When you need a lawyer, but don’t know where to look, why not try Legal Services Link, an online service which offers crowdsourcing to hire a lawyer. Matt Panzino did.

Mr. Panzino, 41, started looking for a lawyer when his former employer accused him of violating a non-compete provision in his employment contract. He had moved to Phoenix earlier this year with a new job selling medical devices. When his former employer threatened legal action in Chicago, he quickly realized that he needed an advocate to defend him. Friends recommended Legal Services Link, which connects those needing legal services with lawyers willing to render them. He signed up online, then posted an anonymous summary of his legal dispute.

“Within a matter of a day or two,” Mr. Panzino said, “I had four or five different attorneys who responded, describing their professional qualifications and background.” He ultimately settled his case with the help of one of the lawyers who replied.

Legal Services Link … was founded by Matthew Horn, a lawyer at the Chicago firm SmithAmundsen, who got the idea for a platform while searching for a practitioner to help him with estate planning after he and his wife had a child. “I asked friends, made calls and sent out emails,” he said. “But I couldn’t tell whether the attorneys were interested. It seemed like a lot of wasted time on both sides.”

He decided to see if crowdsourcing could apply to legal services, using a method similar to Uber’s ride-hailing service, which connects a consumer to a crowd of suppliers. Legal Services Link, which began in May 2015, creates a marketplace where a person can list a legal need to available lawyers. The site has 700 lawyers, many in the Chicago area - but not all - who pay $250 a year to be listed with their areas of expertise. Clients post summaries of legal disputes, list their geographic location and select a payment preference. The choices are hourly, a fixed fee or contingency. There is no cost for posting.

Lawyers can then respond, providing their name, practice specialties, experience and a cost or a range of prices for the legal service being sought. The lawyer also states what a problem of that type can cost. The client can compare the responses and decide whether to contact any of the lawyers for more specifics — and, possibly, to hire one.

There is no guarantee that a client will find an affordable lawyer - a consumer may find that a legal service is too costly - but the online platform helps pinpoint possible lawyers and allows the consumer to compare prices. So far, the online service has had 600 clients and 500 legal needs posted. There have been about 300 matches where clients found a lawyer - usually one who practices individually or in a small or medium-size firm.

Mr. Horn said he hoped that the result would be “to help all clients, even those of no means, connect with the perfect service provider for them - be it an attorney in private practice or a pro bono organization.”