# /bengo4/lawyers/search

`POST /api/bengo4/lawyers/search`

Price: 20 credits

Search lawyers on Bengo4 (弁護士ドットコム) by prefecture, city, practice area, services, gender, keyword, fee table, case studies and enquiry hours: name, office, contacts, stations, hours, focus areas with features and resolved case counts, and fee summary

## How to use it

City codes are 5-digit JIS codes inside the prefecture. Pass a returned id to bengo4/lawyers for the full profile, bengo4/lawyers/cases for case studies and bengo4/lawyers/questions for answered questions.

## Parameters

- `access-token` (string, required)

## Request body

- `timeout` (integer) — Max scrapping execution timeout (in seconds) (default: 300; min: 20; max: 1500)
- `prefecture` (string, required) — Prefecture slug (examples: "tokyo", "osaka", "kyoto")
- `cities` (array, nullable) — City or ward codes; any may match (examples: ["13101","13103"])
- `practice_areas` (array, nullable) — Practice areas; any may match. Rows of the first area come first, then the new rows of each next area (one of: "debt", "traffic_accident", "divorce", "inheritance", "labor", "debt_collection", "medical", "fraud_consumer", "international", "internet", "criminal", "real_estate", "corporate", "tax_administrative"; examples: ["divorce"])
- `services` (array, nullable) — Services offered; all must match (one of: "legal_aid", "free_first_consultation", "nationwide_visits", "booking_24h", "female_staff", "same_day_consultation", "holiday_consultation", "night_consultation", "phone_consultation", "installments", "deferred_payment", "no_retainer_fee", "contingency_fee_only", "card_payment"; examples: ["free_first_consultation"])
- `gender` (string, nullable) — Lawyer gender (one of: "male", "female")
- `keyword` (string, nullable) — Free-text keyword (examples: "離婚"; minLength: 1)
- `has_price_table` (boolean) — Only lawyers publishing a fee table (default: false)
- `has_cases` (boolean) — Only lawyers publishing case studies (default: false)
- `open_after_18` (boolean) — Only lawyers taking enquiries after 18:00 (default: false)
- `open_after_22` (boolean) — Only lawyers taking enquiries after 22:00 (default: false)
- `open_saturday` (boolean) — Only lawyers taking enquiries on Saturday (default: false)
- `open_sunday` (boolean) — Only lawyers taking enquiries on Sunday (default: false)
- `count` (integer, required) — Max number of results (min: 1; max: 2000)

## Response

### 200 — Successful Response

- `@type` (string) (default: "Bengo4LawyerCard")
- `id` (string, required)
- `url` (string, required)
- `name` (string, nullable)
- `last_name` (string, nullable)
- `first_name` (string, nullable)
- `description` (string, nullable)
- `image` (string, nullable)
- `resolved_case_count` (integer, nullable)
- `is_paid_listing` (boolean, nullable)
- `phone` (string, nullable)
- `accepts_phone` (boolean, nullable)
- `email` (string, nullable)
- `accepts_web_contact` (boolean, nullable)
- `line_url` (string, nullable)
- `office_name` (string, nullable)
- `prefecture` (string, nullable)
- `city` (object, nullable)
  - `@type` (string) (default: "Bengo4City")
  - `id` (string, required)
  - `name` (string, nullable)
- `nearest_station` (object, nullable)
  - `@type` (string) (default: "Bengo4Station")
  - `id` (string, nullable)
  - `name` (string, required)
  - `walk_minutes` (integer, nullable)
- `stations` (array) (default: [])
  - `@type` (string) (default: "Bengo4Station")
  - `id` (string, nullable)
  - `name` (string, required)
  - `walk_minutes` (integer, nullable)
- `hours_open` (string, nullable)
- `hours_close` (string, nullable)
- `focus_fields` (array) (default: [])
  - `@type` (string) (default: "Bengo4FocusField")
  - `id` (string, required)
  - `name` (string, nullable)
  - `description` (string, nullable)
  - `resolved_case_count` (integer, nullable)
  - `features` (array) (default: [])
    - `@type` (string) (default: "Bengo4Feature")
    - `group` (string, nullable)
    - `name` (string, required)
    - `note` (string, nullable)
- `price_title` (string, nullable)
- `price_text` (string, nullable)
- `price_features` (array) (default: [])
  - `@type` (string) (default: "Bengo4Feature")
  - `group` (string, nullable)
  - `name` (string, required)
  - `note` (string, nullable)

## Errors

### 422 — Validation Error

The request body did not validate

What to do: Check the fields against this schema. A URN with the wrong prefix is the most common cause.

- `detail` (array)
  - `loc` (array, required)
  - `msg` (string, required)
  - `type` (string, required)
  - `input` (any)
  - `ctx` (object)

### 408

The request ran past its time limit

What to do: Raise `timeout` in the request body, up to the maximum this endpoint documents. Lowering `count` or turning off the `with_*` flags also helps, because less work finishes sooner.

### 412

Bengo4 serves no result list for this combination of filters; prefecture niigata needs cities (without a city Bengo4 answers with a nationwide list)

What to do: Retrying will not help: either the entity does not exist, or the input points at a different one.

### 429

Too many requests: a rate limit or a usage window is exhausted

What to do: When the response carries an X-Retry-After header, wait that many seconds and retry: the same number is in the body as `detail.retry_after`, and the limit clears once that window passes. The message in the body names the limit that was hit.

### 500

Something broke on our side

What to do: Retrying will not help. If it keeps happening, send us the X-Request-ID from the response headers.

### 529

Rate limit reached, or the endpoint is overloaded

What to do: Wait at least 30 seconds, then retry.

## Response envelope

Success: Array of objects (may be empty if no results)

Error: Error may coexist with partial results if it occurs mid-execution. Check X-Error header and status code.

Every response carries these headers:

- `X-Error` — Error message text (present only on error)
- `X-Request-ID` — Unique request identifier
- `X-Execution-Time` — Execution time in seconds
- `X-Result-Count` — How many records the body carries. 0 means an empty result, which is a normal answer and not by itself an error. A non-zero count can come back together with X-Error when the failure happened partway through — read this header and X-Error independently.
- `X-Total-Available-Results` — How many records exist for this query, when the endpoint can say. On a `dry_run` request this is the answer and the body is empty. It saturates: the endpoint's documented maximum means 'at least that many', any smaller number is exact.
- `X-Warning` — Present when the request body carried keys this endpoint does not document. They were ignored, so any filter you meant to apply through them did not apply. Check the spelling against this schema and retry.
- `X-Retry-After` — Seconds to wait before retrying. Present only on 429.