Rocket Lawyer Raises $18.5 Million

♬ Money talks, it’ll tell you a story
Money talks, says strange things
Money talks very loudly…♬

Lyrics and music by JJ Cale and Christine Lakeland, recorded by JJ Cale.

Rocket Lawyer Logo

The ABA Journal reported today that Rocket Lawyer has raised $18.5 Million Dollars from a group of investors that includes Google Ventures.

Rocket Lawyer (“The world’s fastest growing online legal service”) is part of a growing number of on-line legal form/self-help websites such as LegalZoom. Rocket Lawyer distinguishes itself from LegalZoom by offering the services of a lawyer to review the legal forms that the customer (client?) has created. LegalZoom offers a “Peace of Mind Review” by a “document specialist” but there is no representation on their web page that this document specialist is a lawyer.

The interest by Google Ventures and others clearly shows that the market is very interested in investing in these new legal product providers. According to the press release from Rocket Lawyer:

Our investors share our vision, and together we’re dedicated to making legal services easy and affordable for everyone,” added Dan Nye, Rocket Lawyer president and CEO.

Anyone who thinks these ventures are insignificant might wish to reconsider:

Over 15 million small businesses and consumers have used Rocket Lawyer’s easy, web-based do it yourself tools and legal plans. Each month, more than 20,000 Last Wills and 40,000 Business Contracts are created using the site’s step by step interview process.

These services offer not just simple wills and incorporations. LegalZoom, RocketLawyer’s competitor, has a personal endorsement on its web page that states:

“I got my LLC, Patent and Trademark thru LegalZoom” per Chris Schutte of “Innovative Everyday Products.”

The fact that investors are lining up to invest in these online legal service web sites indicate that capital markets are very interested in gaining further access to the legal industry. Of course outside of North America, the walls have started to crumble by allowing non-lawyers to take equity interests in law firms. Further changes will be occurring in the UK as the Legal Services Act starts changing the UK legal system.

Listen carefully – money is talking very loudly…it’ll tell you a story..