Terms and conditions

What do these terms cover?

These general terms and conditions govern only your relationship with advokio UG (haftungsbeschränkt), particularly your use of its websites and its own services, including any separately agreed cost coverage. They do not govern your legal engagement with advokio Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH or another named partner lawyer.

These terms do not apply to legal services offered or provided to you by a lawyer or law firm. Legal services on advokio.com are currently provided by advokio Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH unless the relevant product page expressly names another legal services provider. The engagement is governed by the rules of the legal profession and the named provider’s terms of engagement. Submitting an enquiry through advokio.com does not, by itself, establish a lawyer–client relationship. The product page and the information provided when the contract is concluded identify the service provider and your contracting party.

Contracts for legal representation and cost coverage are currently concluded by email or telephone. The website provides information and allows you to submit enquiries; these contracts are not currently concluded directly through it. The cost coverage agreement is governed by the terms agreed with advokio UG; the legal engagement is governed by the law firm’s separate terms of engagement. Accepting one company’s terms does not replace the required incorporation of the other company’s terms.

What do words in small capitals mean in these terms?

Words in small capitals are defined terms. Their meaning is explained in this answer below or where the term is defined.

“advokio” means advokio UG (haftungsbeschränkt), Im Kammereck 12e, 63329 Egelsbach.

“advokio Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft” means advokio Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH, Im Kammereck 12e, 63329 Egelsbach.

“You” and related pronouns mean a client of a partner lawyer or a user of the advokio websites.

“Questionnaire” (Interview) means the series of questions presented by the advokio system. The relevant partner lawyer creates the product on the basis of your answers.

“Client” (Mandant) means you, or the individual or organisation you validly represent, once the named legal services provider has accepted the engagement.

“Client account” (Mandantenaccount) means an account you can create on advokio.com containing your data and information about your products.

“Engagement” (Mandat) means the contractual relationship under which you instruct a partner lawyer to represent you in a particular matter.

“Partner lawyer” (Partneranwalt) means advokio Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH. It means another legal services provider only if the relevant product page expressly names that provider.

“Product” (Produkt) means a legal service, such as preparing a document or representing a client in a dispute, provided by a partner lawyer to a client with the scope described on the product page.

“Product page” (Produktseite) means the page on advokio.com describing the scope and cost of a product.

“Litigation funding product” (Prozessfinanzierungsprodukt) means an offer under which advokio covers expressly identified costs of pursuing legal rights under a separate funding agreement. Whether a funding agreement is concluded and which costs and stages of proceedings it covers are determined solely by advokio’s funding commitment and section 7.

What does advokio do for website users and clients?

advokio operates advokio.com as a technical portal providing legal information, facilitating legal engagements and, where separately agreed, funding the pursuit of legal rights. Legal services are provided exclusively by partner lawyers. advokio does not provide legal services: it supplies technical and organisational infrastructure and may provide litigation funding under a separate contract. Products on advokio.com may be supported by IT systems and software; the relevant partner lawyer alone is responsible for legal assessment, advice and representation.

For certain products, advokio also offers clients funding for legal services or disputes.

advokio also provides website users and clients with information and supplementary services relating to legal topics and legal services.

What does advokio do for partner lawyers?

Through advokio.com, advokio connects partner lawyers with clients and provides IT and other services to support the delivery of legal services.

Is advokio liable for the content of its website?

advokio takes reasonable care with the information and links provided on its websites. However, general content is not legal advice and does not replace an assessment of your individual case. Liability for loss is governed by section 6.

Are articles reviewed regularly and always up to date?

advokio reviews published content regularly but does not guarantee that every item is complete and up to date at all times. Liability for loss is governed by section 6.

Is advokio liable for newsletters?

Newsletters also provide general information only and do not replace advice on an individual case. Liability for loss is governed by section 6.

Is advokio liable for third-party content?

Third-party providers are responsible for their own content and services. advokio’s liability for its own duties, including duties of selection or disclosure, is governed by section 6.

Who advises me on my legal problem?

Legal services are provided by the partner lawyer named on the product page. Unless otherwise stated, this is currently advokio Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH. Sending an enquiry through advokio.com does not mean that the engagement has been accepted. A contract for legal representation is concluded only when the partner lawyer expressly confirms acceptance. advokio is not a party to that contract and gives no legal instructions.

The partner lawyer is liable for its legal services under the applicable law and its validly incorporated terms of engagement. advokio’s liability for its own obligations, particularly those arising from operating the portal or a funding agreement, is governed by section 6.

Does advokio itself provide legal advice?

No. advokio does not itself provide legal advice. Legal services are provided exclusively by partner lawyers.

How available are advokio’s websites and communication services?

advokio aims to keep its websites and services highly available. Unless expressly agreed otherwise, however, it is not required to provide a particular level of availability at all times. Section 6 governs liability for loss.

Are all products always available?

advokio aims to offer as many products as possible on an ongoing basis. However, it reserves the right to withdraw products immediately without prior notice. It does not undertake to keep all or any individual products available.

How does advokio handle data availability and backups?

advokio uses cloud and other IT services from carefully selected providers and backs up data regularly. Nevertheless, data or services may become temporarily unavailable or be lost, for example because of technical faults. Where reasonably practicable, you should also keep your own copies of important documents. Liability for loss is governed by section 6; any contributory negligence is assessed under the applicable law.

Where is my data stored?

With advokio and the partner lawyer handling your matter. Your personal and case data may be stored on advokio’s IT systems or those of third-party providers used for this purpose, where necessary for the agreed services and legally permitted. Where advokio or other service providers act for the partner lawyer, section 43e BRAO applies. This storage does not generally release the partner lawyer from professional confidentiality.

Can other people access my data? What about lawyers’ professional confidentiality?

IT and support services for client matters. advokio may provide technical and administrative support to the partner lawyer. It is given access to data and case information only to the extent necessary for the agreed services and legally permitted. The partner lawyer retains professional responsibility and all statutory duties of confidentiality and protection. Any consent needed for the matter must be given to the law firm and relates to that engagement. By accepting these terms of advokio UG, you do not give consent under section 43e(5) BRAO or any separately required consent under data protection law.

Information for requested cost coverage. Separately, advokio, acting as a litigation funder, may use only information needed to assess, provide or settle cost coverage you have requested or agreed, and which has been lawfully collected or disclosed for that purpose. Access as an IT or service provider does not automatically authorise its use for cost coverage. Any necessary release from professional confidentiality must be given separately to the relevant partner lawyer; it is not granted by accepting these terms of advokio UG. It must be limited to the information and purposes needed and does not give advokio any right to direct or participate in decisions about the legal work. Further details appear in advokio’s privacy policy and the relevant partner lawyer’s privacy policy.

You can withdraw consent or a release from confidentiality by notifying the law firm, with effect for the future. This does not retrospectively make lawful disclosures unlawful. The legal bases and duties governing further processing must be assessed separately.

Is my communication with advokio encrypted?

Risk notice and agreement to email communication. All information exchanged through advokio websites is encrypted using Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). Emails are not automatically encrypted end to end. Unauthorised third parties may therefore read their contents or alter messages. By accepting these terms, you agree, on the basis of this risk notice, to email communication without end-to-end encryption. The same applies if you propose or initiate this method of communication yourself and continue to use it after receiving this notice. At your request, advokio can also communicate with you using S/MIME-encrypted email; another secure channel may be agreed. You can tell advokio at any time that you wish to use a different channel in future. Your decision does not affect other legally required safeguards.

Does advokio have a privacy policy?

You can find advokio’s privacy policy at https://www.advokio.com/datenschutz/.

Do partner lawyers have privacy policies?

The named partner lawyer’s privacy policy is available on its website. For advokio Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH, it is available at https://www.advokio-legal.com/Datenschutz/.

Liability for information, website content and newsletters

General information, website content and newsletters do not replace legal advice on an individual case. advokio’s liability is governed by the general provisions below.

Liability for services contractually agreed with advokio

advokio’s liability is unlimited in cases of intent or gross negligence, for death or personal injury, under the German Product Liability Act and in all other cases of mandatory statutory liability. If an essential contractual obligation is breached through ordinary negligence, liability is limited to loss typical of the contract and foreseeable when it was concluded. Essential contractual obligations are those whose performance is necessary for the contract to be properly carried out and on whose fulfilment you can ordinarily rely. Liability for ordinary negligence is otherwise excluded. These provisions also apply for the benefit of advokio’s legal representatives, employees and agents used to perform its obligations. Statutory rules on the burden of proof remain unaffected. These liability provisions apply to both paid and free services provided by advokio and to statutory and pre-contractual claims.

Who is liable for legal advice from the partner lawyer?

Each partner lawyer is directly responsible for its own legal services under the applicable law and its validly incorporated terms of engagement. advokio is not liable for legal advice or representation. Its liability for its own obligations, including any duties of selection or disclosure, remains subject to the provisions above.

For offers identified on the relevant product page as litigation funding products, advokio may cover the costs of pursuing legal rights out of court or in court under a separate funding agreement. You become entitled to funding only once that agreement has been concluded. The types and extent of costs covered and the funded stages of proceedings are set out in advokio’s funding commitment.

How is litigation funding agreed?

Submitting an enquiry through advokio.com initially serves only to assess your request. It creates neither a legal engagement nor a funding agreement. The engagement with the partner lawyer and the funding agreement with advokio are legally separate contracts.

The partner lawyer independently assesses the legal prospects and decides whether to accept the engagement. advokio makes its own funding and risk assessment to decide whether to provide funding and on what terms.

The funding agreement is concluded only when you receive a funding commitment clearly attributable to advokio in text form (Textform), for example by email. The partner lawyer may pass on a commitment already made by advokio, but may not issue, extend or terminate it on advokio’s behalf. Acceptance of the legal engagement alone is not a funding commitment.

Even after a funding commitment, you remain legally or contractually liable to the partner lawyer, the courts, the authorities and the opposing party for those costs. To the extent of the commitment, you have a claim against advokio for those costs to be covered. If advokio fails to meet its obligations, particularly because of insolvency, the relevant creditors may still seek payment from you. The partner lawyer does not guarantee advokio’s solvency or assume its funding obligations. Claims arising from the partner lawyer’s own breaches of duty remain unaffected.

Which costs does advokio cover?

advokio covers only the types of costs, amounts and stages of proceedings expressly identified in its funding commitment. These may include the partner lawyer’s statutory fees and expenses, court or procedural costs and the opposing party’s costs that must be reimbursed by law. Costs or measures outside the commitment are not funded. Individual terms in the funding commitment take precedence over these general terms.

What if I have legal expenses insurance or another source of cover?

You must give advokio and the partner lawyer full details of any legal expenses insurance or other cover that takes priority and cooperate with reasonable steps to use it. Third-party payments are credited only against the same covered costs; there is no double recovery. Whether advokio covers an excess or other uninsured amounts is determined solely by the funding commitment.

Which stages of proceedings does the funding commitment cover?

The commitment covers only the stages expressly identified. An application or administrative objection procedure, proceedings on the main claim, urgent proceedings, enforcement and each appeal are separate stages unless the commitment expressly covers them together. A further stage requires a further funding commitment. A subsequent reduction in the prospects of success does not automatically end the commitment for the stage already covered; the termination rights set out below remain unaffected.

Must all information I provide be accurate and complete?

advokio bases its funding decision on the information you provide. Because that information is central to the decision, it must be accurate and complete. If you have provided incomplete or incorrect information, you must tell advokio and the partner lawyer as soon as possible.

If your circumstances change during the engagement or events occur that could affect the matter or the cost risk, you must inform your partner lawyer and advokio as soon as possible.

If you seriously breach your duty to provide information, advokio may terminate funding for good cause with effect for the future. Where the breach can be remedied, you must first be given a reasonable opportunity to do so, unless this is unnecessary under the statutory requirements.

Termination alone does not create a right to reimbursement of all costs already covered or future costs. advokio may claim damages only where the statutory conditions are met for a breach for which you are responsible and the loss caused by it. Statutory rights to avoid the contract, particularly for fraudulent misrepresentation, remain unaffected.

Do I need to assist my partner lawyer during a dispute?

Your partner lawyer may need your assistance, for example to obtain information or documents, discuss the next steps or ask you to make a decision. Deadlines can be very short, particularly in urgent proceedings. In these situations, your partner lawyer needs you to respond promptly.

If you seriously breach a duty to cooperate that is essential to the funding, the conditions and consequences set out in question 7.e apply correspondingly to termination and any claims for compensation.

Must I follow my partner lawyer’s recommendations?

After receiving independent advice from the partner lawyer, you decide for yourself whether and how to pursue your rights in or out of court. advokio has no right to direct, approve or veto your legal decisions or the lawyer’s work. If you substantially change the aim of the funded proceedings, or wish to take or continue measures that materially reduce the prospects of success or increase the cost risk compared with the circumstances underlying the funding commitment, advokio may make an independent funding and risk decision to end funding prospectively for the affected measures that have not yet been irrevocably initiated. advokio will notify you of its decision and the main reasons in text form. Merely departing from a lawyer’s recommendation does not, by itself, justify terminating funding or reclaiming costs already covered.

Can I end advokio’s litigation funding?

You may terminate the funding agreement at any time. Termination ends funding for the future but does not also end the legal engagement. Costs covered by the commitment that have accrued, or have been irrevocably triggered by measures already initiated, before termination takes effect remain covered even if they are quantified, invoiced or become due later. Exercising your right to terminate does not, by itself, entitle advokio to repayment. Statutory claims for an independent breach of duty remain unaffected. Withdrawal is governed by section 10 and the applicable law.

What happens if I end my engagement with the partner lawyer early?

You may end the engagement under the rules that apply to it. Terminating or withdrawing from the engagement does not, by itself, breach the funding agreement or require you to repay costs already covered. After the engagement has effectively ended, advokio may terminate funding for further legal services with effect for the future. Costs covered by the commitment that have already accrued or have been irrevocably triggered by measures already initiated remain covered. Continuing funding with another lawyer, and covering any additional costs of changing lawyers, requires a separate funding commitment. You do not need advokio’s consent to change lawyers.

Who pays advokio and the partner lawyer?

The partner lawyer’s fees and expenses arise under the legal engagement. To the extent covered by the funding commitment, advokio pays them to discharge your liability for those costs. Reimbursements and other cover are credited against covered costs as set out in this section. If they are insufficient or not received, advokio bears the costs covered by its commitment.

The partner lawyer may pay advokio under a separate agreement for independent IT and support services. These general terms do not govern that remuneration. It gives advokio no authority to influence the legal work and is not charged to you as an additional fee merely because litigation funding is provided.

What happens to my right to recover costs if I win a dispute or other proceedings?

If you win a dispute, for example in court or administrative proceedings, you may be entitled to recover costs from the opposing party, such as the public youth welfare authority. Because advokio covers the costs of pursuing your rights for litigation funding products as described in section 7, you hereby assign those cost recovery claims to advokio to the extent that they relate to costs of the stages covered by the funding commitment. If you have already assigned such claims to the partner lawyer, you hereby assign to advokio any corresponding claim you have against that lawyer for payment of the recovered costs. In both cases, you authorise advokio to notify the person liable to pay of the assignment. The assignments cover costs assumed by advokio that have already been paid and those still to be paid. They do not extend to the main claim pursued through the product, such as a claim to a childcare place. advokio may use amounts collected only to cover costs it has assumed, including outstanding payment claims for those costs. The same cost claim may not be paid twice. Any surplus remaining after full settlement that is not needed to cover costs belongs to you; advokio will also release assigned claims no longer needed to that extent. The settlement provisions in question 7.l remain unaffected.

What if I want to settle with the opposing party?

The opposing party may offer to end the dispute through a settlement without a court decision. A settlement is an agreement under which both parties make concessions to reach an acceptable compromise, bringing the dispute and court proceedings to an end.

If you are offered a settlement, the partner lawyer will advise you on it. The decision whether to accept is yours alone. Neither the partner lawyer nor advokio has a right to participate in that decision.

Funding for covered costs does not end merely because you agree in a settlement to each party bearing its own costs, a particular allocation of costs or a waiver of cost reimbursement. advokio continues to cover the procedural and settlement costs within its funding commitment. To the extent cost recovery claims have been assigned to advokio, it authorises you to dispose of them as part of a settlement of the funded dispute. Additional obligations you assume in a settlement outside the funding commitment are not funded as a result. Statutory rights arising from fraudulent misrepresentation or another independent breach of duty remain unaffected.

What happens if I do something unlawful, contrary to accepted standards of conduct, discriminatory, degrading, defamatory or insulting on advokio’s website?

Your communications and other conduct on or through advokio’s website must not break the law or be contrary to accepted standards of conduct, discriminatory, degrading, defamatory or insulting. In the event of a serious breach of contract, advokio may terminate the affected user agreement for good cause where the statutory conditions are met. The circumstances and both parties’ interests must be considered. Where required, you will first be given an opportunity to remedy the breach or a warning. Termination of litigation funding is governed exclusively by the conditions and consequences in section 7. Action taken by advokio does not end the engagement with the partner lawyer.

What security rules must I follow when using advokio’s website?

You must protect your login details and confidential communications from unauthorised access. You may share login details with authorised employees only to the extent expressly permitted by section 11. You must take reasonable and proportionate precautions to keep content you submit, such as PDF files, as free of malware as possible.

What copyright rules apply?

All content on or provided through advokio.com, including text, graphics, logos, button icons, images, audio clips, digital downloads and data collections, belongs to advokio, partner lawyers or third parties supplying or publishing content on the website (each a “rights holder”) and is protected by German and international copyright law. The compilation of content on or provided through advokio.com also belongs to the relevant rights holder and is protected by German and international copyright law.

May I extract data from advokio databases or analyse the systems of advokio or partner lawyers?

You may not systematically extract or reuse content on or provided through advokio.com without advokio’s written consent. In particular, you may not use data mining, robots or similar data collection and extraction tools to extract content from advokio.com for reuse, whether once or repeatedly, without written consent. You may not create or publish a database containing advokio.com content without advokio’s written consent.

How may I use products obtained through advokio.com?

Unless the relevant partner lawyer’s terms provide otherwise, you may use a product for yourself for its intended purpose. You may reproduce and modify it for that purpose. However, neither advokio nor partner lawyers accept liability for such modifications or their consequences. You may not use products as samples or templates or provide them to third parties unless this is necessary for the product’s intended purpose.

For example, you may use articles of association for a GmbH obtained through advokio.com for an existing or newly incorporated GmbH. You may amend them if you consider this necessary. As articles of association are published in the commercial register and must be provided in business dealings, for example to banks or business partners, you may publish or send them for those purposes. You may not use them for another GmbH or provide them to third parties as a sample or template.

After buying a product, how often can I recreate or change it through the questionnaire?

Generally, you can create and download a product once through the questionnaire. Once you have completed the questionnaire and downloaded the product, you can no longer modify it through advokio.com. If you provide an email address, we also send you the documents you purchased after the purchase.

Can I withdraw from a product purchase or litigation funding agreement with advokio?

If you are a consumer within the meaning of section 13 BGB and enter into a contract with advokio at a distance, for example by email or telephone, or away from business premises, you may have a statutory right of withdrawal if the relevant conditions are met. Sending an enquiry does not create a contract. Legal engagement and cost coverage agreements are separate contracts; withdrawal must be declared to the relevant contracting party. You will receive the withdrawal information applicable to each contract, including the model withdrawal form, in good time before making your contractual declaration. The legally required contract confirmation, including that information, will be supplied on a durable medium, such as email. The law firm is responsible for this for the legal engagement; advokio is responsible for the cost coverage agreement.

Who do I notify if I want to withdraw?

Notify advokio to withdraw from the funding agreement and the partner lawyer to withdraw from the legal engagement. Withdrawing from one contract does not automatically withdraw you from the other.

How do I notify advokio?

You may withdraw by any clear statement, for example by letter or email. The withdrawal information provided for your cost coverage agreement applies.

Model withdrawal form (complete and send only if you wish to withdraw from the contract):

To advokio UG (haftungsbeschränkt), Im Kammereck 12e, 63329 Egelsbach; email: widerruf@advokio.com; telephone: 06103-3018552; fax: 06103-3107367.

I/We hereby give notice that I/we withdraw from my/our contract for the following service: [description]. Contract concluded on: [date]. Name and address of the consumer(s): [details]. Date; signature required only if submitted on paper.

How do I notify advokio Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft?

Withdrawal from the legal engagement is governed by the withdrawal information provided by advokio Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH when the contract was concluded. Its terms of engagement are available at https://www.advokio-legal.com/AGB/.

What are the general effects of withdrawal?

If you validly withdraw from a contract with advokio, advokio will reimburse payments received without undue delay and no later than fourteen days after receiving your notice. It will generally use the same payment method as for the original payment, at no charge to you. The statutory details and exceptions are set out in the withdrawal information supplied when the contract was concluded.

What if I asked for performance to begin before the withdrawal period ended?

If you asked advokio to begin a paid service before the withdrawal period expired, you must pay only the compensation for value required by law if you validly withdraw. The conditions and amount are governed by the applicable law and the withdrawal information supplied when the contract was concluded.

Do I need a client account to use advokio.com?

Generally, you do not need a client account to purchase products on advokio.com. However, some products, such as litigation funding products, are available only with a client account.

What should I do when creating a client account?

Protect your login details from unauthorised access and limit access to authorised people. Notify advokio immediately if you suspect misuse. Whether and to what extent you are liable for unauthorised use depends on the applicable statutory requirements.

May I share my client account?

If you are a business and several employees need access to your client account, you may share the login details with employees authorised for that purpose. Within your statutory duties, you must ensure that they keep the details confidential and protect them against unauthorised access. Whether and to what extent their acts or omissions are attributable to you is governed by law.

Can advokio terminate my client account?

In the event of a serious breach of contract, advokio may terminate the affected user agreement for good cause and deactivate the client account where the statutory conditions are met. Where required, you will first be given an opportunity to remedy the breach or a warning. Temporary suspension is permitted only where necessary and proportionate to prevent misuse or address a specific risk. Suspending or deactivating the account ends neither a legal engagement nor agreed litigation funding. Termination of those arrangements is governed exclusively by the conditions and consequences in section 7. Necessary case documents and communication with the partner lawyer will be made available through another suitable channel; professional responsibility remains with the partner lawyer.

Must the information in my client account be up to date?

If you have a client account, advokio assumes that all information in it, including contact details, is accurate and complete. You must update it promptly if anything changes. Until you do so, advokio may assume that the information in your client account is correct and complete.

How do I pay for advokio’s services?

advokio does not charge you to submit an enquiry through advokio.com. Any fee for another advokio service is determined by the price disclosed before the contract is concluded and the relevant agreement. The partner lawyer’s legal fees and any funding of them are governed by the engagement contract, section 7 and the relevant funding commitment.

How do I pay for the partner lawyer’s services?

You owe the partner lawyer fees and expenses under the engagement contract and the applicable law or a valid remuneration agreement. To the extent covered by its funding commitment, advokio pays those liabilities on your behalf under section 7. A funding commitment does not change your position as the person liable for the costs.

Which law applies to contracts with advokio?

Contracts with advokio are governed by German law. If you are a consumer habitually resident in another country, that country’s mandatory consumer protection rules remain unaffected.

Can advokio change these terms unilaterally?

For an existing contractual relationship, changes to these general terms take effect only with your consent. advokio will inform you of proposed changes by email. You may consent by email; silence does not constitute consent.

advokio may change these terms for future contractual relationships at any time without giving a reason.

What happens if part of these terms is invalid?

If a provision is or becomes wholly or partly invalid, the remaining provisions continue to apply to the extent permitted by law. The relevant statutory rules replace the invalid provision.

Which language version is legally binding?

The German-language version of these general terms and conditions is legally binding. Versions in other languages are informal translations only and are not legally binding. The German-language version prevails.

Which courts have jurisdiction over disputes with advokio?

To the extent permitted by section 38 ZPO, Frankfurt am Main is the exclusive place of jurisdiction. Otherwise, the statutory rules on jurisdiction apply.

Last updated: 2 November 2026