For all the reasons we learned about in professional responsibility, LegalZoom is quick to remind everyone that they are not, in fact, a law firm. The forms the platform provides are drafted by lawyers and they’ll put customers in touch with lawyers to work out the specifics, but they’re not a law firm.
Which only underscores the antiquated viewpoint attorneys have of the market they’re supposedly trying to serve.
LegalZoom filed to go public on Friday, as Bob Ambrogi points out over at LawSites. It was a busy day for legal tech IPO announcements with Intapp filing paperwork too. Exciting news for the market. I may have to get out of GameStop!
The company is best known for giving Robert Shapiro an opportunity to seize the role as “O.J. Simpson lawyer most Americans still know” before losing that title forever to “the dude who unwittingly forced us to keep up with his kids” and “the guy who can’t stop talking about his underwear massages.”
Meanwhile, LegalZoom just set itself to providing the legal services that Americans need at prices Americans can afford. In the filing, the company notes that it was involved in 10 percent of all new LLCs and 5 percent of all new incorporations in the United States last year. It also had its hand in 6 percent of all trademark registration applications. Who knows what chunk of the annual estate planning market went through LegalZoom, but it’s sure to be a hefty chunk.
And the company sees nothing but growth in its future with a massive and growing market for legal services. The advantage that’s left unsaid because it’s not something anyone wants to address, is that LegalZoom is taking advantage of a legal services model that has blown past not caring about the indigent and placed conventional legal services beyond the price range of large swaths of the middle class.
As the cost of legal services continues to rise and tilt more in favor of deep pocketed clients, there’s a growing hole where middle class consumers used to be. That’s not a hole that LegalZoom will fill by itself — and not just because it has direct competitors like RocketLawyer out there — but because there are services that still require a law firm in this day and age. But it’s a pretty big hole.
We generated revenue of $408.4 million in 2019 and $470.6 million in 2020, representing a year-over-year increase of 15.2%, and $105.8 million and $134.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2021, respectively, representing a period-over-period increase of 27.3%.
Because this is the kind of (not quite) law firm that America really uses.
And Now Another Legal Tech IPO: LegalZoom Files To Go Public [LawSites]
