While both AribaCM and ContractWorks were very good, neither technologies came with the breadth of legal expertise, at a flat rate, that LegalZoom does. As I mentioned software can automate nearly any process, such as contract development and management, but software has yet to …
Best suited in every case where the founders or executive management team value an outside, objective review (which should be every business critical strategic decision) LegalZoom teams come with the broadest base of experience, and the exchange will always be to the benefit of the strategy; either from identifying a weakness in the plan or re-confirming the strength of the plan. Less appropriate: shorter term decisions. Such sanity checks are for strategy, not day-to-day.
Assurance that the business structure is established right, from the start because both successful growth and a successful exit are heavily dependent on which you choose.
Objectivity: LegalZoom affords you access to a myriad of legal experts, so you do too. They review your business without the bias inherent in being a founder or executive management. The final decision is still yours, but it's a much better informed one.
Agility: It's nearly impossible to keep up with all of the legislation, and interpretation of such legislation (case law) too quickly and an inhouse or even outsourced billable hour team whose goal is 'billable hour' is not objective either. Flat-fee pricing is the only answer.
Critical initial selection of business model: LLC, Inc. Since this is the most expensive decision one can make, especially where the wrong one, I recommend insisting upon as much active engagement as possible in the very beginning to avoid the typical traps that might force a restart.
Annual review is great, but I might recommend adding steps that encourage at least a mid-year review rather than wait for the annual.
Honestly, we did have one issue with them where they had made an error and. much to their credit, they corrected it add their own expense.
While both AribaCM and ContractWorks were very good, neither technologies came with the breadth of legal expertise, at a flat rate, that LegalZoom does. As I mentioned software can automate nearly any process, such as contract development and management, but software has yet to be able to replace the level of human intelligence required to capture the spirit of any business contract.
