## Facts

- Missouri consumers brought a putative class action alleging LegalZoom’s online document services constituted the unauthorized practice of law under Missouri law and supported related consumer and restitutionary claims.
- LegalZoom offered (1) downloadable blank legal forms and (2) an interactive online service where customers selected a document type, answered questionnaire-style prompts, and received a completed document generated from their inputs.
- Plaintiffs did not challenge LegalZoom’s sale of blank forms; the dispute centered on the interactive document-preparation service for items such as wills and business-formation documents.
- LegalZoom marketed that customers could answer questions quickly and that LegalZoom would prepare and deliver legal documents.
- Nonlawyer LegalZoom personnel reviewed submissions for completeness and apparent inconsistencies and sometimes contacted customers for clarifications as part of producing the final documents.
- LegalZoom characterized its offerings as self-help software rather than legal representation or individualized legal advice.
- Cross-motions for summary judgment were filed addressing whether the interactive service amounted to unauthorized practice of law and whether any product categories should be treated differently, including patent and trademark application services.

## Issues

1. Whether LegalZoom’s interactive, questionnaire-driven generation of customized legal documents for Missouri customers constitutes the practice of law under Missouri law.
2. Whether LegalZoom’s conduct is materially different from permissible sale of blank forms or self-help publications.
3. Whether claims based on LegalZoom’s patent and trademark application services are subject to Missouri’s unauthorized-practice-of-law restrictions.
4. Whether plaintiffs’ related consumer-protection and restitutionary theories may proceed where they are predicated on alleged unauthorized practice of law.

## Decision

- LegalZoom’s motion for summary judgment was granted as to plaintiffs’ claims relating to patent and trademark application services.
- LegalZoom’s motion for summary judgment was denied as to other challenged document-preparation services.
- Plaintiffs’ motion for partial summary judgment was granted on the unauthorized-practice-of-law theory as to LegalZoom’s interactive Missouri document-preparation services other than patent and trademark products.
- Plaintiffs’ motions to strike and to exclude expert testimony were denied to the extent they targeted materials relevant to summary judgment.

## Legal Principles

- Under Missouri law, the “practice of law” broadly includes preparing legal instruments for others for compensation where legal rights are secured and the work calls for legal skill beyond that of an average layperson.
- Selling blank legal forms or self-help materials, without more, is generally not the practice of law; however, providing a process that takes a customer’s information and produces a customized legal instrument can constitute document preparation for others.
- A service may be treated as practicing law even if the document creation is automated and the provider disclaims giving legal advice, where the provider’s system and personnel stand between the consumer and the completed legal document.
- Provider marketing and how the service is presented to consumers may be considered in characterizing whether the provider is offering legal services rather than merely selling forms or software.
- State unauthorized-practice rules may not reach certain patent- and trademark-related services where federal regulatory frameworks govern who may assist with those filings.

## Conclusion

The court held that LegalZoom’s interactive service generating customized legal documents for Missouri customers constituted unauthorized practice of law under Missouri law, while carving out patent and trademark application-related claims; the ruling left remedial and class-related questions for later proceedings.


Janson v. LegalZoom.com, Inc., 802 F. Supp. 2d 1053 (W.D. Mo. 2011)