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Making The Legal System Accessible To Small Business

Unlike other fields which remain static, the legal system is always changing and new laws are created while old ones are amended and each community in every city around the world has their own interpretation of the law. This can make small business law difficult to navigate for entrepreneurs and startup owners.

 

This is one of the reasons why technology has not completely penetrated the legal system as it has other professions. New start ups around the country are trying to make it more accessible to everyone by specializing in different segments of the legal system.

 

These startups address documentation, attorneys, fees, education and many complex issues related to law.

 

Docracy

Finding the right legal document can be an exercise in futility at times. The process is unnecessarily complicated and time consuming.

 

Docracy was founded by Matt Hall and John Watkinson after experiencing the frustration of trying to finding the right legal documentation to run their business.

 

Docracy is designed to provide a depository of legal documents for small businesses. Other sites such as Paperlex provide contracts and additional legal documents.

 

Codex

CodeX is part of the Stanfords Center for Legal Informatics designed to find ways technology can be used to make the legal system more accessible to everyone. The system uses computational law, legal infrastructure and legal document management to make legal informatics available in computable form. CodeX is focused on simplifying the interaction between the law, legal professional, the government and individuals.

 

Legal Reach

LegalReach aims to take the intimidation factor by making lawyers more accessible and transparent. It uses the same principle as LinkedIn to allow attorneys to list their expertise, achievements, referrals, experience and any other relevant information. You can use LegalReach to provide information to potential customers about legal matters with articles and blogs. The service is free and if you are an attorney it is one more tool you can use to give you more exposure.

 

 

Tabulaw

Tabulaw was founded by Ari Hershowitz the former director at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) to make the law work for everyone. His goal was to create software tools for legal work to make research more accessible for the practitioner and layman so they can be more productive.

AttorneyFee

Attorney fees keep a lot of people from getting legal services because they think it is too expensive. One of the reasons for this perception is the inconsistency between the fees attorneys charge and there is very little transparency in this profession when they price their services. AttorneyFee is a resource which provides more than 20,000 pricing points indexed from attorneys around the country. This site arms you with the accurate information to get the confidence you need to use professionals for legal services.

 

Complexity In Management

In order to implement the legal system fully new startups that attempt this endeavor have to understand the complexity involved in managing the vast amount of information. You have to have technical assistance and transfer of knowledge with daily updates plus:

 

  • Electrical legal information gathering
  • An established publishing process
  • Sound structural framework with multiple redundant measures
  • Follow up system with maintenance

 

 

Although it is possible to implement the legal system it requires a lot of work because the information has to be accurate at all times. Misinformation can lead to legal action against your site. One of the best ways to address this field is by specializing in one particular sector instead of tackling the entire system.

 

Photo and Video Credits

Michal Marcol / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Docracy.com

Codex.Stanford.edu

LegalReach.com

Tabulaw / Vimeo.com

AttorneyFee.com

Jeroen van Oostrom / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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