If you own a business, at some time you’ll need legal help. Whether you need to have a contractor sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) or you have questions about patenting your ideas, it’s impossible to avoid the inevitable legalities that will come up as part of being in business.

The Cost of Legal

Unfortunately, attorneys don’t work for free. High-quality legal advice comes at a price, and it’s usually an hourly fee. But for many businesses, the occasional need for legal help doesn’t merit having a lawyer on speed dial. Thanks to technology, there is an easier way.

Businesses turn to the cloud for every other service they need, so why not legal help? For any form you need, there’s likely a free online template that you can download and use, but those ad hoc forms won’t include accompanying legal advice. For that level of service, businesses will need to seek out a cloud-based legal service provider.

Attorneys in the Cloud

Services like LegalZoom and Nolo are revolutionizing the legal services industry, giving small business owners the ability to obtain legal services affordably. Both sites offer legal advice and forms to cover the vast majority of issues businesses face. To create the necessary legal documents, users answer simple questions about their needs and document assistants review those answers and create documents accordingly.

One of the best things about these services is that pricing is transparent. Professionals usually know up front how much a document will cost so there are no surprises. Many forms start at $99, which doesn’t include state filing fees.

While these services are great, they are no substitute for the services of an attorney. If a business finds itself in legal trouble, an attorney is the only way to go. But for having the forms in place that are necessary for a company, cloud-based legal services are a great alternative to high attorney fees.