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FindLaw

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1.5

Overall Score

LAST UPDATED: January 31st, 2024

FindLaw is a free legal information website that helps consumers, small business owners, students, and legal professionals find legal documents and answers to everyday legal questions. FindLaw services 51 states. The site includes case law, state and federal statutes, a lawyer directory, and legal news and analysis. FindLaw also provides online marketing services for law firms. FindLaw was founded in 1995 and is part of Thomson Reuters, a multinational information and mass media firm.

FindLaw.com offers information and legal documents for both business and personal needs. This includes the following categories: landlord-tenant, wills and estates, real estate, family law, business formation, debt and finances, going to court, and more. Access to all the information and documents housed on FindLaw is free.

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Top Ranked Companies

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The Good

  • Documents Available in Spanish
  • Lawyer Tool
  • Forum Resource

Documents Available in Spanish

FindLaw also has a section of Spanish-language documents called Formularios en Espanol. This is a distinct benefit of FindLaw, as it is the only online legal service we reviewed that has a separate section just for Spanish speakers.

Lawyer Tool

FindLaw.com features an attorney directory that allows you to search for lawyers by city, state, county, or legal issue. Once you've specified your legal needs, the search results provide you with a link to the law firm's website so you can contact them directly. The attorney directory is also a great resource for attorneys to use to find clients and market themselves.

Forum Resource

If you visit the Answers section of the FindLaw site, you'll reach a community forum. You can ask questions, offer support and share ideas with other users, or you can utilize the Ask a Lawyer live chat feature to get basic legal advice. It also has a legal news section that is kept up to date for those that are interested in some of the top legal stories out there as well as a blog.

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The Bad

  • No Personalized Advice
  • Out-Of-Date Information
  • No Customer Support

No Personalized Advice

Other than the Ask a Lawyer feature, you won't be able to get personal counsel from a lawyer through FindLaw. If you'd like detailed advice or the opportunity to receive guidance through your legal process, you'll need to use the Directory to to find and retain a lawyer near you.

Out-Of-Date Information

The FindLaw website doesn't list any information about the accuracy and quality of the information and documents found on the site, nor did we see any information about how often the site is updated. This means that it may be difficult to determine if the information you see on FindLaw is up-to-date and credible.

No Customer Support

FindLaw is strictly a resource for legal information and forms. They will not complete, review, or file forms for you, nor will do they offer any representation or consultation services. If you think you'll need assistance with completing or filing your forms, you may prefer an online legal service like LegalZoom or BizFilings, which offer to take care of the document handling for you.

Since FindLaw doesn't offer any direct legal services, there is no option to call a customer service or support line, nor is there an option to email FindLaw for assistance. If you have any difficulty navigating the site or accessing the documents, you're on your own.

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The Bottom Line

FindLaw's extensive free library of legal information and documents make it useful for you if you just want to learn more about a specific legal process or access a form that you can file yourself. If you prefer to be guided through the process or to work with a lawyer directly, you may want to find and retain a lawyer through FindLaw's directory or opt for an online legal service that gives you access to filing clerks and representatives.

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Star Rating

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1.6

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16 Reviews

Review Breakdown

5 grade

6%

4 grade

6%

3 grade

0%

2 grade

13%

1 grade

75%

Sentiment Criteria

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Quality

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Dario Di Lello Fishkill, NY

They promised an increase in my business. For the year that i used them i received virtually no business. In response they wanted me to pay them to contact google to increase business. Then, when i decline to renew the contract they never replied to my inquiries about the web page that i paid for. They totally shut down my site. In fact, the only reliable thing they did was to make sure i received their invoices every month. The only business they care about is theirs. Do not make the same mistake i made. Go directly to Google and pay for clicks, at least you will receive telephone calls. Pay for click is working for me now. I lost a lot of money with Findlaw/Thomson R.

1 month ago

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Javisha Christian Atlanta, GA

My experience with Findlaw started off great. I purchased a form online for a last Will in testament and then relived that that didn’t have a need for it. I requested a refund and It’s been 3 months and I have not received my refund as of yet. I’ve spoke to several representatives and emailed them as well and I’ve gotten no response.

8 months ago

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Jodi

The results from my paid listing are abyssmal. My rep told me that they can switch me to another product if I'm not happy. I had trouble scheduling an appointment with her, when I finally spoke to her, her internet was down. She was going to look into it and get back to me...it's been a week. You're stuck in a one year contract, so I have already paid several thousand dollars for nothing (I get better results from free listings with Justia and Avvo) and I have 6 months left on my contract so I will pay an several thousand dollars more before I no longer have to deal with this company. DON'T SIGN UP FOR A PAID LISTING - - NOT WORTH IT.

2 years ago

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Chase Spencer Austin, TX

Our experience with FindLaw has been nothing but good. We have grown our practice substantially thanks to our local consultant. Highly recommend them and the directory products.

2 years ago Edited September 14, 2021

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Fernando Charco Jr. , MN

As a user of the Findlaw.com website, I can say I have had mixed experiences. The depth of content including statelaws and caselaw is great but the content contains outdated information, broken links, and is sometimes difficult to navigate. Overall the website is helpful.

3 years ago

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Thomas Mallon

The worst business decision I ever made was getting involved with Findlaw. The number of calls I get doesn't justify the expense. They get you in the door. Then they come back repeatedly saying you need to spend more to keep pace with the other firms they represent. Before you know it you're locked into long term contracts.

6 months ago

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Bryan Zuckerman Brooklyn, NY

Terrible experience. Paid FindLaw $20k and received in return a subpar website with numerous errors, ineffective SEO and a negative return on my investment. Paid thousands of dollars for months prior to the site being live and then after several months of zero ROI, FindLaw refused to release me from my contract and instead tried to get me to spend more money and advised me that the amount of money I was already spending was insufficient due to the nature of the competitive market, even though I was, of course, assured during the initial phases that the campaign would be effective and profitable. I expressed my concerns on numerous occasions to customer services reps and the like, and was met with nothing more than corporate jargon. This service should be avoided at all costs.

11 months ago

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James Lynchburg, VA

Chuck Eddy and Bryan M of TR FindLaw got me on a recorded web conference, talked really smooth, and tried to get me to accept a total garbage website as just needing a few tweaks. When I told them that the website was bad, and that a lot of work would have to be done, there was a long silence. Possibly, they are used to selling garbage and getting away with it. The website even included a photo of a car driver at a traffic stop giving a police officer a $100 bill. You would have thought that they would have been embarrassed about that, or even apologized, but nope. Instead, I got an e-mail trying to create an impression that all was well, maybe to create an e-mail paper trail to use against me later. So, I had to spend hours writing an e-mail back to put the real facts into an e-mail paper trail. I had to do that a second time too. Chuck E and Bryan M were terrible people, and dealing with them was a terrble experience. I wrote an e-mail discussing the options, one of which was me suing TR FindLaw, and they assigned a new project manager. TR FindLaw charged me thousands of dollars for the time period when the website was not remotely decent enough to go online. Ultimately, the content of the website was written primarily by me, which took me dozens of hours, probably more than 50 hours. The new project manager, Kathy S told me that it did not matter if my website was good, if people were calling me. However, when she said that, the website was not even online yet, so what did she base that on? Kathy S told me that people looking online for lawyers look at only (1) the type of law the lawyer practices and (2) the lawyer’s geographic location, and that other content does not matter. Let’s just say that she gave me an extremely strong impression that she just did not want to do the work to do a good job. In the end, I could never get her to do everything correctly. I finally gave up. She was untalented and ignorant, but she could have tried. TR FindLaw told me that Google Business Pages were crucial and that, for Google Business Pages, I had to rent an office with my own unique address. So, I signed a one year office lease, which cost me thousands of dollars. I later discovered that Google Business Pages is to attract LOCAL clients and I had told TR FindLaw multiple times (and I do mean “multiple” and I do mean “explained” in detail) that I was not trying to attract local clients and that I was trying to attract OUT OF TOWN clients. The bottom line was that I did not need what they were selling, but they sold it to me, so they got my money, and I got nothing. The TR FindLaw website was outrageously expensive, compared to godaddy, especially because TR FindLaw charged me thousands of dollars when the website was not yet nearly decent enough to go online, and the TR FindLaw website never generated anywhere near enough calls or contacts to come anywhere close to justifying that expense. TR FindLaw is sleazy and does bad work for rip off prices. What a terrible mistake I made signing a contract with TR FindLaw. I wasted more than $10,000 and probably 100+ hours of my time dealing with them.

2 years ago

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Diana K Dunlop Oviedo, FL

Our firm began advertising through Findlaw in 2015. We had fairly good results in the first few months, then it barely paid for the cost in terms of the new clients its advertising provided. We complained, and had a hard sell pitch to go with the Findlaw Engagement Builder that was touted as going to have our phones ringing many times a day. The first hurdle to the Engagement Builder was a long, complicated list of instructions to make personnel at OUR firm to do the work to develop the platforms for social media functions. We were doing the work that we expected Findlaw Engagement Builder personnel to do, and paying nearly $1000 a month to do this work!! I have NEVER felt so ripped off and cheated by an advertising program in all my years in business, and we started our firm in 1995. Do NOT subscribe or otherwise purchase into this Engagement/Social media program with Thomson R Findlaw, and be very careful to scrupulously monitor an Findlaw advertising to see that it is actually generating the revenue that it cost to advertise with Findlaw. BUYER BEWARE!

5 years ago

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David Kapor Mason, OH

I used FIndlaw for three or four years. I did nearly everything they recommended and it was a money LOSER with poor ROI. Their blog service is nonsense. They will seell the same services to your competitors and if their spend is more, they will do "better "then you. Read the fine print in the contract. There is no way to fire them if you are unhappy with their service or your ROI. In fact, even when they knew they weren't producing satisfactory results, they were not willing to void the contract. The proof? It has been a yaer since I left ehir service for a service that was less then 1/2 the cost and my ROI has improved significantly and my ranking has remained about the same. I would NEVER use them again, I know other attorneys that have used them and left them for the same reasons.

7 years ago

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ED Sanford, FL

They are GROSSLY INACCURATE regarding their cases. REPEATEDLY I have contacted them to review their BS account of my Divorce proceedings construed by a malicious prosecuting Ex. My Case resulted in "Nolle Prosequi" and they have irresponsibly refused to change it to the correct outcome. Poor Professionalism without regard to consequences to others.

2 years ago

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Larry B

I signed a one year contract. Invested a lot of time and money with them. Biggest waste of time and money I've ever invested in. They took 3 months to get website up and running, then gave us a bunch of pep talks about social media then we were on our own. Didn't generate any new business, and forced us to compete with other firms who also work with them. Any bright senior in high school could get same results and save you thousands of dollars.

5 years ago

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Jeffrey Berzolla Makawao, HI

Complete and total scam. Do not hire these folks. They promise one thing verbally and in writing and did not provide those services. They now claim their contract can not be cancelled. You would think thee fraudsters would be more intelligent than to scam lawyers.

1 year ago

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Thomas Wing Philadelphia, PA

6 month paid placement. Total cost over 10k, but rosy company pitch the opposite of the disgraceful results. Kicker is I am two months out of contract and still being billed 2k a month and the company/rep does not seem to care about results or ongoing fraudulent charges. Put your ad money somewhere else.

1 year ago

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Charlie R Hermosa Beach, CA

The place is a beehive for con artists. If you have a soul, do not work there as you will lied to all day long. Everyone is out for themselves. The so-called, new WordPress platform, is a template. Findlaw has decreased its quality every year and continues to raise prices. Do not be tempted, they are all snake oil salespeople.

2 years ago

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J E Portland, OR

Attorneys PAY to be on FindLaw.com. Attorneys who PAY to use FindLaw.com's MARKETING get to VETO all honest, negative reviews. Thus the consumer will never get honest info from FindLaw.com, a marketing corporation. FindLaw.com is a marketing company that protects attorneys who PAY to use their marketing services.

2 years ago Edited September 14, 2021