Section 2 - Companies (i.e. not Solicitors)
Selling Legal Services and Documents Directly from their Website although there are quite often
solicitors associated with the companies.
News....an interesting new development in the field of online document provision
The Association of Publishers of Online Documents (APOD) has been
established by a group of companies which sell online legal and business document templates. The aim of the
new organisation is partly to promote public awareness of their products and partly to provide and maintain a code of
practice to which good and reputable supliers of documents online can adhere to. The four founding companies are:
AvoidingDebt.com provides self-help guides to managing debt problems
as downloadable e-books. There is also a professional letter service enabling someone in debt to secure lower
monthly payments and reduced debt. The site was created in 2003 by Peter English, who is a law graduate and
company secretary. The site also provides a lot of free information in the form of news, updates, advice and
expert comment on debt management.
Business 1 stop is a new subscription
service (£29.95 a month) offering professional guidance, advice and support
for the legal and financial management of a small or medium sized business.
Content includes extensive business guides (an example of the employment guide is
given on the site without charge), examples of letters and documents of use in various
situations and document builders. The content of business 1 stop is supplied by a
panel of Lawyers, Accountants, Trading Standards and Business Link Norfolk and Waveney
and it is supported by the East of England Development Agency and the Eastern Region
Business Links. Although the business is run as a company, it
is owned by Steele & Co., Solicitors.
Care Directions is a site
offering information and services to the elderly and those needing care. There is a legal section
and a register of solicitors on the site which can be joined for a fee.
Clickdocs provides legal documents online.
All the documents have been prepared by qualified solicitors, and encoded to enable easy customisation, to suit various
requirements or options. The documents are also available to suit the law of England, Wales, and Scotland.
Clickdocs is part of Expatindex Limited, based in Edinburgh, which is a specialist internet publishing company.
The directors are Jon Aslin and Joanne Tucker. Documents are provided in Word with a "wizard" to help
customise the documents offline. There are free samples available to see how it works. Topics covered
include business forms, employment related forms, housing, incorporation, internet law forms and wills
& probate.
compactlaw.co.uk (reviously Lawrights) provide documents on
Housing, Immigration, Wills and Lottery and also various documents for business use.
There are some free documents as well and a large amount of free information on
many legal topics.
Computalaw
is a company of intellectual property lawyers with 20 years experience advising
and drafting contracts for clients world-wide. Now, Computalaw make their
Computer Contracts, advice and expertise available on-line.
The Computalaw Contracts have been drafted specifically
for the IT Industry world-wide, for use in Electronic
Commerce and are designed for use by both lawyers and IT professionals.
Types of work include software licence distribution agreement (for software, hardware or systems)
software development contracts, 'real-time' and historical data supply agreement,
global network contract, escrow agreement, data licence agreement,
and on-line subscriber agreement.
ContractStore
has nearly 300 contract templates for sale on its website. Designed for use both by start-up and
established businesses, the catalogue contains general commercial, property, e-commerce and employment
contracts and contracts drafted for cross-border and international use. It also includes some written
for use in the USA and a number of dual-language Chinese and English contracts. In addition, there is a
range of specialist construction and engineering documents. All ContractStore documents have helpful
explanatory notes and are downloaded in Word format. The website also contains a lot of useful free information.
Desktop Lawyer sells
documents direct to the public. The
method involves generating documents using their Rapidocs software, which asks questions of the user and
generates the document.
For the personal user, topics include: headings for the consumer, motoring, at work, crime,
personal injury, family and divorce, wills and your estate, your home, changing your name, representing
someone and pets. Under Business topics, there is: media & entertainment, starting a business, emplyment law,
doing business, buying a business and corporate borrowing. See also
My Lawyer where the document production is combined
with assistance from a solicitor.
Divorce Online is a site providing information and downloadable documents
to assist "do it yourself" divorces. It is the oldest online divorce service
in the UK and was founded in September 1999. This is a very heavily used
site and it also includes lots of free information as well as the purchased
materials. There are a series of packages" available from £69.00 for a
simple diy divorce through to £299 for a fully managed divorce and consent
order service depending on the level of support required.
Draft-Your-Will.com provides a will writing service
which is specifically tailored to an individual's individual circumstances and needs. You can opt for a
single will or mirror wills. Mirror wills are particularly relevant to married couples who wish to mirror
or copy each other's will with relevant alterations being made. The wills are written by
Miss Janine Byrne and detailed information is given on the site.
Duport Associates Ltd is primarily a company formation agent,
registering standard and specialised UK LTD companies with additional services in the provision
of UK company reports and UK and Global trademark registration. Many of these services can be delivered
online together with step by step information and guidance for filling in the relevant forms online.
Elm Online is an online will writing service, where you
are helped step by step to provide your instructions for the will (i.e. not just left to work on a document
all by yourself). At the end of this process, the will is set to you in fully bound form, for you to sign.
The company can also provide a will storage process if required. A different type of service is available
if you live in Bristol, Bath, Somerset, Gloucester and the South West generally - a professional will writer
can visit you in your own home and guide you through the entire will writing process.
Employment Law Contracts provide
template employment contracts to UK businesses. Documents available include
Employment Contract (senior employee, full time), Director's Service Contract, Equal Opportunities Policy,
Disciplinary Procedure and Grievance Procedure. All the templates have been drafted by
mpm legal LLP, a legal practice specialising in employment law.
The site is run by a company called
SEQ Legal.
Evicting Squatters without a Solicitor is a new site from solicitor Tessa Shepperson,
already well known for her site
Landlord Law, an online service for residential landlords and tenants.
Tessa says on the site that the actual procedure used to obtain an order for possession through the courts against trespassers is not particularly difficult,
if you know what you are doing, and that there is no reason why most land owners should not be able to bring a successful claim
as a litigant in person. The kit:
•Explains the circumstances when you can use the procedure set out in the kit
•Gives guidance on when and how you can use ‘self help’ measures
•Tells you what documentation you need to obtain before you can apply to the court
•Gives detailed instructions on completing the court forms
•Gives detailed instructions about service of the paperwork on the squatters
•Describes the hearing in detail – how to prepare for it and what to do at court, and
•Explains how to enforce the possession order through the county court bailiffs
The kit also contains the letters and court forms needed for this process. The kit costs £250 plus VAT.
Global-Wills.com is a site which creates
Irish wills online (other countries may follow). There is a useful FAQ section
and information on Inheritance Tax in different countries.
glossLegal is a legal document service online,
based in central London, which offers Wills as a starting point: For a fixed price of £69, no hidden fees,
you get to make a high-quality Will online. The Will is checked by a qualified solicitor, and is then professionally
printed, bound and sent to you by post to make sure it does not get invalided by the probate office –
as happens with online downloads improperly printed and stapled at home. One of the founders of the company
is a senior solicitor who was a partner in a major London firm and specialised in Wills, Trust, Tax & Probate.
Halifax Legal Express is now offering legal documents online. It describes the service thus:
"A new online service providing help for all the everyday legal problems you're likely to face, including wills, divorces,
powers of attorney, prenuptial agreements and consumer complaints, all created on the screen."
Wills cost from £48, Powers of Attorney from £34, Probate from £52 and (apparently) there are over 150 other documents and services available
"covering just about every legal need from identity theft to issues in the workplace."
The user chooses the area of law and then the particular document required, and then chooses from 3 levels of service:
Self-serve (no lawyer input), Legal Review (reviewed by a lawyer) or Lawyer Service (full personal service).
Apparently, Halifax has a panel of solicitors it can use and you can submit your requirements to receive information on
a recommended solicitor.
You can try out the system to see the sort of questions asked and view a partially visible developing document, before
paying real money. There are explanations provided as you go along as well as background guidance notes.
The document generation software comes from Rapidocs, the biggest player in the generated documents market and the company behind
MyLawyer a generating service which provides an online "shop front" to
various major legal firms.
How to write a Will provides useful information on this topic and also
a means of writing one online. There are new articles about writing a will on the site on a regular masis.
JustAnswer is a USA company providing advice from
experts online for a modest fee (also providing UK and Irish legal advice).
Experts in many categories (including legal, medical, electronics and many other) spend
time online and are available to answer questions. The user has to set up an account with a deposit of $15 for good faith.
Apparently, the user makes an "offer" of a modest amount of money and then an expert will reply - providing
competition between experts. The money is only paid when the user is satisfied.
In aswer to a question from me about whether the legal experts were "just" USA based,
the company provided the following answer: "We absolutely do cover UK and Ireland legal questions very well.
We have over 60 lawyers on JustAnswer that specifically focus on Ireland and UK law. Although we are based in
the US, we are the world's largest Expert question and answer site with international categories spanning
Germany, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and more. The Experts who focus on UK and Ireland law have all had their
credentials verified by a third party to assure that they do in fact focus on that specific region.
Also, these Experts are typically citizens of the UK and Ireland and actually reside there (rather than in the
US where the technical side of the website is based)."
Law Express is a company set up to provide telephone legal
advice. They employ fully qualified solicitors to provide the advice, mostly working from the Bristol
headquarters. As well as providing legal advice directly to individuals (35 including VAT for a one-off call or 185 for
a year's subscription), the company provides advice to individuals as an employee benefit to such organisations as Marks &
Spencer, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Open Line (HSBC) and Somerfield. The services are also provided
as a membership benefit to organisations including the Institute of Directors, St James Place Partnership,
the 360 Group and the Institute of Healthcare Engineers and Estate managers.
LawAssure is a scheme coming from
Epoch Software (the authors of Desktop lawyer) together with Royal & Sun Alliance.
For £499 plus VAT, a business can obtain unlimited documents from Desktop Lawyer, unlimited
telephone support from First Assist (owned by Royal & Sun Alliance) and legal
expenses insurance. A similar scheme for individuals costs £199 plus VAT.
LAW DOX is the new venture of former solicitor Martin Davies, who created
and ran the award-winning LAW on the WEB website for 10 years before its
recent sale. The site is a vehicle for simple downloadable legal documents
and guides for the general public, including a change of name deed and all
the documents you need to sever a joint tenancy, plus the best-selling DIY
Guide for Motorists in the Magistrates Court. Two new guides are also in
production relating to small claims matters and obtaining probate and
administering an estate, and will be online soon.
LawDepot is a Canadian company now expanding into the UK.
They provide an online contract creation service. There are free contracts both in
"fill-in-the blank" and interactive formats as well as paid-for contracts. Documents available
include bill of sale and promissory notes for both personal and business use.
Lawpack Publishing Ltd. offers a wide range of self-help legal kits,
forms, books and software. Launched in 1994 as the UK offshoot of an American publisher, the company was
bought out by its management in 2000 and is now wholly UK owned. Lawpack is best known for its DIY Will Kit,
which is on sale at W H Smith, Tesco, Rymans, Staples, and many high street bookshops. This is by far the
most popular of the company's products, but the full range also includes forms, letters and guidance on
residential letting, probate, powers of attorney, employment law, divorce, property purchase and sale,
health and safety, benefit rights and many other topics.
Lawpack's aim is to help people
to help themselves when they can, but to recommend them to seek professional advice where necessary.
They work in partnership with the legal profession - most of their titles are written and reviewed by lawyers,
and some are bought by solicitors and barristers for their own use.
Lawpack sells actively through the web and also provides packs and materials for organisations.
Lawrite HR provides employment
law and HR solutions for employers in the UK.
The Lawrite Employment Law software was first launched in 1999. The current
version works through the web browser and seamlessly combines locally-stored
document templates, PDF guides and manuals, with web-based news and update
files. There are more than 120 templates including employment contracts,
policies and procedures and sample letters to employees. The software is
available as part of a range of services including 24/7 telephone legal
support, an insurance-backed Employment Tribunal indemnity scheme and
different levels of HR support including bespoke drafting of contracts,
staff handbooks and other HR documents.
Legal Clarity provides legal documentary and company secretarial
services to accountants, solicitors and consumers. They specialise in corporate and commercial law.
Services include legal document drafting, company formation, company registration, company secretarial services, the provision of
registered offices and nominee services. Although providing these services online, the company can also be visited
in person if desired at its offices in Birmingham.
LegalHelpers is an online document drafting service
for some of the more routine and straightforward legal documents including
wills, living wills, powers of attorney, letting agreements, notices to quit, and syndicate agreements.
The user fills in a form online and receives the drafted document by post or email.
The company is run by four young people including web designers and lawyers. The site is approved
by Which Web Trader (the Code of Practice defined by Which for online trading).
Legalpulse is a site particularly designed for small businesses
wishing to expand as well as private individuals. There is lots of free information on the site and
also a series of documents which can be purchased, typically costing around £30 to £40.
It is also possible to email your question to a solicitors for a fee or to speak on a premium rate phone line.
CEO is lawyer and ex Camelot director Gill Switalski and associated firms (with an advert on the site)
include Mishcon de Reya, Collyer-Bristow and Yuill & Kyle.
Legalpulse is also linked with the National Solicitors Network which has around 600 firms around the country.
Legal-Zone aims to help people
deal with legal problems without the expense, hassle and inconvenience associated with instructing solicitors.
They provide a variety of Documents and agreements, Court Precedents , DIY kits, Factsheets and E-books,
available for purchase from the site.
London Registrars are company secretaries
and offer a wide variety of fixed price business policies documents and contracts.
As well as company incorporation and company secretarial work, they also cover
data protection, employment contracts, sales of good from a website and trade
mark protection. As an internet based company they can offer services extremely cost effectively
and they are also available for consultation by phone and in person.
They started the business in 1999 and are based in Central London.
myhrtoolkit is a company owned by solicitors
Ironmonger Curtis in Sheffield. The site provides a service to manage
employees in a company as "Software as a Service" i.e. the software is run remotely over the internet.
The service provides a low cost solution, starting at £55 a month, to streamline HR admin for small and medium-sized
businesses between 5 and 500 staff. Users are granted access based on their role in the organisation - owner, manager,
or employee - and each user has access to view and control information appropriate to their level.
Users can self-manage staff holidays,
contracts of employment, induction, appraisal, sickness and other absence, with communication and task tracking
features ensuring accountability within the organisation. There is an online demo on the site
which explains how it works.
Existing users of the service come from manufacturing, property and financial services, distribution and retail, healthcare,
and not for profit.
Net Lawman sells legal
documents, agreements and advice for England & Wales, and also other jurisdictions including Scotland, in plain English and at a reasonable price.
There are many types of business, company and partnership legal document available, including e-commerce and employment,
as well as documents for private individuals such as those relating to divorce, wills and probate.
There is also a large amount of free legal information on the site relating to all these topics.
Lawyers can provide documents to be sold on this site.
Novik LI Limited is a Business Start Up company. Based in the UK, but with clients
not limited to the UK, it offers fast online UK limited liability company formation within 1 to 3 hours for
only for £25, accountancy services, VAT registration and mail forwarding services. The company
includes accountants and business lawyers.
OneClickHR plc is a major provider
of HR services. There is a good news section with summaries of
current employment-related news stories and a section covering legal employment topics in the
Employer's Guide to HR; this is free upon registration. There is also a range of charged
employment law related services including drafting tailored employment contracts,
employee handbooks and compromise agreements, downloadable employment policies,
and a legal advice line.
Online Will Limited is a joint venture between two businessmen
(Vernon & Tim) and Button Legal LLP a long established firm of solicitors. The site enables residents of the UK
to write a will online. The process is very simple and very fast, and is solicitor approved. The will
is emailed to you and is then available to print out to be signed and witnessed for it to become legally binding.
Single wills cost £24.95 and joint wills cost £34.95. There is lots of information on the site and also
a free "ask a question of a solicitor" facility ("ask Adam").
Publishing Contracts supply template publishing
contracts and other legal documents for use by publishers and others involved in publishing including
a range of author agreement templates at both premium and basic level and covering aspects like
assignment, fee, licence and royalty. The site is run by a company called
SEQ Legal.
Quick Formations Ltd offer online company registration services
using the Electronic Filing facilities at Companies House.
They are apparently one of the UK's largest Online Company Registration Agents and
they form just over 400 Limited Companies a month. Costs start at 34.99 for the standard service.
The company can be set up exactly how the user wishes, from day one, without using any outside
nominee appointments. The user can choose their own share capital, and holders, etc. The information is
then automatically submitted to Companies House and the transaction is generally complete within half a working day.
There is a useful set of questions and answers on the site about limited companies and the
requirements for setting them up and then operating them.
quickedivorce provides a pack of
information to download for £30 plus VAT or £35 plus VAT if it is posted.
The quickedivorce pack includes all the forms needed and advice for
filling them in, together with unlimited email advice. They have been providing divorce
packages since 2000 and have been used by 7,000 customers.
Phone advice from a solicitor is also available for an additional fee.
This company has been bought by Online Legal Services Ltd (whose main service is divorce-online, as above).
RIKY is an interesting new site for landlords which offers a
great deal of free information and advice and then provides a membership at modest prices which enables members to access forms and documents
and obtain tenant credit checks.
Areas covered on the site include the ability to find out what letter, notice or form is required,
issue rent arrears notices, compare Landlord's Insurance and issue a Section 21 Notice. There are also
sections to explain property investing, Tenancy Agreements, Landlords Tax,
Legislation (TDS, HMO, HSSRS and HB) and provision of a free Tenants Handbook and a free Buy to Let Finance Guide.
Scot Lawman is part of a family of sites provided by Net Lawman
(see above). The site provides legal documents in plain English, for business managers and individuals and
a Personal Drafting Service with documents drawn to your precise requirements. Lawyers can provide documents
to be sold on this site.
scotwills is a company offering to
create wills online for £35. The company is run by Bruce de Wert, senior partner
of Scottish firm Georgesons. There is lots of free information as well as the
actual will creation.
Simply-docs.co.uk helps small and medium enterprises
(SME's) and owner managers put correct documentation and procedures in place, and then helps them keep pace
with and comply with regulatory change at an affordable cost.
The legal content of Simply-docs has been developed by leading commercial lawyers, HR and health & safety
consultants. It represents the very best in terms of quality and depth of information. Each legal point
is explained in clear concise and plain language. There are over 950 documents + updates and additions.
The documents are arranged in groups - trading,
corporate, employment and Health & Safety. Each group of forms, on a subscription basis for a year, costs £35
with access to all documents for £95.
Small Claims is a site covering County Court Money Claims
and defending a claim with information and ways that you can fight back.
Template Contracts supply a
range of downloadable contract templates for business, commerce and industry.
Available templates include Agency Agreements, Confidentiality Agreements,
Consultancy Agreements, Distribution Agreements, Franchise Agreements,
Intellectual Property Agreements, Internet Agreements, IT Agreements, Novation Agreements,
Sale and Supply Agreements, Services Agreements, Sponsorship Agreements and Website Notices.
The site is run by a company called
SEQ Legal.
The contract templates have been drafted by City of London-trained lawyers with many years'
experience advising UK businesses on issues of commercial law.
Tesco Legal Store currently defaults to the main Tesco site.
They are not selling legal documents any more - it was obviously not profitable enough.
This is ironical since "Tesco Legal Services" has become a shorthand phrase to describe cheap online legal products!
However, they may well be back at some point so I am leaving this entry here for the time being in case the service suddenly starts again!
The Company Warehouse provide Limited Company Formation,
VAT Registration, Domain Name Registration, Web and Print Design with Free Phone Advice and Support. Very
competitive prices for all documents and services.
The Legal Shop produce legal templates
such as order forms, confidentiality agreements, employment contracts and partnership agreements
for small business and individuals which they can download and complete, or customise to their needs.
The documents are available in Word format. The company employs UK registered & qualified solicitors
to create, check and update the documents to ensure they are up to date with the latest legal changes.
The Will Site is a company providing a
will making service and also advice from a solicitor. The site was set up to raise funds for
charity by providing the best Will making services on the Internet and encouraging users to
leave legacies to charities. It brings together top charities, solicitors, and the most
advanced technology to provide Internet users with top quality Will-making options.
There is lots of useful information about wills on the site.
UK Deed Poll is a site which tells you everything you need to know about
changing your name by Deed Poll and which can also do the job for you if you wish.
The company issues change of name
deeds that are accepted by all organisations allowing individuals to get
their documents issued in to their new name by government departments
including the Passport Office. Orders for a name change can be made
online by post or by phone. Information is also included in the service in
the form of a Deed Poll pack aimed to guide individuals through the
process of changing their name.
UK Corporator is an expert
system for generating limited company formation documents online which can be used
either by the person wanting to set up a limited company, or by a solicitor acting on his/her behalf.
The system operates on a question and answer
basis to obtain the information needed for the forms, providing full explanatory notes
at each stage so that the user is in effect "coached" in the process of preparing the
documents, and taking account of the relevant Companies Act provisions.
There is also a considerable amount of free information available on the site
relating to the incorporation process for people to use whether or not they are using
the system on a paid basis. At the end of the generation process, the user can decide whether
he or she wishes to go ahead with the formation and pay the £49.99 (plus Government charges
payable direct to Companies House) required for the finished documents and delivering them automatically.
All content has been written by the directors of the company who are also solicitors.
The original system has already been widely used in Australia as
Incorporator.com.au.
Website Contracts provide downloadable template
legal documents relating to websites and the internet.
There are contracts for Acceptable Use Policies, Affiliate Agreements, Consultancy Contracts,
Domain Name Licences, Domain Name Sale Agreements, E-commerce Terms and Conditions,
Intellectual Property Assignments, Advertising Agreements, Non Disclosure Agreements,
Privacy Policies, Web Design Agreements, Web Development Agreements, Web Hosting Agreements,
Website Terms of Use and Website Disclaimers. The site is run by a company called
SEQ Legal.
Which? Legal Service offers unlimited professional
consumer and employment legal advice by phone and email from qualified lawyers.
This costs £51 for 12 months service.
There is also a will writing service.
Priced at £89 for a single will and £129 for a will for a couple, the online will writing service comes
with full telephone support from specialist wills solicitors.
wills.org.uk enable users to write their Will online
which is then checked and written by a Professional UK Will Writer who is a Member of the Society of Will Writers.
Wills start from £39 or £59 for ajoint/mirror will.
They donate £1 from every Will to various charites each month.
Workplacelaw Network is a commercial
service offering advice and assistance for employers on employment law,
health and safety, and premises management. Documents can be
generated online and advice is provided online or by telephone.
A free 14 day trial is available.
I am not sure what firms are involved in the service.
Note to companies who are selling legal services from their web site - let me know
and I will add you to this list!
email
delia@venables.co.uk
Selling and Marketing Legal Services Online
