Asking for legal advice is tricky. There are tonnes of variables like reliability, validity, cost and availability etc that a person has to consider before hiring a lawyer and these usually throw people off. With the ever-changing technology, many online legal services have emerged that put the clients directly in touch with lawyers that are already vetted and recommended.
These online legal services are ready to take on your legal case; be it legal documentation contracts or a simple advice and they see it through because their reputation is on the line and by on the line, I mean literally – it’s online; all over Google.
TechVise covered one online legal service a few years back and that made us think, why stop there? Why not accumulate a few good reliable services that don’t just have a name but a good reputation too.
How Online Legal Services Work
Almost all online legal services cater to clients and lawyers both. Lawyers can sign up and start their online practice and similarly those who are looking for legal help also sign-up and get in touch with a lawyer. The purpose of this article however, is to help people who are seeking legal services/representation… but online.
Most of these services that we are mentioning here are free to sign-up. After signing up these services then let you get in touch with them and explain what kind of legal advice you need… Let’s take a look at these services.
LegalShield
LegalShield behaves like an attorney in your pocket. They have a widespread network of law firms across the U.S. and Canada, and that’s how they give legal protection to their customers and clients any time that they need, including emergency situations round the clock every year.
The way to get started with LegalShield is to download their smartphone app on iOS or Android and signup. You will automatically gain access to a dedicated law firm in your state of residence. So next time you have any legal requirement, be it a speeding ticket, drafting a will, something to do with real estate, need advice on insurance claim or anything else, the entire firm will be at your disposal not just one individual lawyer. The firm will make the necessary calls, write letters, all on your behalf and offer unlimited feedback on legal documents.
How to pay, when to pay? Unlimited consults are for $29.95/Month and there are more plans as well, but there is no commitment to any program and you can cancel any time.
To begin using LegalShield simply speak to their intake specialist, and they’ll provide you with most qualified attorney, and if you’re not happy, just request another!
LawDepot
LawDepot offer their legal services in US, UK, Australia and Canada. They are the leading publisher of do-it-yourself legal documents and templates, with over 10 years of experience. LawDepot have a 7 day free trial where you can create and print as many legal documents as you want. The subscription after that its $24/Month and $59.88/Year. If you don’t cancel the 7 day free trial, you are automatically subscribed to the monthly plan.
LawDepot offers documentation for Real Estate, Family, Business, Estates and Financial Services. They also have a segment where you can ask a lawyer and an expert in that field will reply back. These questions are not answered by the staff of LawDepot but by experts or by JustAnswer. We will discuss more about Just Answer in a bit, for now I want to conclude that LawDepot accepts payments via Credit Card. If you sign up via TechVise, you get 10% discount on your orders.
As for JustAnswer, its a service that provides 24/7 help to people by connecting them online with doctors, lawyers, vets, mechanics, tech support and more.<
LegalZoom
LegalZoom is based out of the US. They have been around for almost 12 years now and claim that their processes are quite streamlined. They cater to business legalities as well as personal ones. They also deal in wills, trademark, patents and few more legal matters.
Clients can complete their questionnaire for free and it’s left entirely on their discretion whether or not to purchase the legal documents. The service helps you find attorneys without any hourly fees. The documents provided by LegalZoom are accepted by courts and government agencies in all 50 states.
LegalZoom are also open on weekends but their office hours are different. They accept all major credit cards. I found their support system to be very slow and a bit dumb as well. They replied after 4 days and said that they couldn’t understand a simple question and directed me to give them a call instead.
RocketLawyer
RocketLawyer operates out of US and UK both and they provide easy legal help from licensed attorneys on personal topics ranging from marriage, divorce, estate planning, loans, tax etc. Plus, you can get your first document for free here.
They also offer easy methods to create and review legal documents and help businesses incorporate. Businesses can get help on starting an organisation, be it LLC, non-profit or sole proprietorship, copyrighting or trademarks.
RocketLawyer also provides services at discounted rates and offers free trial of its services for a week which can be cancelled any time. They currently accept all credit cards such as VISA, Master Card, Discover and American Express but currently the only cards they are accepting are those with a US or UK address. Their customer representation is quite good and do note they also offer an ‘On-Call’ service for lawyers.
LawTrades
LawTrades is based out of US and like many others mentioned here, they cater to both lawyers and clients. The process to hire a lawyer through them is fairly easy. If you know what kind of help you require, then simply go for that in the top menu ‘services’. First time users have to signup via Facebook or email. If you want to directly look at who’s the best they’ve got, then I recommend looking at ‘Reviews’ tab in their top menu which showcases customer reviews.
They claim that all of their lawyers provide discounted hourly rates and/or discounted flat fee packages. But whichever the case, LawTrades primarily deal with Business, immigration, patents, contracts, employment and more. Basically everything except family law & taxation. Although their service hasn’t spread internationally but they frequently help people who are looking to immigrate to the US or looking to form their business in the United States and for that they have lawyers for in all 50 states.
As for payments, it works in two ways depending on what the client decides. If you decide to get custom price quotes, then the payment is handled by you and the lawyer. Typically the lawyers do online invoicing or via credit card. However, if you already know what it is that you need then you might want to settle for their flat fee packages which you buy and after that they connect you to a lawyer who will complete the job for you. The lawyer is only paid after the task has been completed.
CubeLegal
CubeLegal is based in the UK and provides legal services in Family Law, Business Law, Property Law, Litigation, Immigration Law, Wills & Probate, Letter Writing, Advice and Forms. But you should know that CubeLegal is not a law firm in itself. It does not operate as one and is hence not required to be regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority either. They carry out services in areas which are non-regulated as well as provide support with legal documents leaving you with the finished product.
Those services that require CubeLegal to be regulated are then carried out by their preferred partner law firms. To get started, fill in the online form and select what you need, add it to the cart, pay the amount via Credit Card and then you get contacted by real people at CubeLegal and not just technology. They’ll use the private space of Client Area to communicate with you, ask questions and send copies of necessary documents.
Priori Legal
Operating on US soil, Priori Legal is yet another online law solution provider. They work quite differently compared to the other services mentioned above. Here, business clients need to answer some questions regarding their legal need, and then a hand-selected shortlist of high-quality lawyers are chosen for the specific matter and shared with the client. After learning about the details like relevant expertise, backgrounds, pricing, etc. of the lawyers, you then set up a 30-minute free consultation with the one you think is most suitable.
Finally, Priori Legal offers below-market rates and options like flat fee packages, charging only a 10% service fee for managing the relationship and taking care of the billing and invoicing.
LegalVision
LegalVision majorly deals with small, medium scale and large businesses, but a full list is available on their website which includes family law as well. Based in Australia, they serve at a fixed fee.
LegalVision allows its clients to get in touch with them over the phone, live-chat and also via web form. You can provide as much information as you want to with regards to your legal matter and they then come back with a quote free of charge (which is not a big thing at all).
Alternatively, you can also check out their free legal documents that they offer. They accept payments via credit cards and direct deposits. They also have a refund policy but it depends on the service obtained. Since all their business lawyers operate online so once you leave your details with them they contact you very soon.
LawyersOnline
Based out of England and wales, LawyersOnline is a big venture catering to all legal issues across the region of UK. They themselves are not a legal firm but they have signed up over 200 law firms which cater to the users who contact LawyersOnline.
The law firms they represent deal with Family Law, Property, Business, Corporate, Criminal, Employment, Wills, Personal Injury and even the Internet Law. They have a quick form which claims that all questions within the normal office hours are answered in 60 minutes. I also double checked this claim and I’m happy to report that they do reply within 1 hour.
Their payment is fixed for either monthly or annual structure and they take advanced payments via a method that is suitable to that assigned lawyer.
UpCounsel
UpCounsel is based out of US and their main focus of legal help surrounds the law of business, immigration, real estate and copyrights. The procedure is quite simple; you answer a few questions regarding your legal dilemma and within hours you get proposals and quotes from relevant attorneys. At this point, the ball is in your court; you can skim though the free proposals, check the attorneys ratings and then communicate with them to see which one can work best with you. Once you are satisfied with the attorney, you can select him/her and then move forward with the proceedings.
If your attorney has requested a percentage of the fees upfront, you will need to make an initial payment right away. UpCounsel accepts payments via debit/credit cards. If the attorney doesn’t ask for an upfront amount then too you will be asked to enter the billing information for later and the attorney will be notified that you’ve hired them. Both the sides will be given each others’ contact info and so can begin working together.
MyLawyer
MyLawyer is a UK based website affiliated with Epoq Legal. Their online legal service is fairly straightforward, affordable, and convenient in the sense that they offer fixed rates for everything and there is no surprise invoice waiting on the other end.
Their system works in the similar way as others mentioned above. You complete their online questionnaire and make the payment, after this an authorised solicitors will review the submitted questionnaire and work towards completing the required document. If you are not satisfied with the service, there is also a provision for a full refund.
MyLawyer also offers services for the visually impaired so they too can benefit from their services just like other customers.
So these are just some of the good online services out there that provide legal representation and help you out in a bind. There are a few more and I’m going to take the liberty of mentioning their names only. There is: CorpNet | US Legal Forms | AVVO | MyCorporation
If you know about any other online legal service which you have used and are very happy with, please let us know in the comments below. We will check them out and put them in our list as well.