Kiwi agritech start-up uses home-grown marketplace to get legal services

The way Kiwis are accessing and using lawyers has changed.

Fixed fees and a client-centric focus are now the name of the game, making using legal services much less daunting.

Acuris Systems, a start-up focused on revolutionising the kiwifruit industry is one organisation benefiting from the legal industry's pricing shakeup, led by NZ startup Consensus.

Acuris uses autonomous robotics technology to capture and process more data about a kiwifruit producer's yield than traditional solutions can.

It aims to drive a new style of data-driven decision making in orchard practices and management.

Consensus CEO Anton Smith says, "Consensus is bridging the gap between excellent, customer-focused lawyers and anyone who needs legal services.

"Nick and Acuris needed somewhere to start and we were thrilled Consensus could provide them with a way to find a lawyer to meet their needs at a fixed price.

Clients have supposedly never had a choice like this before and, best of all, it's free for them to use.

"Our aim is for Consensus to be the trusted legal marketplace for New Zealand - and to better democratise access to legal services.

Consensus and Acuris both launched this year with the goal of achieving big disruption in their own industries.

Acuris Systems director Nicholas Woon says, "Choice and a fixed fee just weren't things I was expecting when we were looking for a lawyer.

"We needed someone who could get up to speed quickly on our job so that we could start piloting our tech to growers. We decided to post our job on Consensus and got two great proposals from lawyers in Auckland and Christchurch.

"We wouldn't have found those lawyers and probably wouldn't have been able to find a fixed fee arrangement without Consensus. Now we're ready to launch our pilot programme and we're really excited about what's to come.