New York small business lawyer Imke Ratschko wrote an excellent blog post on Web incorporation services. She found a blog post by a California business lawyer who described a certain Web incorporation service as almost a scam.
Imke also shares her reasons why people are better off choosing business lawyers to perform incorporation and LLC formation services. Her list:
- Many business attorneys make it easy for you by offering flat fee business entity formations and initial free consultations;
- a real person with a law degree takes responsibility for your business entity formation;
- a real person with a law degree is available to answer questions and help you decide what business entity is right for you;
- a real person with a law degree can help you draft an operating agreement or shareholder agreement. Web services do not usually draft these agreements for you. If they do, you will get a "one size fits all" agreement that can be worse than not having one at all.
- a real person with a law degree will remember you and your business and remind you of follow up legal issues in running a corporation or LLC, maybe even years later.
I couldn’t agree more with Imke. Many business lawyers, including myself, provide incorporation and LLC formation services on a flat fee basis. The major difference is that when you see a business lawyer for your services you will actually receive legal advice. You just don’t get that from a Web incorporation service. Don’t take my word for it – just read their disclaimers.