Why people Choose D.I.Y Law

Introduction

It quite evident that one can access almost all services online today, for instance, it is possible to contract a baby sitter, order goods and services and can even find a date, all these under the comfort of their homes. Surprisingly, apart from accessing all these services, it is also possible to get access to legal services online under the Do It Yourself law commonly known as DYI. The term Do it yourself has been in use since 1912 where it was used in home improvement domain. Currently, the term is also used in repairing and modifying in the building industry whereby people are advised to do things for themselves without asking for the services of professionals and experts.  In the legal field, D.I.Y is a concept that is applied when a person wants to get legal help that is legit in writing but is operating on a tight budget. The D.I.Y law and legal websites also help the general public to access legal information online and outlines the important issues that they should consider in law related situations.

Effects on DYI on the legal field

Saves Money

It is undeniable that the services are cheap in terms of pricing and one is able to access excellent services. For instance, the State of Maryland Circuit Court Schedule charges under $200 filing fees for different types of cases (mdcourts.gov, (2016). There are also websites like legalZoom.com and RocketLawyer.com whose filing costs are just a fraction of the normal charges for hiring a lawyer. The legalZoom.com website charges a preparation fee of $69 and a monthly membership fee of $14.99 (LegalZoom.com). Before D.I.Y was established people used to consult lawyers whenever they needed legal advice which was quite expensive. The hustle for getting a lawyer to cater for all legal needs was too much but now due to D.I.Y law popularity and the increase in legal websites, people can now boast of cheap, fast and convenient legal assistance services. D.I.Y is now seen as the best way for managing individual legal issues with little help and one can also do it alone. The legal profession has also seen some changes since people have now seen the value of using legal websites and D.I.Y to cater their legal needs. For instance, with the D.I.Y tools, it is easy to get awareness of the required legal documentation for a business and if need be, one can contact a lawyer. For instance the legalZoom has a documents library that charges $14.95 for printing a single document and $7.99 for unlimited printing of legal forms from the site library (LegalZoom.com). Lawyers charge different rates per hour and the hourly rates for seeing one range between $150 and $1000 (Goguen, n.d.). According to Murray (2011) there are attorneys that ask for upfront fee that they call retainer and acts as down payment. This is the money that the lawyers deduct in order to make documents for the case and when the amount finishes, the lawyers ask for more money for working on the case

Saves Time                                                                                                                                        

These documents are readily available online and can be printed whenever one requires using them (Scott, 2012). Through this platform, people are able to do things such as documents filing without waiting for a lawyer to do it for them. Additionally, it is possible to get legal advice from the websites and any assistance that they mare require and in most cases, the advice is offered instantly. For instance, before introduction of D.I.Y and legal websites, people would go looking for lawyers in order to get legal advice and this was time consuming, but now, the new services are important since they save time (“5 Reasons How Do-IT-Yourself (DIY) legal documents is making it easy for Startups”, 2016). Additionally, people do not necessarily have to travel in order to get the legal documents since they can as well print them from the comfort of their offices or homes. In addition to that, it is possible to file documents online without necessarily asking for the services of the lawyer. Another great thing D.I.Y is that one is able to master their time and have the freedom to work on the legal issues whenever their schedule allows them to (“5 Reasons How Do-IT-Yourself (DIY) legal documents is making it easy for Startups”, 2016).  The good thing is that it does not require a person to schedule a meeting with a third party which is time consuming for it is possible to do it the way one has imaged it. Lastly, the customer care representatives are always available to solve problems in cases where one feels that he or she is not competent enough.

Flexibility

Indeed D.I.Y and legal websites are unique approach that offers people flexible services according to their targets (Scott, 2012). Flexibility is achieved in the essence that one does not depend on advice of the lawyer throughout. Furthermore, people have the liberty to on the tide to and do things in a manner that offers them comfort and according to their will (“5 Reasons How Do-IT-Yourself (DIY) legal documents is making it easy for Startups”, 2016). Lastly, the services are flexible in the essence that they offer people a chance to make changes to the legal policies even when they have already been published without requiring the services of the expert or a third party. Giving people a chance to edit the desired changes brings about fulfillment since they feel that they are in control of their own legal requirements (“5 Reasons How Do-IT-Yourself (DIY) legal documents is making it easy for Startups”, 2016). For instance, a survey conducted in 2015 shows that about two thirds of Americans do not have a will. Surprisingly, most would argue that the services of a lawyer are expensive but with the flexible services offered by DIY and legal websites, it easy for them to know all the requirements in making a will and it expected that with time, everyone will be able to make a will without physically consulting a lawyer.

Conclusion

The revolution of D.I.Y is a technological process that has shown a significant change in the Legal profession. The new technology has been adopted by individuals and entrepreneurs who are passionate about ecommerce since it simplifies processes. The technology has people engaging in self-service especially in legal matter instead of paying lawyers and legal experts to do things for them. All credit goes to the current technological innovation that enabling people adopt the D.I.Y model since it a major step in propelling the economy. Although not all legal websites and D.I.Y have been of great help to people, it worth noting that the few that are credible are convenient in offering legal assistance. D.Y.I is also a platform where lawyers can be able to reduce their rates since the field is very competitive. The legal field has also seen change since introduction of D.I.Y law since people are opting to use it due to the fact that it is cheap, time saving and offers flexible services.

References

5 Reasons How Do-IT-Yourself (DIY) legal documents is making it easy for Startups. (2016). Medium. Retrieved 8 February 2018, from https://medium.com/legalnow/5-reasons-how-do-it-yourself-diy-legal-documents-is-making-it-easy-for-startups-2ca4f00825a9

Goguen, D.  (n.d.).  Guide to legal services and billing rates.  Retrieved from https://www.lawyers.com/legal-info/research/guide-to-legal-services-billing-rates.html

https://www.legalzoom.com/legalforms

LegalZoom.com. (2018).  Legal forms pricing.  Retrieved from https://www.legalzoom.com/legalforms

Maryland Circuit Court.  (2016, October 1)..Retrieved from https://mdcourts.gov/sites/default/files/import/circuit/feesummaryschedule.pdf

Murray, J.  (2017, September 11).  Learning about attorney retainer fees.  Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-a-retainer-fee-for-an-attorney-398564

Scott, Juliette. “Can Genre-specific DIY Corpora, Compiled by Legal Translators themselves, Assist them in ‘Learning the Lingo’of Legal Subgenres?.” Comparative Legilinguistics 12 (2012): 87-100.