8/27/2011
Venture capitalists are starting to pour money into one of the last industries to defend against commoditization on the World Wide Web. Google Ventures announced today that it is among the group that infused around $18.5 million into Rocket Lawyer, an online outfit that calls itself the “fastest growing online legal service.”
Charley Moore, the firm’s founder, revealed that the daily users of the online outfit already reached 70,000, allowing it to earn more than $10 million in revenues this year. Rocket Lawyer offer online legal service which range from providing legal forms to providing legal advice.
The legal forms that the online firm provides range from wills to certificates of incorporation that users can fill out, store and share on the web. For only $19.95 a month, users can also have their documents reviewed by real lawyers, as well as get legal advice at no extra cost.
More was careful to distinguish his company from LegalZoom, an online legal service that has been accused in several states by lawyers and bar officials of practicing law without the benefit of a license. According to Moore, Rocket Lawyer provides consumers with the technology that enables them to do things themselves without any human intervention. “When they do need help, and they do, they can consult with a lawyer,” Moore said.
While Rocket Lawyer’s business model may be similar to other pre-paid legal services that have somehow generated controversies over the years, it is unique in a sense that it has Google’s technology working with it in the background.
Documents are stored on the servers of Rocket Lawyer, just like what is being done in Google Docs. These documents can be edited and passed around before they are printed out by consumers to be submitted at the nearest courthouse.
