Legal Documents & Forms: LegalZoom vs Rocket Lawyer VS BizFilings by FitSmallBusiness.com
LegalZoom Rocker Lawyer & BizFilings cannot provide personalized advice on what legal path you should take. They also cannot provide advice on how to customize legal documents to the particular needs of your business. They do however provide 3 important services:
1) They provide templates of legal documents which satisfy the needs of a large number of individuals and businesses. In 2011, 490,000 legal documents were ordered through LegalZoom.
2) In some cases, they can file those forms with the appropriate government entity to be processed. 3) LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer can connect you with lawyers to answer your legal questions. In the case of Rocket Lawyer, limited consultation with lawyers is part of the basic package.
LegalZoom
Rocket Lawyer
BizFilings
Basic Service Cost
Subscription $7.99 Month Or La Carte
Subscription $40 / month
A La Carte
Basic LLC (not including state fees)
$99 (not included in subscription)
$150 (not included in subscription)
Non-Disclosure Agreement
Subscription or $15 Subscription or $15
Included
Free
Included
Not Available
Included
Free (but only unsecured version)
Employment Contract Promissory note
Subscription or $15
$97
LegalZoom
Rocket Lawyer
BizFilings
Legal Advice Service
Additional fee of $30 per month maximum 30 minute phone call per legal matter
Yes, free initial consultation and document review
No
Reviews By Consumer Reports
“The Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom documents didn’t always appear tailored to our jurisdiction”
“Rocket Lawyer’s promissory note and interview are “the best of a fair-to-average bunch,” he says.”
Not Reviewed By Consumer Reports
Best Small Business Legal Service:
Why Legal Zoom? 1. Cost Advantage 2. More Comprehensive than BizFilings 3. Rocket Lawyer Free Trial Complaints (explained later)
Many of the negative reviews of these services compare using a lawyer to perform the service (with a cost of thousands of dollars) to using an online legal document preparation service for a fraction of the cost. Given how much lawyers cost, many people don’t have the luxury of using a lawyer.
REVIEWS
Finding reviews of the quality of their documents, proved to be difficult. The one article written by Consumer Reports, compared the services of LegalZoom, Rocket Lawyer and NOLO. It did not have glowing things to say about any of the services, but included slightly more complimentary statements about Rocket Lawyer.
REVIEWS
Rocket Lawyer had many negative reviews focused on its advertising and billing practices, but not on the quality of their documents. Specifically, those that signed up for Rocket Lawyer’s “free 1-week trial” were surprised when they got billed after a week or had a difficult time canceling.
Legal advice or marketing in disguise?
Rocket Lawyer as part of its fundamental offering provides an “On Call Lawyer� which provides an initial phone consultation with a lawyer and a review of your legal documents for free. LegalZoom provides a similar service for about $30 per month.
There seems to be a natural conflict of interest built into these phone consultations. Are they true legal help or a way for lawyer’s to sell their services to new clients? Probably, both.
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