American Bar Association (ABA) Announces Partnership with Rocket Lawyer
Monday, August 11, 2014

At their annual meeting last week in Boston, the American Bar Association announced a new partnership with online legal services provider Rocket Lawyer “to explore expanded opportunities for lawyers online.”

In the spirit of “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” the ABA said it is collaborating with Rocket Lawyer on a pilot program to offer affordable legal services to small businesses and the self-employed, connecting ABA member attorneys with prospects using the Rocket Lawyer platform.

ABA president James R. Silkenat said, “The American Bar Association welcomes the opportunity to explore ways to expand legal services to those who need a lawyer’s counsel but are not currently being served for reasons ranging from affordability to ease of access.”

Rocket Lawyer founder and CEO Charley Moore heralded the partnership as a “pioneering effort to democratize access to legal counsel using technology,” applauding the ABA for “working with us to find new ways to expand legal representation from qualified attorneys through video and mobile technologies.”

Currently, Rocket Lawyer offers consumers and small business owners access to their own network of vetted attorneys by signing up for a $39.95/month membership plan.  For that monthly fee, you have access to a number of legal documents you customize for your own purposes online as well as legal advice from Rocket Lawyer’s stable of “On Call Attorneys.”  You type in your legal question on the website and get an answer via email or phone (your choice).

The ABA told the WSJ Law Blog it was interested in partnering with Rocket Lawyer because it uses attorneys to provide legal advice to its clients in a market the ABA feels is horribly underserved -- i.e., people who wouldn’t otherwise use an attorney. 

The ABA says it will be monitoring the program to see what kind of services its attorneys will actually be providing via Rocket Lawyer and to “make sure it really is the underserved communities they are responding to.”

The benefit to Rocket Lawyer, which says it will not be making a profit from the pilot program, is the cachet it will receive from being associated with the ABA. 

The program will involve a few hundred attorneys from each state and will start in about a month.

 

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