A Quick Glance at Rocket Lawyer and LegalShield
Founded in 2008, Rocket Lawyer is a subscription legal service headquartered in San Francisco that provides online access to legal documents, attorney consultations, and incorporation and name reservation services. In addition to the US, the company serves Canada, France, and the UK. Rocket Lawyer claims over 12 million people as customers, and relies on a monthly subscription fee and transactional document preparation revenue to support its free business formation legal services. Its site assures potential customers that "we have your back." Simulatively , Rocket Lawyer’s mission statement promises "to be the world’s leading social network for legal services."
Founded in 1969, LegalShield provides membership plans that connect people with independent lawyers for various legal services, including monthly phone consultations, court attendance and the preparation of certain legal documents. LegalShield has offices in the U.S. and Canada. Its corporate mission "is to deliver truly affordable legal plans for everyone…and we believe there is no substitute for the power of justice."
Pricing and Value Proposition
With the ever-increasing number of online legal services, analyzing the prices that each service offers is important for selecting the right one for every situation. Rocket Lawyer is a freemium service, having both free and paid accounts. To get an account, an email is required, though no credit card details are asked for upon sign-up. A free account grants individuals up to five documents and three legal questions, per month, at no charge. Paid accounts are available for individuals and families ($39.95/month) and businesses ($49.95/month). The cost of signing up for either paid account is 24.99, provided you use a credit card (rather than debit or bank account). Those who opt for a monthly auto renewal subscription plan, as opposed to a single-month subscription, can save $10. By paying a year in advance for the legal account ($399.95/year), individual and families both have the $10 automatically deducted from their membership account every month. A business may save $120 from their plans if they pay an entire year in advance ($549.50/year). Paid Rocket Lawyer memberships give customers access to a 25% reduction off of standard rates, if they want to meet with a lawyer provided through Rocket Lawyer’s website. Customers on annual legal plans are also offered same-day, 40% discounts on any incorporation filing service and a 50% discount on any other legal filing service. LegalShield has three plans. Individuals and families are charged $24.95/month for access to their services. Business plans are much more expensive, up to five employees, costing $69.90/month for families. Single-month subscriptions are also available for that price. LegalShield membership fees are withdrawn automatically from your credit or debit card once a month. As of January 25th, 2015, both companies offer free information and limited legal advice as well as their paid memberships. Each program is unique and should be evaluated carefully before deciding which one works best for you.
Legal Assistance
Rocket Lawyer and LegalShield both offer a number of services each for a flat monthly fee, including document creation and attorney consultations. To join Rocket Lawyer, you need to pay $35.97 per month, or you can join for $39.95 for a separate membership. Alternatively, you can purchase a trial membership for just $7.95 for one week.
Rocket Lawyer membership includes access to its online library of over 140 legal documents for you to create and edit. You have the option of publishing all your documents in Zip file format, so that you can use them according to your needs. For example, a contract between an individual and a contractor may need to be changed, depending on the particulars of the relationship. If you will be dealing with the same contractor in the future, it is best to use the employment contract as a template, instead of starting from scratch.
In addition to providing access to its library of over 140 legal forms, Rocket Lawyer allows you to have a lawyer review up to five of your contracts, documents, or forms for free. This service is provided via Rocket Lawyer’s partnership with the American Bar Association (ABA), which gives you access to its network of participating lawyers.
If you do not have a legal question to ask a participating lawyer in the ABA’s network, you can always send an email to Rocket Lawyer’s own lawyers, at no additional cost. Of course, there are limits to the amount of time lawyers will spend answering your questions and the complexity of the questions you can submit.
When it comes to actively using a lawyer, rather than passively consulting one, Rocket Lawyer provides each member with one speech and language therapy consultation through Rocket Lawyer’s partnership with the Talk to a Nurse program. Each telephone consultation with Talk to a Nurse lasts for up to 30 minutes. Additionally, you can send a single letter or phone call to challenge someone, and to resolve simple legal disputes. This service can only be used in connection with a covered legal issue, such as a property owed in a divorce or a late paycheck owed by your employer.
Of course, not all legal issues can be solved by sending a letter or initiating a phone call. Accordingly, when you contact Talk to a Nurse, the nurse will decide whether your issue has been fairly resolved. Since Talk to a Nurse provides its services to thousands of people, the nurse may have seen your type of claim before and can quickly determine if it is worth pursuing.
LegalShield membership costs $19.95 per month for individuals or $29.95 per month for families. In exchange for this fixed fee, you get unlimited access to estate planning documents, including Living Will and Health Care Power of Attorney, as well as a Letter to Restrict Access to Protected Health Information and a Medical Power of Attorney.
In addition to estate planning, LegalShield clients are guaranteed to have at least one incident involving a traffic ticket covered each year. Even if you get in an accident that involves a crash-related or non-crash related injury or property damage, this will be covered at no additional cost to you. Furthermore, membership covers one 30-minute initial consultation with a lawyer regarding family law, criminal law, wills and estate planning, debt collection, consumer protection, and immigration issues.
Like Rocket Lawyer, LegalShield clients have access to a lawyer through the company’s 24-hour legal advice hotline. Through the use of its mobile app, you can submit legal queries and questions to a participating lawyer. You can also go online and install LegalShield’s mobile app on your smartphone or tablet.
Through the LegalShield mobile app, you can view your legal plan coverage, locate your nearest participating law firm, and even schedule appointments with attorneys. Like Rocket Lawyer, LegalShield covers legal forms that you can use to create a variety of contracts and agreements with other individuals. And like Rocket Lawyer, LegalShield covers the cost of making phone calls and sending letters to your creditors, to attempt to collect on debts owed to you.
Ease of Access
The user interface of the Rocket Lawyer and LegalShield platforms is another area in which these products have both pros and cons. For Rocket Lawyer, the platform features a streamlined layout with large buttons, making it easy to locate the most commonly used functions and setup. On the other hand, LegalShield’s design has been criticized for being outdated and clunky. However, the latter offers a mobile app ("LegalShield" for Apple and "LegalShield – IDShield" for Android), providing access to legal advice in real-time.
Customer service for both programs is handled nearly exclusively through telephone and email . Rocket Lawyer claims that they will reach out to clients within one business day for an interaction with a representative. LegalShield can take longer to reply, according to some users. Customer service on both programs is generally described as friendly and helpful.
Accessibility is a big strength for both programs. There are no geographical restrictions on access to either, though physical office presence is limited to the US and Canada for both Rocket Lawyer and LegalShield. Rocket Lawyer might be more suited to those needing only occasional simple forms, whereas those seeking immediate and more frequent legal consultations may prefer LegalShield.
Client Feedback and Satisfaction
When reviewing customer feedback, it is clear that both legal service companies have their share of satisfied customers. According to Rocket Lawyer there are more than 25,000 separate reviews on Google averaging 4.6 out of 5 stars. Their own website has over 6000 which provide a similar score, covering both their computer assisted legal services and legal documents software. The overall consensus is that their software and service is easy to use, straightforward and saves them considerable money. Common complaints about the services offered are that the membership fee to some services (trial periods and special offers aside) could be better priced. Some users claim to prefer going through the process of providing information for the document software by paying a lawyer rather than using Rocket Lawyer. Reviews found online tell a slightly different story about LegalShield. There are approximately 5,000 reviews on Google rating the service 4.2 of 5 stars. On their own website they boast roughly 70% of their reviews are rated five stars out of a possible five. Though these figures are impressive, there are far fewer reviews available online overall -which is a question for concern in itself. What is interesting to note is that the reviews LegalShield does have are considerably worse than Rocket Lawyer’s average reviews. In fact, on their own website, they have significantly more reviews of their services being rated one star than any other rating, followed by a closer number of five-star reviews. Of all the things people complained about most, "slow service" was the top reason given for their complaints- which is quite telling. A recurring theme was of LegalShield members trying to get legal matters settled with a lawyer who was too busy to help them, or had promised assistance with a matter but cancelled last minute or never returned their phone call. Another common complaint is that the prepaid legal only covers a small number of services and LegalShield markets itself as a subscription service for simple questions and situations. Many people were surprised LegalShield did not have lawyers on hand to provide advice to members regarding issues important to them when they needed it. Members who were told to bring paperwork to a lawyer for contingency fees were disappointed when the lawyers were reluctant to work for free or charged them when they expected a lawyer would take it. Other complaints include unclear pricing policies, relatively expensive prices to file paperwork and pay court costs, and trouble reaching lawyers.
Conclusion: Which One is For You?
After analyzing everything from pricing and value to customer service and user experience, the question remains – which is better for you?
The answer, as with most things in life, depends on the individual’s needs and preferences. For those who want a simple legal document solution, Rocket Lawyer is the clear choice.
The free documents you receive during the seven-day trial are certainly a nice bonus, but where Rocket Lawyer excels compared to LegalShield is the sheer volume of forms and resources available. The variety is impressive, and offers much more than LegalShield.
On the other hand , if you need to speak with an actual attorney, then LegalShield is the best option. For those who don’t mind sourcing documents and filling out their own forms, but want the reassurance of speaking with an attorney, then LegalShield is your best choice.
However, if you want one-off access to a lawyer with no further obligations or monthly fees, poor LegalShield reviews dictate that you probably do not want to go near this site with a 100-foot pole.
In short, Rocket Lawyer is the right choice for those who need a robust library of forms. LegalShield is the choice when you need more personalized service and regular access to a lawyer.
