JHeng is a legal profession ecosystem set to revolutionise the way clients and lawyers are matched, putting clients in front of the right lawyer while lawyers benefit from a comprehensive brief before the initial consultation.
Knowing where to start is a challenge for many people facing legal problems. People can find themselves as applicants, respondents, someone who’s received a letter from a lawyer or someone who needs one sent. It is one thing for individuals to be aware of their rights; it is another to be able to find the right legal advocate to apply those rights.
“The days of relying on family and friends referring you to their lawyer are over,” says Lingwei Kong, founder of the JHeng app which matches lawyers and clients. “Online searches are also becoming a thing of the past because they often come up with results for lawyers who don’t meet the exact needs of clients.
“It’s also a challenge for lawyers because visibility on Google does not translate into leads for clients. Especially for small to medium-size law firms, initial consultations with clients use a lot of resources. The greatest resource consumed is time because typical booking systems do not require clients to fully articulate their needs.”
A greater challenge for clients is not simply finding a lawyer who meets their specific needs. Says Kong, who is a practising criminal lawyer, “A lot of people don’t know where to begin, a common issue is if they are sent a letter of demand. This might be as a result of an ongoing dispute, or it might come out of the blue.
“In this case JHeng becomes a resource for people to understand their situation, one of the keys to that understanding is that we use AI to generate a summary for each client and then recommend six or seven lawyers to choose from.”
Choice is an integral part of the JHeng platform, giving clients the opportunity for free consultations with a number of different lawyers. “Lawyers are happy to provide consultations to clients they connect with on JHeng,” he says, “because our platform has already qualified these clients.
“It’s just as important on the client end, JHeng is not simply a time saving app, it connects with lawyers who have been briefed on their situation and have the expertise and resources to find a resolution.
“We go far beyond matching clients and lawyers, JHeng is unique as it is a true a legal professional ecosystem.”
SEO no substitute for finding a lawyer
Search engine optimisation (SEO) has become an effective sales and marketing tool across a number of sectors but for the legal profession it is different. A high Google ranking does not guarantee the best service, nor does a low ranking mean a lawyer cannot meet client needs.
“JHeng bypasses SEO,” says Kong, “because we don’t believe it’s a good tool for matching clients and lawyers. Within our app, front page results constantly rotate so there is no ranking system. This makes sure that small and medium-sized firms are equally highlighted.”
Cost of wrong advice
Says Kong, one of the reasons he brought his team together to develop JHeng was from direct experience. “I had two clients engage me with significant legal problems and it became clear very quickly that their first lawyers had provided them with bad advice.
“The only solution they were left with was to go back to the beginning and start again. However, they had exhausted all of their funds, they were stuck and ultimately lost.”
He says, “I realised there wasn’t a resource that could help people ignorant of the law to navigate their problems.
It wasn’t enough to say they made bad choices; they were in a situation where they did not know how to make choices.
Knowledge of the law and the ability to leverage off AI was the foundation of JHeng.”
Platform for non-English speakers
One group who potentially suffer far greater consequences of lack of knowledge of the law are those from a migrant background or who speak little or no English. Presently JHeng has developed a Chinese platform in parallel to its English platform.
Says Kong, “Many people have difficulty understanding how Google works, so they don’t even have a starting point.
“Quite often their legal issues become magnified because people can become fearful of their immigration status—this leads people into situations where they take bad advice, hire the first lawyer they meet and get the worst possible outcome.”
The JHeng Chinese platform employs a team of NAATI-accredited translators who can assist with putting together an initial consultation brief, help over the telephone and consultations with clients.
“The JHeng advantage,” he says, “is that Chinese clients, for example, don’t have to engage the first lawyer they meet. Through the platform they can get consultations with six or seven lawyers, and we can help them to overcome the language barrier so they can make their own choices best suited to their needs.”
A growth story
Currently focussed on Sydney, JHeng has plans to move into the Melbourne and Brisbane markets in 2027. Says Kong, “One of the key challenges is to help change the mindset of law firms. JHeng will not replace what they are doing it is a partner app that will assist in what they are doing.
“Already in a short space of time we have attracted 50 law firms to the JHeng platform. Our mid-term goal is to have a double-digit percentage of Sydney lawyers using our platform while rolling out into other markets.”
