Complementary, not competing.
civitas. is not a Rechtsdienstleister. We serve the standard application — and refer complex cases to partner law firms. Three cooperation models with measurable contribution to law-firm results.
Six challenges that Migrationsrecht (migration law) Kanzleien (law firms) know well.
Mandates under § 10 and § 9 StAG (German Nationality Act) are largely routine in craft — but not always lucrative fee-wise. At the same time, there is no structured channel for the genuinely demanding cases.
Standard § 10 Mandat (mandate) at 10–15 hours of effort.
Legal representation in an Anspruchseinbürgerung (entitlement-based naturalisation) is typically billed at 1,500 to 3,500 euros — with an actual time expenditure that pushes the net hourly rate below the firm average.
Visibility in the migration legal market.
Migration-law Kanzleien (firms) largely live off word-of-mouth referrals. Growth is hard to plan, and the effort spent on online marketing is often disproportionate to the mandate volume achieved.
Initial consultations without engagement.
A relevant share of inquiries does not lead to a mandate — either because the case is too simple or does not fit the firm's focus. The time invested remains tied up nonetheless, and is typically unpaid.
Forms instead of legal dogmatics.
A significant portion of mandate work in citizenship law involves filling in forms, sorting and researching — activities no lawyer was trained for. The focus shifts away from legal substance.
The ideal client doesn't find you.
§ 8 StAG Ermessenseinbürgerung (discretionary naturalization), Widerspruchsverfahren (appeal proceedings) after a denial, administrative court litigation — these are the cases that pay well in fees. But these are precisely the clients who often only come to the law firm when much is already too late.
Growth only with personnel.
Classical Kanzleien grow through new hires. In such a specialised field as Migrationsrecht (migration law), qualified attorneys are hard to attract — and building a team takes years. Existing teams hit their capacity ceiling.
How civitas. addresses each of these challenges.
Instead of replacing the Kanzlei (law firm), civitas. complements it in both directions: we take on simple cases, we send complex cases. You decide what fits your business model.
Hand off standard Mandate (mandates).
Standard Mandate (mandates) under § 10 StAG that do not justify the effort of anwaltlich (lawyer) accompaniment can be passed on to civitas. Your Mandant (client) gets their product; you save 10 to 15 hours per case.
Flat one-time fee of 50 euros per referral. Billed monthly, DATEV-compatible.
Receive complex mandates.
civitas. automatically checks standardisability during the Anspruchs-Check (entitlement check). Cases involving § 8 Ermessenseinbürgerung (discretionary naturalization), Vorstrafen (criminal record), Ablehnungsbescheiden (rejection notices), Widersprüchen (objections), or Klagen (lawsuits) are referred to partner law firms — pre-filtered, documented, ready for handover.
Commission between 150 and 350 Euro per successfully referred mandate, depending on the case. No upfront payment, no minimum purchase.
Workflow tool for your own cases.
Even for standard mandates that you deliberately keep, use civitas. as a wizard: the client fills it out digitally, you review it as a lawyer. The administrative part is eliminated.
One Standard package licence (299 Euro) per client as a pass-through expense. Time savings in Kanzlei (law firm) operations typically five to eight hours per mandate.
Affiliate on the firm website.
Your law firm's website has visitors who want a standard application — for whom you are not the right contact. Instead of turning them away: link to civitas. with tracking. 20 percent commission per completed package.
At a 299 euro standard package and 20 percent commission, this corresponds to 59.80 euros per conversion — passive, without mandate management.
Legally high-quality case material.
The cases referred via civitas. are by definition non-standardisable — and therefore legally interesting. Discretionary decisions, fundamental rights questions, biographies that require comparative analysis.
For law firms looking to sharpen their identity as specialists, this is a curated mandate portfolio instead of random intake.
Three revenue streams on one interface.
Incoming referrals, outgoing referrals and affiliate tracking — visible in a shared pipeline. The following representation shows an example scenario with fictitious mandate data.
Not just efficiency — revenue too.
Kanzleien earn from civitas. through three directions simultaneously. Which of these streams you use is individually configurable — no minimum commitment, no exclusivity.
Case-specific tiering: €150 for simple biographical complexity, €200 for § 8 Ermessen (discretion) and objections, €350 for administrative court actions. Payout upon acceptance of the engagement.
You refer a Mandant (client) with a simple § 10 Antrag (application) to civitas. The Mandant pays their package directly to us, you receive a one-off fee — without further Mandatsverwaltung (mandate administration).
With the 299 € standard package, this amounts to 59.80 € per conversion. Passive, without mandate management. Tracking link, monthly payout, cookies valid for 90 days.
Three ways of working together.
Each model can be used individually, combined, and adjusted at any time. Entry typically starts with one model; additional streams can be activated once proven.
Bidirectional referral program.
Inbound: civitas. refers complex cases to your firm — provided you have configured your practice areas (§ 8, appeal, litigation, special cases), regional jurisdiction and capacity in the partner settings.
Outbound: You refer standard mandates to civitas. — via a firm-specific link or directly from the firm dashboard. The client lands in the civitas. wizard with pre-filled data.
Workflow tool for your own cases.
You retain the Mandat (mandate), but use the civitas. wizard for Antragserfassung (application capture). The Mandant (client) fills out the wizard in their language; you handle the anwaltlich (lawyer) side and take charge of the strategic points.
Time savings come from eliminating administrative tasks: translations, form filling, document checks, client communication on basic questions. The lawyer's added value concentrates on the genuinely legal steps.
Affiliate tracking on the firm website.
You integrate a tracking link to civitas. on your Kanzlei (law firm) website — typically with a note such as: „For standard applicants under § 10 StAG, we recommend civitas."
civitas. captures visitors via the link, tracks them for 90 days (cookies), and pays you 20 percent commission on each completed package. Monthly billing, dashboard with traffic and conversion statistics.
Interfaces to your existing Kanzlei (law firm) software.
civitas. complements your existing law-firm infrastructure, it does not replace it. Adapters for the common German law-firm systems are available or individually configurable.
Automatic synchronisation of invoices, commission statements and mandate accounting.
AvailableKanzleisoftware integration: case creation, deadline management, document filing.
AvailableBesonderes elektronisches Anwaltspostfach (special electronic lawyer mailbox, beA) — legally binding service of pleadings to authorities and courts.
AvailableAlternative firm software — adapter for firms without an RA-MICRO setup.
AvailableDocument automation for objections and statements of claim, based on structured case data.
On requestProprietary Kanzlei (law firm) systems or in-house developments — individual interface configurable during the pilot.
On requestNo competition with your Kanzlei.
civitas. is not a Rechtsdienstleister (legal service provider) within the meaning of the Rechtsdienstleistungsgesetz. We provide technical procedural support — no interpretation of individual cases, no legal advice, no representation before authorities or courts.
Thus civitas. is structurally not in competition with your law firm but complements the legal offering: cases that require legal expertise we leave to you — cases that only need structured intake we handle. This boundary is built into our product architecture and made transparent in the eligibility check.
What typically comes up in the exploratory conversation.
Answers to the five questions that regularly come up in initial conversations with law firms practising migration law. We clarify further topics individually.
Exploratory call on Kanzlei (law firm) cooperation.
In an initial conversation of around 45 minutes, we clarify which of the three cooperation models fits your firm structure and what the concrete integration would look like. The conversation is non-binding; you decide on next steps afterwards.