the refund on the Seller’s behalf, from the sums it has collected. It does not owe the Fees.

An unpaid Weekly invoice may be voided by the practitioner. The time it contained then appears on the next invoice. A paid invoice may be refunded at the practitioner’s request, in full or in part, without the Service charge.

12. Disputes between Client and practitioner

A Client may dispute an amount, an invoice or a time entry from the Mandate page. The dispute is notified to the practitioner, who may respond. It pauses the Mandate, and ora.’s team is alerted.

If the parties cannot reach agreement, ora. mediates between them on the basis of what was exchanged on the Platform. While the dispute is open, payout of the Fees concerned to the practitioner is suspended. A refund agreed at the end of the mediation is made by ora., under the "Cancellation and refunds" section. The mediation is without prejudice to the parties’ rights.

Any question about the quality of the practitioner's work, their professional liability or the merits of the matter is for the competent courts, and not for ora. For a Lawyer it is also for the cantonal supervisory authorities of the profession; a Legal practitioner is subject to no such supervisory authority, so only the courts and, where applicable, the contractual rules apply.

13. Acceptable use

Exchanges on ora. concern real and often sensitive matters. You agree to use the Platform fairly and lawfully.

• Upload only content that is yours or that your Mandate allows you to pass on.
• Do not use the Platform for an unlawful purpose, to harass, deceive or threaten anyone, or to circumvent the professional rules applicable to Lawyers.
• Do not try to move the relationship off the Platform before the Mandate is formed. Messages containing direct contact details are refused before that point, so that the price and scope are agreed where both parties can read them back.
• Do not access, or attempt to access, data or functions not intended for you, and do not disrupt the operation of the Platform.
• Do not publish false information on a profile, and do not write a review for a Mandate you were not a party to.

14. Messaging, documents and video consultations

The Platform's messaging, document sharing and video consultations are reserved for the parties to an enquiry or a Mandate. Their content is covered by the Lawyer's professional secrecy. There is no general administrative access at ora.

Uploaded documents are technically checked before being made downloadable, are stored in Switzerland and cannot be deleted while the Mandate exists. A new version replaces the previous one without erasing it.

Video consultations are not recorded by the Platform, which has no technical means of doing so. Recording, capturing or distributing any part of a consultation, an exchange or a document without the other party's written consent is prohibited. The Platform applies technical deterrents, including a named watermark, but cannot prevent a capture made from a participant's own device. Responsibility for any such capture lies entirely with its author.

15. Data protection

The processing of your personal data is described in our privacy policy, which forms part of these Terms. Data is hosted in Switzerland, and the list of our subprocessors is kept up to date there.

Each Lawyer is responsible for the processing of the data they receive from a Client in the course of the Mandate, in accordance with their professional obligations.

16. Intellectual property

The Platform, its brand, interface, texts and code are the property of ora. or its licensors. These Terms grant you no rights in them beyond using the Platform for its intended purpose.

Content you upload remains yours. You grant ora. the right to host it, transmit it to the other party and process it only to the extent necessary to run the Platform. ora. does not use Mandate content for any other purpose, and in particular never to train a model or for advertising.

Reviews published by a Client on a profile may be displayed on the Platform for as long as the profile is listed.

17. Availability, support and changes to the service

ora. endeavours to keep the Platform available at all times but does not guarantee uninterrupted availability or the absence of errors. Planned interruptions are announced where possible.

ora. may develop the Platform, add or remove functions and change its interface. A change that would substantially reduce a function essential to a Mandate in progress is announced in advance.

Support is provided from your account. It concerns the operation of the Platform and never the merits of a matter.

18. Suspension and termination

You may close your account at any time from your settings. Mandates in progress must be completed or cancelled first, and data that must be kept for legal or evidential reasons is retained.

ora. may suspend or close an account in case of a breach of these Terms, a risk to the security of the Platform or other users, the loss of a Lawyer's registration, or where the law requires it. Except in urgent cases, the person concerned is informed with the reasons.

A suspension or closure of an account cancels neither payments already made nor invoices already issued, which remain due and are paid to ora. on the Seller’s behalf. Any refund follows the "Cancellation and refunds" and "Disputes between Client and practitioner" sections above.

Suspending or closing a practitioner’s account does not release them from the refunds, invoices and payment disputes linked to their Mandates, which remain deducted from the payouts owed to them or, if those have already been made, settled with ora.

19. Liability

ora. provides a matching platform and tools. It is not liable for the Lawyers' services, for the content exchanged between the parties, or for decisions taken on the basis of those exchanges.

To the extent permitted by Swiss law, ora. excludes liability for slight negligence and for any indirect or consequential loss, including loss of profit, data or opportunity. ora.'s liability for direct loss is limited to the Service charge received for the Mandate concerned.

These limitations do not apply to wilful misconduct, gross negligence or personal injury, and do not affect rights that the law grants consumers mandatorily.

Each Lawyer is solely responsible for their work, in accordance with the rules of their profession and their professional liability insurance.

20. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by Swiss law, excluding its conflict-of-laws rules and the Vienna Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.

Any dispute relating to these Terms is subject to the competent courts at ora.'s registered seat, subject to mandatory places of jurisdiction provided by law, in particular in favour of consumers.

Disputes between a Client and a Lawyer are governed by the rules applicable to their Mandate, not by this section.

21. Changes to these Terms

ora. may change these Terms. A change is announced at least thirty days before it takes effect, by a message on the Platform or by email, with the effective date and a summary of the changes.

A change to the Service charge schedule is published with its effective date and applies only to payments priced from that date.

Continuing to use the Platform after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the changed Terms. If you do not accept them, you may close your account before that date.

22. General provisions

If a provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in force and the provision concerned is replaced by a valid one of equivalent economic effect.

A failure by ora. to enforce a right is not a waiver of that right.

You may not assign your rights or obligations under these Terms without our written consent. ora. may assign them in the context of a reorganisation, merger or transfer of business, informing you of it.

These Terms, the privacy policy and the conditions of an accepted Service or fee offer constitute the entire agreement between you and ora. They are drafted in French; the English version is provided for convenience and the French version prevails in case of discrepancy.

23. Contact us

For any question about these Terms, write to us at support@hello-ora.ch or from your account. Notices concerning your account are sent to you by email at the registered address and within the Platform.

The contracting entity is SO Group Sàrl, Rue de l’Arquebuse 22, 1204 Genève, Switzerland, UID CHE-424.769.174 (full postal address in the legal notice).

24. Firms

A “Firm” is a group of practitioners formed on the Platform under a common name. This section applies to Lawyers and Legal practitioners who found a Firm or are members of one, and to Clients whose Mandate is entered into with a member of a Firm.

Each member enters into their own Mandates and remains solely responsible for them, in accordance with the rules of their profession. Membership of a Firm gives no access to another member’s Clients, messages or documents.