The app works by the candidate filling out a number of simple questions about themselves including location, year of practice and practice groups. It will then show the candidates the jobs that they qualify for and if they are interested in the job, they can have the full job description sent to their email inbox. The candidates can then apply for the job by replying to the email attaching their CV.

Finding better candidates

Mr Simos said the app would offer a broad cross-section of lawyers, compared to traditional recruiters who only have a limited pool because they relied on their professional networks for candidate searching.

"Our network is everyone who downloads the app, so it should help law firms find better-qualified candidates more quickly," he said.

The startup will be targeting the recruitment of senior associates and in-house counsel because there is high demand for these roles. It does not do partner recruitment, which is usually a much more involved process.

Professional social media network LinkedIn already provides a recommended list of jobs to all its users based on the user's CV. However, Mr Simos said the app was more targeted because it was tailored to the recruitment criteria used by the legal profession.

Mr Simos said the app also allowed candidates to match law firms directly, unlike the job-searching platform SEEK which contained a large number of advertisements by law recruiters.

The managing director of legal recruitment firm Mahlab, Lisa Gazis, said apps such as Route1 were unlikely to replace traditional recruiters.

"I think the reality of it is, there is disruption everywhere. There are hundreds of other apps, like SEEK, which all have got a similar function. I think it's probably a great service, but I don't think it will replace the agencies because you still need the people element," she said.

"The best lawyers will always want to be represented by someone. With law firms, it's important whoever they hire is a match not just in terms of the right skillset but also in terms of the culture."

Route1 has signed up more than 2000 lawyers in Britain since it launched there four months ago.