Online Legal Services

Internet Legal Services

By Tom McNichol. He is a San Francisco-based freelance writer.

The number of online services seeking to make the law more efficient for both consumers and lawyers continues to grow. Berkeley-based Nolo.com, a pioneer of do-it-yourself legal services since the 1970s, also offers online legal documents and software, along with a “find-a-lawyer” directory for customers who need professional help. In 2011, Nolo was purchased by Internet Brands in El Segundo, which owns more than 200 consumer websites, including AttorneyLocate.com, Lawyers.com, and AllLaw.com.

One online service called MyLawyer.com is trying to do exactly that, helping licensed attorneys beat LegalZoom at its own game. The service offers attorneys a virtual platform from which to offer clients legal documents online, coupled with legal advice. Clients create and access their own legal documents by answering questions online, but then if necessary they can pay extra to follow up with a lawyer.

Another online company that is giving tens of thousands of small-firm lawyers a new lease on life is RocketLawyer.com, which last year drew more than 10 million consumers and small-business operators to its site.

“The whole goal is to level the playing field so that law firms can compete with LegalZoom,” says Richard S. Granat, president of DirectLaw Inc., which runs the MyLawyer.com platform. “To me, legal forms bundled with professional advice is a superior offering to what consumers can get from LegalZoom.”

A host of online companies-FindLaw, LegalMatch, Lawyer.com, and UpCounsel-are jockeying for Web traffic, revenue, and venture capital funding. Many want to grab a slice of the estimated $45 billion “latent” market for legal services, those low- to middle-income earners who have been priced out of the traditional legal market.
Gillian Hadfield, a professor of law and economics at the University of Southern California, has long advocated for bringing affordable legal representation to the underserved. She believes online legal services are an important tool for providing more access to justice.

“Online legal is absolutely necessary for increasing access because the Internet is how we interact with most markets these days,” says Hadfield, who also serves on LegalZoom’s legal advisory board but has no financial interest in the company. “We also need to allow a much broader array of providers besides lawyers to provide services. You don’t need the full-scale JD and bar license to do some things.”

Here is a sampling of companies offering legal services on the Web to consumers and attorneys.

• Avvo: avvo.com – Founded in 2007 by Mark Britton, former general counsel for Expedia.
  Investors: Benchmark Capital, Coatue Management, Ignition Partners, and DAG Ventures.
  Posts ratings and reviews for lawyers in every state. Offers a free legal Q&A service and advice on finding the right lawyer.
• FindLaw: findlaw.com – Founded in 1995 by lawyers Stacy Stern and Tim Stanley.
  Owner: Thomson Reuters. Provides online legal information and “find a lawyer” services for consumers.
• Justia: Justia.com – Founded in 2003 by FindLaw co-founder Tim Stanley. Owners: Tim Stanley and Stacy Stern. Offers free case law, legal resources, and a “find a lawyer” feature. Premium service provides websites, blogging, and online marketing to law firms.
• Lawyer.com: lawyer.com – Launched in 2009 by owners Gerry Gorman and Gary Millin, co-founders of Mail.com. Offers help finding a lawyer, access to legal articles, and free legal advice from participating attorneys.
• LegalMatch: legalmatch.com – Founded in 1999 by lawyer Dmitry Shubov. Investors/Owners: Angel investors and American Lawyer Media.Helps users find prescreened lawyers, and offers attorneys leads that match their legal specialty.
• LegalZoom: legalzoom.com – Founded in 2001 by lawyers Edward R. Hartman, Brian S. Lee, Brian P. Y. Liu, and Robert Shapiro. Investors: Permira, LegalZoom’s management team, Institutional Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Polaris Venture Partners. Offers customizable legal documents and a network of attorneys.
• Pro-Se-Litigation.com: pro-se-litigation.com – Founded in 2013 by legal investigator Robert Townsend. Investors/Owners: Undisclosed investors. Connects self- represented civil litigants with lawyers who offer unbundled legal services.
• Rocket Lawyer: rocketlawyer.com – Launched in 2007 by lawyer Charley Moore. Investors: Charley Moore, August Capital, Google Ventures, Investor AB, and Industry Ventures.
  Provides customizable legal forms that can be signed, stored, and shared electronically, along with access to an on-call network of attorneys.
• UpCounsel: upcounsel.com – Founded in 2012 by entrepreneurs Matt Faustman and Mason Blake. Investors: AngelPad, Collaborative Fund, Homebrew, Haroon Mokhtarzada, SV Angel, and others. Helps businesses connect with lawyers through an online bidding service. Users post a request for specific legal work, and attorneys respond with quotes for fixed fees or hourly rates.

Virtual Law Services Review

NextAdvisor has ranked the virtual law services based on usefulness, cost, variety of features and support:

• LegalZoom: Best site for beginners; easy-to-understand interface walks you through complicated legalese; more expensive but worth it
• Rocket Lawyer: Comprehensive features and options; interface makes filling out forms easy; membership pricing is best for those who need ongoing legal help.
• BizFilings: Top site for business-related offerings; simple, consistent interface and competitive pricing
• CorpNet: Only business-related offerings; extremely helpful and easy customer service; cheaper than other major sites
• US Legal Forms: Best for those who know exactly what they are looking for and want do-it-yourself forms; largest variety of forms
• MyCorporation: Limited services, even for a business-focused site; interface is clean, but sometimes confusing
• LawDepot: Robust list of features is severely hindered by a complicated, glitchy interface