Legal Shield® Packages

Legal Shield membership has a number of levels that you can choose from depending on the needs of your business.

Basic. Just want ‘on demand’ access to a lawyer without fearing the bill arriving at the end of the month but are already protected with tailored advice for your business? You need the basic level with no included documents. Good if you’ve already got your legal house in order or just starting out and want some general advice from time to time without worrying about “am I being charged for this phone call?” or “did that email just cost me money?”

+3. Just starting out and don’t have staff yet? The +3 documents option will get you basic protection for your business. As your business grows and your needs change, for example you start taking on staff members or shareholders, then the type of business documentation you need will also change, this is where you need to start looking at the higher level membership options.

+4. If you’re a sole owner but starting to employ staff or engage contractors, this is the package for you. It also includes things like a Contractors Agreement / Employment Contract, a Trade Mark for your intellectual property protection.

+5. If you’re in business with others, you’re automatically an enterprise and this package is right for you. Either a shareholders agreement or partnership agreement between the owners is a crucial first step document to get right. This plus your terms and conditions, privacy policy, a waiver/disclaimer and usually employment/contractors agreements are required within the first 12 months.

Still not quite sure? Give us a call and we’ll give you some guidance based on your specific circumstances.

Immediate access to the Law in a Box portal of relevant and up-to-date legal information, a strategy call at the outset to identify areas of risk and scope the work required, customised legal documents for your business as soon as possible to provide you with the documented protection you need.

Your membership also includes; access to a lawyer as and when you need for specific legal advice when you need us and any minor changes to the documents which we tailor for you under your package.

The portal (Law in a Box) which comes complimentary, will be constantly updated with relevant and easy to read legal material specifically aimed at start-up entrepreneurs and Australian small business.

It’s a lot cheaper. We’ve worked out that clients are on average getting about double the value of the packages if they were to pay up-front or “on-the-clock”, so we know you’re going to get a lot of value out of it. It’s a really big move away from the hourly rate model.

You get to budget for your legal expenses. So, instead of having to pay $3+K upfront, (which can be a huge strain on the cash flow of a business when you’re starting up), you know exactly what you’re getting for the money you’re paying in easy monthly instalments.

We get to know your business really well and fast. There’s no mucking around. We get to know what is going on with what your doing, give you timely and honest advice and tailor documents to protect you and be there as and when you need us for timely advice. As a small business owner, I know how important it is to have timely and correct advice from external experts. It’s fundamental to success. Think of it like having an in-house lawyer without having to pay the salary.

If you engage a lawyer piece-by-piece, you end up having to repeat over and over your instructions for the next piece of work. It’s a really inefficient model. It wastes your time and makes the process harder. The other thing we’ve noticed is that most businesses leave themselves open to risk because they can’t afford all the legal advice and pay for it in one lump sum. So what happens? They get one or two things done and don’t bother with the rest because it was too expensive, too hard, distracting or all of the above.

We get entrepreneurs and start-ups. We’re a start-up ourselves and part of a large network. We’ve advised over a thousand start-ups and small business now over 3 years and we’ve worked really hard to find a way to make it affordable for start-ups to obtain the legal advice they need. It’s the first of it’s kind anywhere in the world.

We’ve worked out how much it costs on average to provide these services under the different packages and divided by 12 to spread out the costs for you. The added benefit is worth almost as much as the documents themselves which is the ongoing advice.

Employment contracts and Independent Contractors Agreements and Trade Marks usually take a bit more time so they’re in the +5 package.

Same with shareholders agreements/partnership agreements and joint venture agreements. These are a lot more involved and need a significant amount of time to go through with you to make sure they are right.

Having said that, the packages aren’t completely static so we can usually work out something for you that works right for your budget. Ask us as well if there’s something you need that isn’t on the list.

In effect, we are taking the risk by providing the tailored documents to you up-front and then allowing you to pay the cost over time. In order to keep costs as low as possible, the membership levels include different tailored documentation options that are likely to be needed at different business stages. Some of these documents are more time consuming and complex for us to draft and therefore more costly, and so can only be included in some of the higher level options.

If you’re on the basic package, it’s no lock-in-contract, cancel any time.

If you’re receiving tailored documents, then we’re pragmatic when it comes to this. If something happens and either you’re not happy or not receiving value from the service, or in financial hardship, then that’s something we can come to an agreement about. We’ll calculate a payout figure for you for what work we’ve done for you already under the package and let you know the difference between that and what you’ve already paid in instalments.

The packages are designed to allow you to pay these off in easy instalments so you don’t get hit with a big invoice.

No problem. It’s what’s going to work for you and your cash flow. We want this to work for you in whatever is best for your situation right now.

If you want just to work with us for one-off work too, no problem. If you want to start on Basic or Seed because that’s what the business can afford right now and engage us for other work as-and-when you need us, absolutely no problem with us. We’ll quote you for the extra work when you’re ready and you can budget for it and approve it when you want.

We’ve got a lot of happy clients on this service. We have developed the pricing model to essentially amortise your legal costs. We are effectively wearing the costs for you to have your business properly protected now, instead of waiting to have the funds to do so and allow you to budget for these costs instead of getting a bill shock or exposure to legal issues.

As soon as we get your detailed instructions, we will commence drafting the documents for you.

We will work with you to create a transparent and predictable timeline for completion.

The aim is to provide the protection as fast as possible for you so you’re protected right from the get-go.

If you need something done urgently – please let us know so we can schedule appropriately.

The tailored documents under the package are for standard, non-complex documents.

If we become aware that these documents that you wish us to provide are not standard, or involve more complexity, then we will need to proceed at our hourly rates to cover for these increases in costs.

Please read the full terms and conditions for the full details.