How Caunsel works

Caunsel is an independent self-help software platform. You can research public law with AI, listen in on a conversation and get a written summary (Ambient Mode), organise documents and cases, and — if you want — connect with independent, verified lawyers for video consultations or marketplace work.

It does not create an attorney–client relationship by itself. AI answers, panel reports, and drafts are general information so you can prepare. You remain responsible for filings, deadlines, and outcomes. Where the law allows you to represent yourself, you can use Caunsel as the tool for that.

Customer if you need help with your own matter: AI research, fact-checking, Ambient Mode, listing an issue for lawyers, video consultations, cases, and a private vault.

Lawyer if you are a licensed professional. You get marketplace listings, exclusive claims, on-demand consultations when you go online, client messaging, payouts, and the same AI practice tools on your own work.

Choose the role during signup on web or mobile. Use the same Google or email on every device — web, iOS, Android, and any connected enterprise tools should match that identity.

No. Caunsel is not a law firm and does not appear as your counsel. Licensed lawyers on the platform are independent. Advice they give on a call is theirs, not Caunsel’s. Always treat AI output as a starting point, not a filing or a court appearance.

Web: start at caunsel.com (Sign in). After login you get a sidebar: Home, Matters, Advice, Panel Review, Tasks, Vault, Voice, Ambient, Fact Checker, Talk to Lawyer, and (for lawyers) Marketplace. You can describe an issue on the homepage before you have an account.

iOS and Android: install from the App Store or Google Play. The bottom bar covers Home, Matters, Tasks (customers) or Marketplace (lawyers), and Vault. Other tools open from home cards or the menu.

Use the same login on both. Cases, vault files, credits, and messages follow the account, not the device — after you unlock with your PIN on that device.

• Video consultations — camera, mic, and going online as a lawyer are built for the phone. The browser can join a call if you allow camera and microphone.
• Incoming call alerts — lawyers on iOS/Android get push notifications when a client requests a consult. On web, keep the tab open; the dashboard watches for incoming requests without push.
• Hey Caunsel — say the wake word to open voice chat. This is mobile only (including the Android “listening” notification). It is not on the website.
• Ambient Mode — hold the phone near the speaker in a meeting, interview, or hearing. The browser can still use the mic if you grant permission. Fact Checker is for a single claim; Ambient is for the whole conversation.
• QR invites — scan a case invite with the phone camera. On web, share or paste the invite link instead.

• Advice (text chat), Panel Review, Cases, Vault, Tasks, Legal Email — easier to type, attach files, and read long reports on a laptop.
• Marketplace (lawyers) — browse and bid from the sidebar without switching apps.
• Subscriptions on web — billed with Stripe (card or, in India, UPI AutoPay). Mobile plans are billed through Apple or Google. Cancel in the same place you subscribed: App Store, Play Store, or the in-app/web billing portal. A Play/App Store plan cannot be cancelled via Stripe on the website.

Mobile: iOS and Android will ask for microphone (voice, fact checker, ambient, wake word) and camera (video calls). You can change this later in system Settings.

Web: the browser asks the first time you start voice, ambient, fact checker, or a video call. If a tool sits there with no audio, check the padlock in the address bar and allow mic/camera for caunsel.com. Wake word is still phone-only.

Web: on the homepage, describe your concern, then choose “answers with the statute” (AI) or list it for lawyers. You will sign up or sign in, accept terms, and land in the web app. Or go straight to Sign in.

Mobile: open the app, sign up as Customer or Lawyer, finish the profile (phone, name, country), set a PIN when asked, then use the home cards. The first time you open Advice, Panel, Fact Checker, Voice, Ambient, or Talk to Lawyer, you accept the feature terms.

Ask a legal question in text or voice, in plain language. Include your country (and state, if it matters). The advisor searches public sources and answers with citations to statutes or cases where it can find them.

Web: open Advice in the left sidebar. Mobile: tap the AI Legal Advisor card on home. Voice chat is on both; “Hey Caunsel” to start it hands-free is phone only.

How it helps: you get a first read of your rights at 2am — lease, notice period, employment, family, contracts — without waiting for an appointment. Use it to prepare questions before you talk to a lawyer, or to organise your own next steps.

You submit a situation and several AI specialist personas review it, then you get a written consensus: issues, risks, and recommendations with citations. It costs more credits and takes longer than a single chat answer.

Web: Panel Review in the sidebar. Mobile: Legal Panel Review from home (text or audio panel).

How it helps: use it when the problem has more than one angle (for example family plus property, or a contract with employment issues) and a single chat reply is not enough.

Speak or type a specific claim (“in my state you can be fired without notice”). The tool marks it FACT, FAKE/INCORRECT, or UNCERTAIN and shows an explanation and source.

On a phone, hold the device near the speaker. In the browser, allow the microphone when asked. Results save to history on both.

How it helps: check something a landlord, HR, a video, or the other side just said, while it is still in the room. It is not a live transcript of a court record — you still verify before you rely on it.

Ambient Mode listens to a conversation (meeting, interview, hearing, or discussion of a legal matter) without talking back. When you stop, it produces a written summary: key points, legal angles, and follow-ups. It can save that summary to a Case. Credits are charged per minute while it is listening.

It does not interrupt, answer questions, or act as a court reporter. Treat the summary as a starting note — you still verify facts, citations, and every deadline.

Web: Ambient in the left sidebar. Keep the tab open and allow the microphone. Mobile: Ambient Mode card on home (customers and lawyers), or from a Case. Keep the app in the foreground so the OS does not pause the mic.

How it helps: you can listen to a long conversation and walk away with a structured brief instead of scrambling for notes. Use Fact Checker when you need a yes/no on one claim; use Ambient when you need the whole discussion captured.

Two paths:

• On-demand video: pick a specialisation and request a live consultation. A verified lawyer who is online in that area can join a video call. You pay the consultation fee in advance (card via Stripe). After a completed call, you can keep messaging if both of you connect. Allow camera and mic in the app or in the browser.
• Marketplace: describe the issue (no personal names or addresses in the public listing). On web, start from the homepage or Matters. On mobile, list from a case or Talk to a Lawyer. Lawyers in that specialty can bid, or claim the matter exclusively. You choose who to work with. Listing is free.

Until you independently retain a lawyer, you remain a self-represented user of the self-help tools.

The listing leaves the open marketplace so other lawyers cannot take it at the same time. That lawyer can message you while you accept or deny. You decide whether to work with them. Caunsel does not pick the lawyer for you.

A Case is a workspace for one matter: documents, voice memos, chat, and AI tools (including a court debrief). You get a case number. You can invite a lawyer or another Caunsel user with a link, QR code, or invite code. Access is logged for the owner.

Open Matters in the web sidebar or the Matters tab on mobile. Invite by link on either; scan a QR with the phone camera.

How it helps: keep facts, papers, and AI notes together instead of spreading them across email and chat. Anyone you invite uses the same encrypted case — not a forwarded zip file.

A PIN-locked locker for contracts, IDs, evidence, and recordings. Files are encrypted with a key from your PIN before they are stored. Caunsel cannot read the stored files and cannot recover them if you lose the PIN.

Web: Vault in the sidebar — easier for dragging in PDFs. Mobile: Vault tab, plus camera for photos of paper documents. Unlock with the same PIN on each device.

If you attach a vault or case file to an AI question, it is decrypted so the model can read it. That transmission is not PIN-encrypted.

Legal Email can help you draft a notice or similar letter. If you tap send, you are the sender — not Caunsel. You must check the recipient and the text. Delivery and legal effect are not guaranteed. Drafting is easier on web; you can still send from the phone.

Tasks & Reminders try to catch dates from chat or voice. They are not a court calendar. You are still responsible for hearings and limitation periods. Web: Tasks in the sidebar (customers and lawyers). Mobile: Tasks tab for customers; lawyers open Tasks from the lawyer home cards (the bottom tab is Marketplace).

No. Employer-sponsored access is a voluntary self-help benefit, not your company’s legal department. Your employer does not receive the contents of chats, vault, or consultations. If they see usage reporting, it is high-level (that the benefit is used), not what you researched.

Sign in on the website or in the iOS/Android app with the same work email. Privacy is the same on both.

Sign up as a lawyer, complete your profile (name, phone, country, specialisations), and upload licences and certificates. Profiles are reviewed before you can take consultations or marketplace work. Approval is not an endorsement of your competence — it is a credential check.

Signup and document upload work on web and mobile. Scanning a licence photo is often easier on the phone; filling a long profile is often easier in the browser.

Open listings show anonymised client issues in your specialty and country. You can submit a bid (fee + short message) or pay to claim a matter exclusively. Exclusive claim takes the listing off the board so you can message the client while they accept or deny.

Web: Marketplace in the sidebar. Mobile: Marketplace tab on lawyer home.

How it helps: you see inbound work without cold outreach. You only pay the exclusive fee when you want that conversation; bidding is the other path. Honour accepted bids — fictitious bids can get you removed.

Set specialisations and toggle availability on your lawyer home (app or web). When a customer requests a call in your area, you can accept. On the phone you get a push notification; in the browser keep Caunsel open so the dashboard can show the incoming request. Consultations are live video; Caunsel does not record or sit in. After a completed call, either of you can continue in messages.

How it helps: spare-time paid advice without a new office. You control when you are online. You are responsible for the advice you give.

Consultation and marketplace payments go through Stripe. Caunsel deducts a platform commission (currently 20%) and remits the rest. Payouts run on a weekly or monthly cycle after you finish payout onboarding (Stripe Connect) and meet the minimum in the lawyer portal.

Upheld client complaints can delay or reverse a payout. Do not move clients off-platform to avoid fees.

• AI Advisor — fast research while you prep, without billing every hour of hunting statutes.
• Legal Panel — stress-test an argument before you file.
• Fact Checker — check a citation or statute while the other side is speaking.
• Ambient Mode — listen through a client meeting or hearing, then get a summary with key points and legal angles (credits per minute).
• In-call AI — look something up without leaving the video session.
• Court debrief & voice memos — turn notes and recordings into structured case material (credits apply).

Open them from the web sidebar (Advice, Panel Review, Fact Checker, Ambient) or from home cards on mobile, same as customers. In-call AI is during a live video session. Court debrief and Ambient summaries can live on the case.

These tools do not replace your professional judgement. You remain the lawyer of record for anything you file or say in court.

Yes. Create a Case, invite the client with QR or link, keep documents and memos there, and store files in your PIN vault. Collaboration is for people you invite — not a public folder.

Web: Matters in the sidebar; share an invite link. Mobile: Matters tab; show a QR for the client to scan.

No. Marketplace and on-demand calls are optional. A lawyer subscription still includes the research tools, cases, and vault for your own practice.

Most AI features consume credits (chat, voice, panel, fact checker, ambient, some case AI). Plans renew monthly.

• iOS / Android: subscribe and cancel in the App Store or Google Play (at least 24 hours before renewal). Restore purchases in the app if you reinstall.
• Web: subscribe with Stripe (card or, in India, UPI AutoPay). Manage or cancel in the Caunsel billing portal on the website.

You cannot cancel a store subscription from the website, or a web subscription from the App Store. Unused credits do not cash out. A trial, where offered, becomes a paid plan if you do not cancel in time. Video consultations and exclusive marketplace claims are separate payments from monthly AI credits.

Your PIN protects stored content on Caunsel’s systems: text chat, voice sessions we keep, panel reports, vault files, and case materials. Caunsel does not hold your PIN and cannot recover that stored plaintext if it is lost.

Set or enter the PIN on each device (phone and browser). Skipping PIN setup on web means those features stay locked until you create one.

When you use an AI feature, the prompt, audio, or attached document is sent to the model in a form it can process. That hop is not PIN encryption. Do not send anything to AI that you are unwilling to share with the model.

Web: www.caunsel.com → Sign in (works on laptop and phone browsers).

iOS: App Store

Android: Google Play

Sign in with the same account. Set or enter your PIN on each new device before opening vault, cases, or chat history.

Email contactus@caunsel.com. Terms: Terms of Use. Privacy: Privacy Policy. Feature gate: Feature Service Agreement.