Hire contract lawyers directly, with no agency in between.
The short version
- Middleman
- None. You deal with the lawyer directly.
- Upfront cost
- Nothing. Posting and interviewing are free.
- Names
- Hidden until you reveal a profile or book an interview.
- Our fee
- Up to 10% of the lawyer's salary, paid by the company.
- Our signature
- Added within three business days of yours.
Step by step
What happens, in order.
- 01
You post the role.
Set your job scope, rate, dates, and practice area. The posting goes live to lawyers looking for contract work. This costs you nothing.
- 02
Applications arrive shielded.
You see the lawyers' practice areas, experiences, locations, and what they ask for in compensation. Not names, contact details, or résumés. This information remains hidden until you choose to reveal it.
- 03
You decide when the lawyer's identity is revealed.
Only two things open an identity: revealing a profile or booking an interview. Shortlisting a candidate and negotiating employment terms open nothing.
- 04
You agree terms directly.
Offers and counter-offers run between the two of you, with deadlines, so nothing stalls. No account manager relaying messages, and no mark-up you cannot see.
- 05
We check the paperwork and step back.
You upload a redacted version of the letter of employment into our system (but keep the compensation, the company name, the lawyer's name, and the date visible). The lawyer states the agreed compensation independently. We check that the two figures match.
- 06
You sign with us, and the engagement starts.
The platform services agreement for the engagement is between your company and TheWhereCompany Private Ltd. You sign it, we add our signature within three business days, and the engagement goes live. Nothing is active, and no fee is raised, until both signatures are on it and the lawyer's own figure has matched.
What it costs you
What a contract lawyer actually costs you.
Put in your own numbers. The model compares one contract lawyer, hired three ways, against the legal budget a company of your size typically holds.
Every figure is in SGD and every rate is per month.
S$117,096 saved
Compared with Alternative Legal Service Providers (ALSP) over 6 months · 53.7% of your annual legal budget.
Our fee on this engagement: S$6,600
The same figures
| Route | Total cost | Per month | % of legal budget | You save |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WhereLawyer | S$72,600 | S$12,100 | 33.3% | — |
| ALSP | S$189,696 | S$31,616 | 87% | S$117,096 |
| Recruitment agency | S$92,400 | S$15,400 | 42.4% | S$19,800 |
- 1.1.09% of revenue on legal. ACC 2023 Law Department Management Benchmarking Report: median total legal spend is 0.63% of revenue across all participants, and 1.09% for companies under US$1B — the band every Singapore SME sits in.
- 2.US$152 per hour. Axiom's own published average engagement rate across its won Commercial & Contract Law engagements in 2026, which Axiom notes is not a quote for every engagement. Shown here as S$31,616 a month — 160 billed hours at US$152, converted at 1.30.
- 3.SGD 11,000 a month. Midpoint of the 2026 Singapore range for Legal Counsel at 3–6 PQE (SGD 8,000–14,000). Senior Counsel at 6–10 PQE runs SGD 12,000–20,000.
- 4.20% agency fee. Typical placement fee on first-year salary; the usual range is 15–25%, often against a retainer and payable whether or not the hire works out.
Illustrative modelling, not a quote and not advice. Whether an engagement is a contract for services or employment carries real CPF and MOM consequences in Singapore — confirm the treatment before relying on any figure here.
The alternatives
Why not a job board, or an agency?
A job board gives you volume.
And leaves you to do everything else: sifting, chasing, scheduling, negotiating and papering. Nobody on it is there specifically for contract legal work, and nothing protects a candidate's identity while you decide.
An agency takes 20% or more.
Of what you pay the lawyer, and it stands between you and the lawyer for the whole conversation. The rate the lawyer sees is rarely the rate you pay.
Pricing
You pay only when work starts.
To post, shortlist and interview
Free
Nothing to post. Nothing to shortlist. Nothing to interview.
When an engagement goes live
10%
At most, and lower on longer terms. Charged to the company, never taken from the lawyer’s pay. You see the figure before you sign.
We never take more than 10% of what you pay your lawyer as our platform fee.
What you should expect from us
We check the paperwork. Then we step back.
- 01
We sign within three business days.
You sign the platform services agreement first. We add our signature within three business days, and the engagement goes live once both signatures are on it.
- 02
We read the letter, and keep one figure.
The compensation check reads your letter of employment automatically and keeps only the compensation figure. Blacking text out in a PDF does not remove it — delete anything you do not want sent, because a visual redaction is still in the file. If the check cannot settle the figure, one of us opens the letter to resolve it by hand.
- 03
Every reveal is on the record.
We keep the exact terms you agreed to, who revealed the profile and when, in a record no one can edit afterwards. The lawyer is told every time.
- 04
Your candidates stay yours.
We do not contact your candidates on your behalf.
Who does what
Who does what, and where we step in.
Every step of an engagement, and the places we touch it.
- Step 01
CompanyPosts the role: scope, rate, dates, and practice area.
WhereLawyer
- Step 02
LawyerApplies. Name, firm, and résumé stay hidden.
WhereLawyerWe hold the shield.
- Step 03
CompanyShortlists and compares.
WhereLawyer
- Step 04
CompanyReveals a profile, or books an interview.
LawyerIs told, every time.
WhereLawyerWe open the identity, and record who did it and when.
- Step 05
CompanyInterviews and negotiates.
LawyerInterviews and negotiates.
WhereLawyer
- Step 06
CompanySigns the letter of employment with the lawyer.
LawyerSigns the letter of employment with the company.
WhereLawyer
- Step 07
CompanyUploads it, redacted.
LawyerStates the agreed compensation, separately.
WhereLawyerWe check the two figures match.
- Step 08
CompanySigns the platform services agreement with us.
WhereLawyerWe add our signature within three business days. The engagement goes live, and our fee is raised: up to 10% of the lawyer's salary, paid by the company.
- Step 09
CompanyRenews, amends, or lets it end.
LawyerRenews, amends, or lets it end.
WhereLawyerWe remind both sides before the term ends.
Worth a conversation?
Write to us and one of us answers. Not a sales team, and not a ticket queue.