Legal Advice — Online Without the Hassle

It always has fascinated us how businesses, both large and small, view legal advice and lawyers. Businesses today operate in an ever increasingly regulated and complex environment, yet when it comes to legal advice it is often that this crucial ‘pillar’ of business structure is shoved to the back or sometimes completely ignored. Yes, there are those essential aspects of legal advice which are purchased. When business entities are formed, purchased or sold or there is some pressing issue, in which event legal advice is sought. But for the most part, businesses seem to go about their business ‘getting by’ without having legal input. Of course there are the businesses which are lucky enough to be able to retain an in-house legal counsel, but these are by far in the minority. Its, otherwise, really only when pressing legal issues come to the boil that businesses engage with an attorney.

So, businesses will do business, sign contracts, employ employees, publish websites, issue quotes and purchase orders, sell and buy on credit and deal with customers without legal input.  There is so much else which consumes business planning on the admin side. Finance, payroll, HR and IT. Legal doesn’t get the nod, really, until something happens.

Why is it like this? Are CEO’s and their Boards simply not aware of the regulatory or liability environments they operate in? Are they intentional ostriches, sticking their heads in the sand and hoping all will be ok? Or is it simply a matter of keeping the bottom line intact, and a buck saved now is better?

Of course, the cost of good legal advice is astronomical. And attorneys may not be seen as the most approachable or commercial bunch. There is always the classic refrain (and ongoing joke) in dealing with attorneys , that they make things more complex; that they highlight commercially removed issues, and that deals would simply not get done if it were left to the attorneys. One can’t help feeling that there is an element of truth in this. The manner of dealing with, and accessing an attorney is rigid, uncomfortable and removed. It is no wonder that many businesses are built and run missing the essential ‘legal pillar’. And for some businesses it is at the least a huge headache having to address that down the line.

So with spiraling costs and reluctant executives, how can this model be fixed? Is there a fix? Can legal advice for a business become an effective tool not only in addressing problems, but, perhaps crucially, being a part and parcel of business creation, growth and maturity?

We believe it can.

So how could a model conceivably work for smaller businesses, to enable them to cost efficiently bring on board the appropriate legal expertise to keep their businesses in check, and to have the legal resources when and where they need them? In our view, having access to appropriate legal advice, at lower cost points can be met using technology. By providing easy access to experienced attorneys, and so cutting out the access and formalistic ‘barriers’ to getting legal advice, an online platform could be used to service those day to day issues and questions which business owners and managers need to deal with, both quickly and cost efficiently. Cost efficiently, because having an outlet to offer excess hours and capture steady, quality business will, in our view, incentivize attorneys to provide businesses the price points they need.