Rocket Lawyer Review: Your Go-To LLC & Legal Service? [2024]

A Lawyer in Your Pocket but Make Sure You Dial In

Rocket Lawyer’s core service is its Rocket Legal membership subscriptions. There are two tiers of membership: Rocket Legal and Rocket Legal+. Both of these include basic (ask a question, get an answer style) legal advice and legal document library access. You can get a Limited Liability Company (LLC) formed on both membership plans.

 However, a premium Rocket Legal+ membership entitles you to free LLC formation on top. However, do note that LLC formation isn’t Rocket Lawyer’s core service like many of the best LLC formation services we’ve reviewed.

Notably, you have to sign up for a Rocket Legal membership to form your LLC via Rocket Lawyer. Doing so is not optional, but you can trial either membership tier for 7 days and cancel within this time without forfeiting your company formation or paying extra for it.

The legal Rocket Legal membership assistance offered is quite basic, too, with expert legal advice actually costing extra. Luckily, a Rocket Legal+ membership entitles you to discounts on additional services such as this.

Now, let’s see how Rocket Lawyer’s LLC formation offering compares, in detail, to see if it’s a good fit for your business.

Not a Lot of LLC Formation-Related Services Included but Still Worth Considering

Since Rocket Lawyer’s main product is legal document and advice memberships, LLC formation is more of a membership feature than the other way around. So, if you don’t need any legal advice or documents, Rocket Lawyer may not be for you.

But Rocket Lawyer can do some of the basics that most LLC formation service providers do. For example, it handles Employer Identification Number (EIN) registration, trademark filing, and tax prep and filing, and will act as your Registered Agent. You just have to pay for each of these services, separate from your membership – a downside if you want to save on these necessities with a discounted, bundled LLC formation package.

Free 1st Business Formation (Rocket Legal+ Plan Only) + Operating Agreement

On the Rocket Legal+ membership, Rocket Lawyer handling your LLC formation is free, unlike on the basic Rocket Legal membership. However, it’s important to note that many LLC formation companies offer the same bare-bones LLC formation for free (minus state fees) – without asking you to commit to a pricey subscription that you might not need.

Regardless, since access is included with Rocket Legal and Rocket Legal+ subscriptions, you can use the Rocket Lawyer document library to draft an Operating Agreement for free. Other LLC formation services may charge you as much to draft an Operating Agreement as Rocket Lawyer charges to register an LLC on its basic Rocket Legal membership.

Unlimited Legal Document Library Access + Document Defense® Protection

The legal document library is Rocket Lawyer’s core Rocket Legal subscription feature – but it’s not without caveats. As laws and regulations vary, change, and are different in every state, simply downloading legal templates or forms from here and signing them may not be sufficient. You need to go one step further and ask the legal team to advise on the draft.

Since the Rocket Legal plan only includes ask-and-answer-style support, it may not iron out all issues, either. Yes, Rocket Lawyer offers expert advice ad-hoc, but you only get a discount for it on a Rocket Legal+ membership. That said, with Document Defense in place, if a contract dispute arises, an attorney can review a Rocket Lawyer-generated document for you and respond to co-signees on your behalf.

7-Day Rocket Legal & Rocket Legal+ Subscription Trial

Your Rocket Legal or Rocket Legal+ membership isn’t compulsory. You can try Rocket Legal or Rocket Legal+ out for a week, obligation-free. Bonus: the Rocket Legal+ membership is discounted for the first year, making it more affordable than the more basic Rocket Legal membership (at least, initially).

Just consider setting an alarm to ensure you remember to cancel your Rocket Legal trial. We all know how it feels to forget and have a huge chunk of cash debited off an account before you realize it’s too late. The Rocket Legal+ membership is charged annually, so you’ll be hit hard and committed for a while.

RocketSign® Online Document Signing Software

RocketSign is another bonus feature of Rocket Legal plans, allowing you and others to sign documents electronically. Yes, many (free) software programs allow you to do this from almost any device, including Adobe Acrobat, DocuSign, and Zapier.

However, the main differentiator is that the RocketSign electronic signature software also plugs into Rocket Lawyer’s document library, streamlining the entire process. Yes, you can also edit document templates on a desktop or mobile device using this software.

Streamlined & Simplified but You Need to Be Subscribed

Overall, Rocket Lawyer’s LLC formation sign-up process is one of the simplest and fastest I’ve seen. It asks minimal info while also ensuring you’re completely aware of all the relevant pricing and services you can add on. Your application is instant, though Rocket Lawyer may take a few days to file it – and the state a further few days to weeks to process it.

However, you do get what you pay for, as full, ongoing access to Rocket Lawyer’s features and services is only on a trial or paid subscription basis.

Getting Started With Rocket Lawyer

You can sign up for LLC formation directly on the Rocket Lawyer website. However, you may need to search for the service, as LLC formation isn’t Rocket Lawyer’s main offering. During the LLC formation sign-up process, you’ll navigate through four pages: one each for adding your business info, customizing your plan, reviewing your order, and checkout.

But first, you’ll have to enter your contact info, which will instantly create a Rocket Lawyer account complete with dashboard access for you. The customization part of the process comprises viewing a carousel of add-on upsells. You get to review all the relevant services, including pricing and discounts, marking whether you want them or not, one by one.

The other two pages are pretty straightforward to navigate. Just review your inputted business details and the range of selected services. Then you’re good to go with payment. That said, I’m a bit disappointed that I couldn’t remove or add services directly on the Rocket Lawyer order summary page. Instead, I had to click the edit icons to go back to the relevant page.

I’m also disappointed that Rocket Lawyer only accepts credit cards as payment: no PayPal, wire transfer, etc.

Expedited Filing

For a fee, Rocket Lawyer can expedite your filing with the state, decreasing your turnaround time significantly. The typical turnaround time for the state to file LLC formation paperwork varies per state. You can wait anywhere from a single day to up to a few months. With the Express Filing add-on, Rocket Lawyer speeds up the process to 3–5 business days.

Please note though that prices quoted on the Express Filing add-on page are inclusive of the state filing fees.

Instant Online Account Creation + Dashboard Access

When signing up to form an LLC with Rocket Lawyer, you first need to enter your contact details. Doing so instantly creates a Rocket Lawyer online account for you and logs you into your dashboard. Rocket Lawyer then automatically saves your LLC formation application progress, allowing you to access it again if needed.

It’s a convenient feature if you get sidetracked or need to follow up on information elsewhere before you proceed.

Streamlined Legal Document Drafting & Customization

The process of drafting legal documents with Rocket Lawyer is very convenient. Accessible via your dashboard under Make Documents in the left-hand menu, its legal document library features many useful templates. Yes, even non-business-related templates, such as will, rental, and general legal agreements, which you get complete access to on a subscription.

Just search for and click on the form you need. After that, you’ll answer a few questions, including your applicable state, which will customize the form for you. You can also access and edit documents via the RocketSign app, which is free to download. However, you’ll need an active Rocket Legal or Rocket Legal+ membership or trial to save and download edited forms.

Costly or Money-Saving Depending On Your Needs

Subscription-based services always carry the risk of becoming quite costly. However, the value you get from a long-term Rocket Lawyer subscription really depends on your specific needs. If you want to draft a lot of legal paperwork and outsource most of your LLC formation filing and business tasks, you can rely on Rocket Lawyer.

A Rocket Legal+ membership will score you a big discount of around 50% off EIN registration, trademark filing, a Registered Agent, outsourced tax prep and filing, and expert advice from professional lawyers, making it lower-cost than many competitors. Plus, you get free first-time LLC formation. The Rocket Legal+ subscription is discounted half-price for the first year itself, too, making it better value than the more basic Rocket Legal plan.

The Rocket Legal membership only includes document library access, basic legal advice, RocketSign access, and Document Defense protection – no discounts. However, note that the billing and renewal term for a premium Rocket Legal+ subscription is annual, not monthly like the Rocket Legal plan option. As such, you’ll be charged one-off for the whole year and only able to cancel after this term ends – not after a month.

To put it simply, keeping either Rocket Legal tier subscription active is only truly worth it if you really need those ongoing services, such as legal support, document drafting, and business admin add-ons. But don’t let that deter you from trying it out. Should you decide you want to discontinue your membership, then you won’t lose anything. You keep your Rocket Lawyer LLC formation and any discounts you already enjoyed on it or other services.

Plenty of Support Channels but Limited Follow-Up Over the Weekends

Rocket Lawyer offers support via these channels:

• Live chat
• Phone (Mon-Fri, 6 a.m.-6 p.m., PST)
• Contact form (24/7)
• Email

English appears to be the only supported language on the US and UK Rocket Lawyer sites. However, you can also access Rocket Lawyer’s services and multilingual support via regional websites in Spain (Spanish), France (French), the Netherlands (Dutch), and Brazil (Portuguese).

I was interested in whether or not Rocket Lawyer’s live chat would work on the weekend. Unfortunately, Rocket Lawyer’s support agents don’t appear to be available during non-business hours. However, the live chat window did forward my inquiry, advising me that an agent would contact me ASAP via my chosen method of contact (in this case, email).

Now, to wait. In the meantime, I decided to send a separate inquiry using Rocket Lawyer’s contact form to see if I could get a quicker response. Unfortunately, still no answer. Meanwhile, I got a direct email from a Rocket Lawyer account manager on the very same Sunday I tried to contact support via live chat and email. It wasn’t a follow-up, but they asked me if I needed help completing my incorporation application. They were friendly and professional.

However, I think it’s important for a service provider to devote equal (if not more) resources to customer support than closing leads. On contacting Rocket Lawyer again via live chat during office hours, I also simply got an “A Customer Care Specialist will connect with you soon” message but was never connected. I sat waiting for 15 minutes before finally disconnecting from Rocket Lawyer’s live chat empty-handed. And again the next time around – until I finally caved and called support.

The phone support was a pleasant surprise. The agent picked up quickly and professionally answered my questions. However, due to the lackluster email and live chat follow-up and limited phone support hours, I can’t fully recommend Rocket Lawyer. You’ll need to wait until a weekday or the next business day to access any support at all – a nightmare if you have an urgent query that can’t wait.

That said, Rocket Lawyer’s legal resource and FAQ sections can help answer some questions without needing to make contact.