Successful chief legal execs & law firm partners share legal insights Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
Post written by
Jeffrey Unger
Founder and CEO of eMinutes, a law firm. Jeffrey is a three-time Inc. 5000 honoree and a graduate of Babson College.
<p>I had no idea that I would end up spending that much. Back in 1998, soon after I’d left a big firm to start my own real estate and corporate transactional practice, I bumped into an entertainment lawyer who asked if I did annual corporate minutes.</p>” readability=”48″>Do a Google search for complaints about LegalZoom and, as of November 16th, you’ll get about 39,500 results. Now Google complaints about LegalZoom from attorneys. You’ll see that figure shoot to just under half a million (483,000 currently). Attorneys have been slamming legal tech companies like LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer for years.
It makes sense. Attorneys are feeling priced out. Like some old-school print journalists who bemoan the internet, some old-school attorneys blame LegalZoom for snatching up the market. But instead of cursing the Digital Age, why not use it to your advantage?
Let’s take a closer look at legal tech companies. We’ve learned that consumers prefer subscription-based pricing over hourly rates, on-demand access to services and pain-free processes. Tech companies beat traditional law firms in pricing and efficiency, hands down.
But what would happen if you could use technology to automate tasks, drastically lower your prices and keep giving personalized advice to your clients? You’d have an undeniable competitive advantage over the online companies you’ve been complaining about. The choice for consumers would be clear, and your firm would bring in exponentially more clients than ever before.
I know because that’s exactly what I did for my law firm.
My Accidental Multimillion-Dollar Investment
I’m an attorney and CEO of a niche law firm that forms and maintains business entities for creatives and entrepreneurs in the entertainment industry. In the last 12 years, I’ve invested $3 million in developing a custom software system for my firm.
I had no idea that I would end up spending that much. Back in 1998, soon after I’d left a big firm to start my own real estate and corporate transactional practice, I bumped into an entertainment lawyer who asked if I did annual corporate minutes.
Source: Forbes Legal Council
How Technology And Automation Enable Lawyers To Deliver Personalized Service
