Traffic law vs. fine portals: visible locally instead of a lead supplier

How portals have changed search in traffic law

Hardly any area of law is as standardised as fine proceedings in Germany. One measuring method, one notice, a two-week deadline for the objection (§ 67 OWiG), plus the Bußgeldkatalog (the official catalogue of traffic fines) with fixed standard rates, points in Flensburg and driving bans. This very standardisation has attracted legal tech providers. They win the searches with large guide pages and fine calculators, advertise “free checks” nationwide and bundle the cases with partner firms that process them in large numbers with software.

For the people affected this is convenient. For law firms it means: for searches like “have a fine notice checked” or “traffic lawyer online free”, the top positions are almost entirely portals, guide sites and ads. Optimising against them hardly pays off for a small firm. Things look different for searches with a local reference and for matters that need personal advice: the accident with personal injury, the threatened driving ban for a professional driver, the licence at eight points. There, the firm that is visible locally and recognisably specialised wins.

How fine portals and referral platforms work

“Portal” is an umbrella term for very different models. A well-known example is Geblitzt.de, operated by CODUKA GmbH in Berlin. According to the company, the check is free for the people affected; the cost risk is borne by an existing legal expenses insurance policy or by the operator under litigation funding. The actual legal work is done by partner firms. Other platforms, such as advocado, pass on enquiries from many areas of law to partner lawyers. There are also lawyer directories with paid profiles and the networks of legal expenses insurers and motoring clubs.

The terms of individual providers change and are rarely public. So always check the specific contract: What exactly do you pay for, when does a fee fall due, who owns the contact with the client, and what happens to ongoing files if you terminate?

What § 49b BRAO allows: the 2024 BGH judgment

§ 49b(3), first sentence, BRAO (Federal Lawyers' Act) prohibits giving or accepting a share of fees or other benefits for referring work, whether to colleagues or to third parties. How far this goes was decided by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) on 18 April 2024 (IX ZR 89/23) in a dispute between the operator of Geblitzt.de and a former partner firm. According to press reports, the operator had claimed around €235,000 in “licence fees” for referred cases. The claim failed at every instance.

For your decision this means: a model that charges per case, per confirmation of cover or per billed case is risky for lawyers in Germany under professional rules. A fixed fee for a profile or software is easier to assess. Even then the general advertising rules apply: factual, no soliciting of individual cases (§ 43b BRAO, §§ 6 et seq. BORA, the professional code for lawyers). In Austria, the professional guidelines (RL-BA 2015) also prohibit commissions for referring cases. An overview of advertising law is given in the guide Advertising for lawyers in Germany; general advice on portal contracts is in Online directories for firms.

Does a partnership pay off? An honest calculation

“But the portals deliver” is a fair objection. A firm built for volume, with software, a well-practised team and billing with insurers, can do well with portal cases. For many smaller firms the calculation looks different once you set it up per case:

• Fee and effort: What is left per case after all costs, including time for inspecting the file, the measurement records, follow-up calls and billing the insurer?
• Case quality: How many cases end after the file inspection without further proceedings? How many involve a driving ban or points that really warrant advice?
• Client retention: Does the client remember your firm or the portal? Will she come back to you after the next accident, or go back to the portal's website?
• Dependence: How much revenue hangs on a single provider whose allocation, software and terms you do not control?
• Reputation and reviews: Reviews end up with the portal, not in your Google profile.

Positioning: accidents, driving bans and licences instead of mass fines

If you do not want to compete with portals for mass fine notices, focus on matters where people look for a person, not a form. In traffic law these are mainly three areas that need more advice and usually have a higher case value:

• Accident claims and personal injury: property damage, loss of use, expert reports, compensation for pain and suffering, loss of earnings. In Germany, after an accident that was not your client's fault, the lawyer's fees are usually part of the damage that the other side's liability insurer pays. That is the strongest argument on your website, as long as you phrase it correctly and without a guarantee.
• Driving bans and licences: a threatened driving ban (§ 25 StVG, Road Traffic Act), the four-month window for first offenders, points in the Fahreignungsregister (driving aptitude register) with withdrawal of the licence at eight points (§ 4 StVG), the MPU (medical-psychological assessment). This is about livelihoods: commuters, tradespeople, field sales staff.
• Traffic criminal law: leaving the scene of an accident, drunk driving, negligent bodily harm. If you also offer criminal defence, you combine both; tips are in the guide on the website for criminal defence lawyers.

If you are a Fachanwalt or Fachanwältin für Verkehrsrecht (certified specialist in traffic law), the title belongs prominently on every page: it is a verifiable mark of quality that no portal can take from you. Without the specialist title, name traffic law as a focus area; terms like “specialist” require corresponding expertise under § 7 BORA. How to structure focus areas on your website is shown in the guide Practice areas on the firm website.

What belongs on the website of a traffic law firm

You do not beat portals with more text, but with proximity and clarity. Write which towns and court districts you cover, whether you travel to hearings in the region, how quickly you call back and that clients have one fixed contact person at your firm. On legal expenses insurance, it pays to point out the free choice of lawyer (§ 127 VVG, Insurance Contract Act): many people do not know that they do not have to take the firm recommended by their insurer.

Be careful with “free”. You can offer a free initial assessment if it really is free and you say clearly what it costs afterwards. Whether and how far you may go below statutory fees depends on the stage of the proceedings (§ 49b(1) BRAO, § 4 RVG, the Lawyers' Remuneration Act). An honest sentence like “With legal expenses insurance you usually pay only your excess; we obtain the confirmation of cover for you” is often more convincing than an advertising promise.

How a good contact page with form, phone and directions is built is described in the guide The contact page of a law firm. For every topic page, check how the title and description look in search results, for example “Unfall Anwalt Dortmund: Regulierung und Schmerzensgeld”, with the free Google preview.

Visible locally: Google profile, reviews, directories, ads

For “traffic lawyer near me”, Google's map pack decides. Portals without an office in your town do not appear there, you do. This is the area where a small firm beats nationwide providers. The basics are described in the guide Local SEO for law firms; for traffic law these are the most important steps:

With search ads you compete with providers that spend large budgets. Broad terms like “geblitzt” (caught by a camera) or “Bußgeldbescheid” (fine notice) quickly get expensive and bring clicks from all over the country. Combinations of matter and town are more rewarding, together with a list of excluded terms such as “calculator”, “table” or “free”. How to set up campaigns in line with professional rules is explained in the guide Google Ads for law firms.

Austria: Strafverfügung, Vormerksystem and accidents

In Austria, traffic offences are administrative penalty matters. There is no appeal against an Anonymverfügung (anonymous penalty notice, § 49a VStG, Administrative Penal Act): anyone who does not pay in time faces ordinary proceedings, often in the form of a Strafverfügung (penalty order). An objection against it can be lodged within two weeks of service (§ 49 VStG). Certain offences are recorded in the driving licence register under § 30a Führerscheingesetz (FSG, Driving Licence Act); if records accumulate within two years, special measures follow, up to withdrawal of the driving licence. There are no points as in Flensburg.

Nationwide fine portals are far less visible in Austria than in Germany. Competition comes rather from motoring clubs such as ÖAMTC and ARBÖ, which offer legal advice to their members, and from the partner lawyers of legal expenses insurers. For firms this means: local search is even less crowded. If you create pages on traffic accidents, compensation for pain and suffering, licence withdrawal and the Strafverfügung and keep your Google profile up to date, your chances are good. In Austria too, commissions for referred cases are not allowed and advertising must stay factual; details in the guide Advertising for lawyers in Austria.

Advertising that stands up to professional rules

Which online listings count alongside your website and Google profile, and how to assess paid directories, is covered in the guide Online directories for firms. If you are looking for a first step: a “traffic accident” topic page with a local reference and a well-kept Google profile often bring more than any portal partnership.