Meet Priori Legal: Connecting Startups to Trusted Lawyers

We’re all about teaming up with great startups on a mission to help the startup community excel.  Priori Legal is one of those awesome companies.  This guest post will introduce the company and shed a little light on the kind of advice they’ll be sharing on our blog.

What is Priori Legal?

Priori is a curated marketplace that connects high-growth start-ups and SMBs with a network of vetted lawyers at below-market and, wherever possible, fixed rates. We are remaking the legal profession for the 21st century by stripping away costly infrastructure from traditional legal practice to make finding, hiring and working with excellent lawyers as transparent, efficient and cost effective as possible.

What makes your company different?

• High-Touch. Priori connects businesses with any and all legal services needed—in one convenient, easy-to-use online platform. We are not a one-size-fits-all service, nor do we believe your legal services should be one-size-fits-all. Every time a client has as legal question or quandary, we make sure we understand in detail what your business needs, and then we personally find the lawyers who can best counsel your business for success.
• High-quality. Simply put, Priori’s lawyers are the very best small firm practitioners in the United States. We run a rigorous admissions process, including an extensive online application, background check, face-to-face interview and professional reference check. Only 20% of lawyers who apply are admitted to our exclusive network, and our lawyers must maintain at least a 95% approval rating from our clients.
• Transparent and Below-Market rates.  We have a commitment to transparent pricing. Priori lawyers offer clients a minimum of a 25% discount on all their market rates, including exclusive fixed fee packages. For any matter, you can transparently compare different pricing options–to make sure you are getting the best possible value for your legal spend.
• Administrative Help. Priori also handles back-office tasks that burden client-lawyer interactions, including billing, invoicing and collections.

How does Priori help small businesses?

When a business has a legal need, they come to the Priori site and answer a few questions about their present question or issues. Priori then hand-selects a shortlist of appropriate lawyers from our pre-vetted network to send to the client. The client reviews lawyer profiles and pricing information using our comparison tools. All pricing represents a 25% discount off the lawyer’s open market rates, and lawyers are strongly encouraged to craft flat fee packages exclusively for Priori clients. Once a business settles on 1-2 preferred lawyers, they can schedule a complimentary half-hour call through our site. After the call, the lawyer and client decide whether to work together. If they proceed, Priori transforms into the back office, and handles all billing, invoicing and collections.

What advice would you give a startup?

Don’t wait to speak to a lawyer! As our name suggests — ‘a priori’ is a Latin phrase that means “from what comes before” — we encourage businesses to take a proactive approach in working with legal counsel, since using legal services before a crisis can save you time and money.

Anything else you’d like to share?

We launched in early fall 2013 in New York, and expanded to California a year later.  In early 2015, we will expand to more states to provide high-growth startups and SMBs with the top lawyers in their state.

Our blog offers great resources for startups and small businesses to help them be proactive about their businesses’ legal needs.

If you want to learn more you can email info@foundershield.com at any time. Or create an account here to get a quote.