A recent article in California Lawyer magazine profiled LegalZoom.com, the self-help website co-founded by Los Angeles attorney Robert Shapiro. The article starts with the rather ominous proposition that the website will put many lawyers out of business. Yeah, sure, it's hyperbole aimed ag generating interest, but there is something to it, especially for estate planners.
There are a great many people out there who believe that a will or a trust as a mostly boilerplate document that doesn't require paying a lawyer several thousand dollars to prepare. They believe they know who they want to name as their fiduciaries and who they want to leave their estate to. Whether their estate planning ideas will actually work is another story, and it is doubtful that using services like LegalZoom or will drafting software or storefront document preparation businesses can provide the necessary guidance to such people, or whether doing so would constitute practicing law without a license.
Nevertheless, as more people look to the internet first for solutions to whatever issues they face, places like LegalZoom.com will become more popular. Consider how the internet has changed the travel industry, or financial management. As an estate planning attorney, it will inevitably get more difficult to compete with these low cost options. At the same time, there are still people out there who would never try to prepare an estate plan on their own. I think there is room for both kinds of people, and there will continue to be room for at least as long as I plan to practice law.
I don't see this trend as a threat to my livelihood. But, then again, I also litigate trust and estate matters, including disputes that arise out of drafting errors and poor planning...
No comments:
Post a Comment