Lawyers don’t have the best reputation among the public, and so it’s no wonder many of us are welcoming of legal alternatives to using them. This is increasingly becoming possible thanks to the new wave of online legal service companies.
Fintech startups in particular, such as Rocket Lawyer and eForms, are leveraging the efficiency of new technology and the low overheads of running a tech company. Selling their law services online with no physical client-facing offices means they’re able to easily out-compete traditional lawyers on price alone.
Of course, it goes a step further – the legal products, such as creating a will, are a relatively automated process on these websites. This means that besides the costs of the infrastructure in the first place (and maintaining it), there are no lawyer wages to pay for the sale of each and every trust and will document sold to customers – variable costs are almost zero.
What is the legal product they are selling exactly?
The new wave of online legal service startups are essentially automating the creation of legal documents. Most wills that are created are the same, besides the possessions stated. People own homes, cars, cash, jewelry, and tend to have similar family structures. As any programmer will know, if you’re often repeating something, why not turn it into a saved and repeatable function?
Such companies have used lawyers to help create a set of Q&As with an easy-to-use graphical interface, where there’s strong error handling and easily answered questions. For example, drop-down boxes for answers to closed-ended questions. This blueprint and with now-answered questions will automatically fill in the template, and produce a reliable legal document.
The resulting will, for example, has been tried and tested to work in court. Customer testaments of major firms are positive, and the legal documents have proven to be credible. So it’s left many wondering what the need for a real, $150/hour lawyer is. For perspective, these firms are selling wills for $30 to $100 and can be completed in 15 minutes from any device, anywhere in the world.
Which is the best online legal firm?
It’s impossible to give a direct answer as to which is the best, because many of our needs are different and each firm has its own strengths and weaknesses. A Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom comparison is worthy of inspection, as these are considered to be two of the most popular firms that are cheap, reliable, and have very user-friendly services.
Some of the main firms to consider are:
- LawDepot
- RocketLawyer
- LegalZoom
- eForms
The main thing is to understand what you want before picking a company. Some firms are law firms that are now online, whilst others are tech firms offering legal products. Clearly the former is going to offer a more comprehensive service (i.e. customer service, more product choice) but at a higher cost. Whereas the latter often has better websites and GUI, and generally delivers on the “15 minute” promise in how long it takes to complete a document.
Furthermore, decide on which product you want – and how many. If it’s only online estate planning, then your choice may be different to wanting a firm that will serve you on multiple fronts in the long-run.
Why lawyers won’t go out of business
We’re all getting a bit excited at the thought of making lawyers obsolete, given how much cheaper law services will become. Well, in reality, lawyers aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Whilst AI is both helping lawyers and competing with them, it’s evident that online automated services cannot cover all bases.
Intuitively, such blueprints and multiple choice answers can only get us so far. It’s perfect for the average (ordinary) client, but not for the extraordinary. Having very unique circumstances, such as wanting to give away possessions to your gardener instead of your only son, may be a tricky and contested one. This is something for a lawyer to handle, because the likelihood of it being contested, and the difficulty of expressing your unique circumstance in a clear manner, is difficult.
Other circumstances, such as having a very complex business ownership structure or overseas trusts is also something that a lawyer is better able to handle. No one is claiming online legal services are better if you remove money from the equation (though they are more convenient and faster). It’s up to the individual to weigh up if their circumstance is ordinary enough to be easily expressed through an online service with very little user input.
However, many online legal service firms are bridging this gap by offering online legal consultation over the phone or through live chat. It’s important to figure out which are offering run-of-the-mill customer service and which has an actual attorney on stand-by before signing up.
Of course, having your online legal documents reviewed by a real lawyer will increase the cost, but it’s still easy for them to undercut traditional law firms. Online lawyers can review each case faster when working remotely, without the small talk, and they may even get paid per review as opposed to an hourly rate.
Story by Roger Edwards
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