You probably know about LegalZoom.com, largely through lots of word of mouth and TV advertising, but did you know about several other online legal services? Luckily, the folks at NextAdvisor.com have done some of the heavy lifting. Whether you’re starting a business or simply registering a trademark, they have determined which provider is the best alternative to a physical lawyer. The best providers make it easy to file paperwork and identify which government agencies you’ll need to file with.
We last wrote about NextAdvisor in December and their independent reviews of several business credit cards. For legal services, both LegalZoom and RocketLawyer both warranted five stars. The former is best for beginners but more expensive, the latter has a subscription-based pricing scheme of $10 a month, which is better for those that need ongoing services. “Expensive” is all relative: A basic S-corp filing, for example, will cost $200 or less with these services, which is still much less than what most of the in-person lawyers I have used over the years charged to start the paperwork on my companies.
Here is what they had to say about one service: “Rocket Lawyer is like having your own personal legal team to help you out with all your legal troubles. They feature a vast range of legal options to choose from and offer outstanding customer service to their members. If you are looking for a one-time legal fix, you might find it harder to utilize Rocket Lawyer’s services.”
I like the NextAdvisor reviews: They are very in-depth and talk to user interface issues, the level of support in various media, and specifics on the types of services that are offered. Besides the two sites already mentioned, they also reviewed CorpNet, USLegal, MyCorporation and LawDepot. If your startup needs legal services, check out the reviews and see if one of these six online outfits will fit your particular needs.
