Rocket Lawyer is an online
legal technology company founded by Charley Moore in 2008,
based in
San Francisco, California.
[Hoge, Patrick]
A lawyer in your laptop
''San Francisco Business Times''. June 20, 2010. It provides individuals and
small to medium-sized businesses with online legal services—including
incorporation
Incorporation may refer to:
* Incorporation (business), the creation of a corporation
* Incorporation of a place, creation of municipal corporation such as a city or county
* Incorporation (academic), awarding a degree based on the student having ...
,
estate plans, and legal document review.
[Bernard, Tara Siegel]
Writing a Will, With a Lawyer Looking Over Your Shoulder
''The New York Times''. September 15, 2010. The company also provides a network of attorneys that consumers and small businesses can consult with on legal issues through its On Call service.
[Andriotis, Annamaria]
Consumers: Avoid Robosigning and Save
''SmartMoney''. October 26, 2010. In 2012, Rocket Lawyer UK was launched.
History
Beginnings
In 1996, Moore graduated from
UC Berkeley School of Law and began his career as an attorney at Venture Law Group where he participated in the early-stage representation of
Yahoo! and
Web TV.
[Rocket Lawyer]
About: Board of Directors
''Rocket Lawyer''. 2012. In 1998, he founded OnStation Corporation to provide software to the automotive industry.
Then, in 2008, he founded Rocket Lawyer to provide an affordable way for companies to access legal advice.
Moore’s idea for Rocket Lawyer was to create an easy to use platform where legal documents could be created and shared by everyone.
In 2009, he sold his company, OnStation Corp, and used the money from the sale to grow Rocket Lawyer.
[
From the beginning, the company has targeted entrepreneurs; its initial sales model offered a basic plan and a pro plan,][Klein, Karen]
To Beat the Recession, Reinvent Your Business
''Bloomberg''. October 23, 2009.[Spors, Kelly]
''The Wall Street Journal''. August 27, 2007. Under the basic plan, the company provided interactive legal templates and step-by-step instructions to help businesses.late-2000s recession
The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At t ...
, Rocket Lawyer switched to a monthly subscription-based model to increase sales.
Growth
In January 2009, Rocket Lawyer raised $2 million from LexisNexis and appointed LexisNexis executive Ralph Calistri to its board. In December 2009, Dan Nye, the former CEO of LinkedIn, joined Rocket Lawyer's board of directors.[ Nye was initially brought on as a board member, but after a few months was named to president and CEO.][Carr, David]
Making Your Business Legal
''Forbes''. October 27, 2010.[Lewis, Katherine Reynolds]
''The New York Times''. December 22, 2010. This allowed Moore to transition to Executive Chairman
The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...
.[ Nye focused on improving Rocket Lawyer's customer service and utilizing an analytical approach to new products, including allowing customers to create free legal documents.][ This helped Rocket Lawyer boost new accounts from tens of thousands a month to over 100,000 a month.][
In 2010, Rocket Lawyer received $7 million in equity financing from Investor Growth Capital in order to expand operations.][Resources for Entrepreneurs Staff]
Small Businesses Avoid Getting Legal Help Because Of High Cost
''Gaebler''. October 19, 2010. In July 2011, the company raised $18.5 million in a Series D round of financing from August Capital, Google Ventures and Investor Growth Capital.[Fisher, Daniel]
Google Jumps Into Online-Law Business With Rocket Lawyer
''Forbes''. August 11, 2011.[Takahashi, Dean]
Rocket Lawyer raises $18.5M for web-based do-it-yourself legal assistance
''VentureBeat''. August 11, 2011.[Van Grove, Jennifer]
Do-it-yourself legal site Rocket Lawyer raises $10.8M
''VentureBeat''. January 4, 2012. Five months later, in December 2011, Rocket Lawyer raised an additional $10.79 million from Industry Ventures, bringing its total funding to $43 million.[Rubin, Courtney]
''Inc. Magazine''. January 5, 2012.
In 2012 Rocket Lawyer launched in the UK, and then in 2016 they launched in continental Europe in partnership with the French legal publisher Éditions Lefebvre Sarrut, a direct competitor of Rocket Lawyer's lead seed investor LexisNexis.
In January 2013, the company acquired LawPivot, a legal question-and-answer service.
Services
Online services
Rocket Lawyer provides online legal services for individuals and small to medium-sized businesses ranging from prenuptial agreements to incorporating businesses.[Rocket Lawyer]
Your Legal 'I Do' List: Rocket Lawyer Provides Legal Tips for Getting Married
''Marketwire''. November 23, 2010. The online legal services are available to Rocket Lawyer account holders, and give access to online legal forms, help articles, and also extend to discounts with local attorneys.[
]
Attorney services
In addition to the do it yourself
"Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and semi ...
legal services, Rocket Lawyer offers consumers and businesses access to a network of lawyers who can review customers' legal documents, answer questions, and provide other legal services.[Bentley, Lora]
Rocket Lawyer Uses Cloud to Offer SMBs Affordable Legal Help
''IT Business Edge''. October 28, 2010.
Legal Health Score
In 2008, Rocket Lawyer introduced Legal Health Score, which helps individuals and businesses understand their level of legal wellness.[Titlow, John Paul]
Get Affordable Legal Guidance For Your Business with Rocket Lawyer
''ReadWrite Biz''. October 20, 2010. The score, which is a number between 1 and 100, is based on considerations like whether a business has incorporated or whether legal contracts are in writing.[Widman, Jake]
Cloud Legal Service Adds Diagnostic Tool
''InformationWeek SMB''. October 20, 2010.[Greenstein, Howard]
''Inc.''. December 17, 2010.[Bradley, Tony]
''PCWorld''. October 19, 2010. Rocket Lawyer offers the Legal Health Score service to all types of accounts.[
]
Competitors
As of 2017, LegalZoom is Rocket Lawyer's primary Internet-based competitor in the U.S. market for legal form documents. A personal finance article in USA Today stated the common perception that both LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer allow consumers to save money on legal fees but also require some self-education and legal legwork; in other words both allow consumers to "save a few bucks by doing some of the work yourself."
Rocket Lawyer's competitors also include Nolo (formerly Nolo Press), the pioneering publisher of do-it-yourself legal guides and the creator of Quicken WillMaker software.
See also
* eLawyering
References
External links
*{{Official website, https://www.rocketlawyer.com/
Online legal services
Law firms established in 2008
Internet properties established in 2008
Online companies of the United States
Companies based in San Francisco
GV companies
Legal organizations based in the United States
American legal websites