WoltersKluwer offers a so-called contract generator in Germany under the "smartlaw" brand. The Hanseatic Bar Association in Hamburg filed a lawsuit against this with reference to the Legal Services Act and won at first level. However, the German Federal Supreme Court (BGH) has now confirmed the amending judgment of the Cologne Higher Regional Court (I ZR 113/20 - Contract Document Generator).
In detail, the BGH stated that the creation of a draft contract with the help of the digital legal document generator is not an unfair act according to § 3a UWG because it does not represent an unauthorized legal service within the meaning of § 2 para. 1, § 3 of the Legal Services Act (dRDG). The defendant's activity consists of creating contractual documents on the basis of the user's specifications with the help of the software programmed and made available on the Internet. In doing so, it does not act in a specific matter of the user. It had programmed the software on the basis of thinkable typical factual constellations, for which it had developed standardized contract clauses in anticipation of the given answers. The user's individual circumstances, which go beyond the usual case, would not be taken into account in the creation of the contract document - similar to a form book. Therefore, the user does not expect a legal examination of his specific case.
The German bar association is conducting a whole series of lawsuits against providers of LegalTech applications; so far, they have mostly ended in favor of the providers. However, it should be noted in each case that the German legal situation has no direct equivalent in Austria.
