Seeking Feedback on Bringing Subscriptions to Legal Services

I’m an attorney, but I’m not your attorney. And if I’m successful, then you’ll be thanking me for your future attorney’s affordability. I’m on a mission to bring the subscription model to law practice. There’s a blue ocean of people not getting access to legal services because it’s too expensive. Most young attorneys today can’t offer affordable services because law school is also too expensive, so most young attorneys are in six-figures of student loan debt. The billable hour is the worst. It’s like ordering the fish at market price at a restaurant, except they can’t tell you how much it’s going to cost until you’ve eaten the thing. The billable hour also incentivizes inefficiencies. Since there are so few attorneys compared to the rest of the population (only about .412% of the US population), attorneys have been able to get away with the billable hour because of the low supply of attorneys and high demand for legal services. A few States are loosening regulations to allow for companies to come in and offer legal services since attorneys can’t serve enough people with their current delivery models. The subscription model, and its low pricing options, demands intelligent integration of technology and other efficiencies that will allow attorneys to scale their law practice like never before while increasing affordable access to legal services on a scale never before seen. In fiction, we’ll see someone say, “I’m going to call my lawyer.” Well, if you can subscribe to one for a low monthly price, then we can make that fiction a reality.

That’s why I’m starting lawsubscribed.com. I’m going to interview attorneys in every stage of launching a subscription model for their law practice. That means whether they already have one up and running (there are maybe two dozen such attorneys out there), are considering launching one, or they have reservations about changing the status quo. I also want to speak with technology providers and review platforms out there that attorneys can use to help launch or improve their subscription models. This is a journalistic endeavor not unlike indiehackers.com but in a narrower niche. I’m going to record the interviews via video to publish on YouTube and release the audio as a podcast. I’m going to write articles as well. Some articles will be summaries of the interviews, other articles will be technology and resource reviews. I’m planning on 1-3 pieces of content per month in different formats (e.g., one article, one video, one podcast). Snippets of my content will be promoted in some form on my socials throughout the month (all @lawsubscribed), with readers/listeners/watchers all being directed to my website where all the content will be available.

Since I want to change my profession for the better, and by extension, our society, I’m not planning to charge for the videos, podcast, or articles. I’m also not planning to quit my day job. In the spirit of subscriptions though, I’m going to offer five tiers of support for my work. Tier 1 is a free email subscription where I’ll email subscribers to let them know when content has dropped. Tier 2 is a low dollar amount where subscribers don't get anything in return other than showing support for my work and access to live event invitations that all paid subscribers will receive. For the next three tiers, I’m throwing in one free t-shirt with the Law Subscribed logo. At Tier 3, subscribers get to join the Law Subscribed Brain Trust on Discord. At Tier 4, subscribers get to join the Brain Trust and get access to my calendar where they can schedule a 15-minute call with me once-a-month to pick my brain about anything. At Tier 5, which is a significantly higher paid amount than Tiers 1-4, subscribers get everything in Tiers 1-4 and one short ad spot in one piece of my content per month.

Where do I need the help of the Indie Hackers community? First, to vet this idea and poke as many holes in it as you can. I’m going to move forward with it anyway, even if it’s just a weekend thing, but critical feedback would be great! Second, I’m tech-savvy but not a coder. I’ve built no-code websites before, but none of them had payment integration. I could just search around and learn how to do it, but Indie Hackers who can point me towards the right resources and make note of common pitfalls to avoid would be much appreciated! Third, get in touch with me if you’re an Indie Hacker who makes a product or offers a service that would help attorneys launch or improve their subscription models. I want to learn more about your offering to write about it!