Best Legal Tools & Services For Startups

Starting your business comes with many challenges and responsibilities, which include legal responsibilities as well. Understanding and fulfilling these obligations, such as registrations, trademarks, copyrights, privacy policies, and legal agreements. These should be a top priority for any entrepreneur.

These tasks can be complex, but they’re important for protecting your startup and making sure you don’t go against the law. To help, we’ve listed the 10 best legal tools and services for startups. These can make your legal work easier, faster, and more affordable.

Rundown

  1. Best for Fast Business Formation: BetterLegal, “Quickly register your LLC or corporation in just two business days with complete document preparation and IRS EIN filing included.”
  2. Best for Customisable Legal Documents: Rocket Lawyer, “Access millions of customisable legal document templates with attorney review options for contracts, agreements, and business formation documents.”
  3. Best for Modern Business Formation: ZenBusiness, “User-friendly platform offering fast business formation services with competitive pricing and comprehensive startup support, including registered agent services.”
  4. Best for AI-Powered Contract Analysis: Harvey AI, “An advanced legal AI assistant that provides comprehensive contract analysis, legal research, and document drafting with enterprise-grade accuracy and security.”
  5. Best for Word-Integrated Contract AI: Spellbook, “An AI-powered contract drafting and review tool that works directly within Microsoft Word, offering real-time suggestions and compliance checking.”
  6. Best for Trademark Search & Monitoring: Markify, “A global trademark search and monitoring tool that provides weekly reports on potentially conflicting trademarks and domain names.”
  7. Best for Privacy Policy Generation: Termsfeed, “Generate custom privacy policies, terms and conditions, and cookie consent notices that stay updated with evolving privacy laws.”
  8. Best for Secure E-Signatures: Dropbox Sign, “A legally valid electronic signature platform that enables secure document signing, tracking, and management from anywhere.”
  9. Best for official Copyright Registration: Copyright.gov, “U.S. government website for officially registering copyrights on original works like logos, articles, software code, and creative assets.”
  10. Best for Business Insurance Marketplace: Insureon, “An online insurance marketplace that helps startups compare and purchase various business insurance policies from multiple providers.”

BetterLegal is a fast business formation platform that lets you set up your LLC or corporation in just two business days. This legal tool handles paperwork, prepares your legal documents, and even gets your EIN for you, making business formation extremely simple.

You only need to fill out a questionnaire with basic company details. They prepare everything, file it with the state, and deliver the documents directly to your email.

What You Can Do With BetterLegal:

  • You can register an LLC or corporation in as fast as two business days.
  • You can get your EIN (tax ID) filed automatically with the IRS.
  • You can have all the formation documents created and filed for you.
  • You can complete the entire process using a simple questionnaire.
  • You can receive your documents digitally without handling paperwork yourself.
  • You can launch your business quickly without legal complexity.

BetterLegal can be costly for early-stage startups. It also doesn’t offer deeper legal customisation or ongoing legal guidance that some founders might need.

Rocket Lawyer gives you access to millions of legal templates and documents for almost any business need. Whether you’re creating contracts, agreements, or business forms, everything is ready-made and customisable.

You also get the option to have your documents reviewed by licensed attorneys. They ensure legal accuracy and compliance.

What You Can Do With This Legal Tool:

  • You can create customised contracts, agreements, and business documents.
  • You can choose from millions of legal templates for nearly every purpose.
  • You can edit documents to match your specific requirements.
  • You can get attorney-reviewed documents for extra protection.
  • You can access legal information, guides, and resources anytime.
  • You can generate documents quickly without hiring a lawyer.

Rocket Lawyer is ideal for general legal documents, but complex legal matters still require a specialised attorney. The monthly subscription may also be expensive for very small startups.

ZenBusiness provides a budget-friendly and modern way to form your business. It’s great for founders who want guided formation, compliance support, and registered agent services without the heavy fees of traditional providers.

With plans starting at $0 plus state fees, this legal tool makes it easy to form your LLC or corporation and stay compliant with state requirements.

What You Can Do With ZenBusiness:

  • You can form an LLC or corporation starting at $0 plus state fees.
  • Access registered agent services included in your plan.
  • Stay compliant with annual reports and filing reminders.
  • Get experts to confirm name availability and prepare documents.
  • You can rely on its accuracy guarantee for properly filed paperwork.

The $0 plan is limited, and you’ll likely need upgrades for added features. More complex business structures may still require a lawyer.

Harvey AI is a powerful legal assistant for startups needing more than basic contract review. It provides deep legal analysis, advanced research capabilities, and drafting support using AI built specifically for legal workflows.

It can identify risks, analyse complex contracts, and even generate legal documents from scratch. You can also train this legal tool on your own legal data for personalised output.

What You Can Do With Harvey AI:

  • You can analyse complex contracts with detailed legal interpretations.
  • You can conduct in-depth legal research across multiple topics.
  • You can draft legal documents entirely from scratch.
  • You can ask Harvey to detect risky clauses or hidden liabilities.
  • You can train the AI on your internal legal documents and templates.
  • You can create custom workflows tailored to your legal processes.
  • You can secure your data with enterprise-level confidentiality.

Harvey AI is premium-priced and best for advanced legal work. Simple contract needs may not justify their cost, and setup time is required to train them effectively.

CoCounsel by Thomson Reuters is a full-service AI assistant for research, contract analysis, and litigation support. With direct Westlaw integration, it delivers highly accurate legal insights backed by trusted legal databases.

It can think, reason, and analyse documents like a human researcher, making it incredibly valuable for complex legal tasks.

What You Can Do With CoCounsel:

  • You can perform deep legal research powered by Westlaw content.
  • Analyse contracts with professional-grade AI insights.
  • Prepare litigation documents with improved accuracy.
  • Compare legal information grounded in Practical Law resources.
  • You can use guided workflows for complicated legal tasks.
  • You can streamline research, drafting, and review in one place.

CoCounsel is a premium tool designed for legal professionals. It may be too advanced or costly for startups with simple legal needs.

Spellbook integrates directly into Microsoft Word, giving you AI-powered contract drafting, compliance checking, and clause suggestions without switching tools. It’s perfect for founders who work heavily inside Word.

It provides real-time guidance, comparisons with industry standards, and answers to legal questions as you write.

What You Can Do With This Legal Tool:

  • You can draft contracts inside Word with instant AI suggestions.
  • You can review your documents for compliance as you write.
  • You can ask legal questions inside Word and get AI answers.
  • You can compare your contract clauses to industry standards.
  • You can edit and refine contracts quickly using real-time feedback.
  • You can speed up drafting without switching between apps.

Spellbook is optimised for Word users only; if you rely on other platforms, you may need additional tools. Extremely complex contracts still require a human professional.

Markify helps you search and monitor global trademarks so you can protect your brand identity. It ensures your name, logo, or slogan isn’t already taken and alerts you if similar marks appear.

Weekly monitoring reports help you act early and address potential trademark conflicts.

What You Can Do With Markify:

  • You can search global trademark databases for similar marks.
  • Monitor new filings that may conflict with your brand.
  • Receive weekly reports on similar names or domain activity.
  • You can catch potential trademark infringements early.
  • Protect your brand identity across multiple jurisdictions.

Markify is pricier than basic tools and only handles search/monitoring. You still need a lawyer to handle filing and trademark enforcement.

TermsFeed helps you generate essential legal documents like privacy policies, terms and conditions, and cookie notices. It’s designed for startups needing compliance without hiring legal experts.

You simply answer business-related questions, and the platform generates customised documents that stay updated with changing laws.

What You Can Do With TermsFeed:

  • You can generate privacy policies tailored to your business.
  • You can create terms & conditions and cookie consent notices.
    You can customise documents through a step-by-step questionnaire.
  • You can stay compliant with global privacy laws automatically.
  • You can get updated documents whenever laws change.

TermsFeed does not replace legal advice for highly regulated industries. It creates documents, but it doesn’t guide you through complex legal situations.

Dropbox Sign lets you securely sign contracts and agreements online. It’s useful for remote teams and founders who need legally valid signatures without printing or scanning.

You can send, track, and sign documents from anywhere, making it easier to close deals and move work forward.

What You Can Do With Dropbox Sign:

  • You can legally sign documents from any device.
  • You can send contracts for signature to multiple recipients.
  • You can track signing progress and receive completion alerts.
  • You can store signed documents securely online.
  • You can integrate signing workflows with other business tools.

Dropbox Sign needs a stable internet connection to function well. Advanced features like custom branding or deeper integrations require paid plans.

Copyright.gov is the official platform for registering U.S. copyrights. You can use it to legally protect your creative assets like logos, content, software, images, or videos. Registration gives you official ownership and the ability to take legal action against unauthorised use.

What You Can Do With Copyright.gov:

  • You can register your creative work for official protection.
  • You can submit logos, writing, software, images, and more.
  • You can track your application and receive proof of ownership.
  • You can protect your IP from copying or unauthorised use.
  • You can secure your creative rights under U.S. copyright law.

Copyright protection applies only to the U.S. The process can also take several months, and global protection requires additional steps.

Insureon helps startups compare and purchase business insurance from multiple providers. It protects your startup from financial risks like lawsuits, property damage, or accidents.

You can explore different policy types and get personalised quotes based on your industry and needs.

What You Can Do With Insureon:

  • You can compare insurance options from multiple providers.
  • You can buy coverage for liability, cyber risk, property damage, and more.
  • You can customise insurance bundles based on your business type.
  • You can protect your startup from common legal and financial risks.
  • You can get quick quotes tailored to your location and industry.

Know that Insureon mainly supports U.S.-based startups. Insurance costs vary by industry and can be high for certain business types.