[rpedela]

I investigated doing a SaaS product in the legal space. One of the things I heard multiple times from lawyers is that they are more likely to buy a product if they can bill their clients directly. What you are talking about would not fall into that category. That doesn't mean you couldn't build a successful business, but I think it is important to understand that the market has different rules.

[derekdahmer]

I've heard the same thing from multiple people attempting to build for the legal space. Lawyers won't pay for software to save time because that has a negative ROI for them. OTOH they may pay for tools that helps them provide more services, bill more time, find more clients, or decrease the chance of mistakes.

[naasking]

> OTOH they may pay for tools that helps them provide more services, bill more time, find more clients, or decrease the chance of mistakes.

But... saving time means they have more time to provide more services, accept new clients, and review their documents to decrease mistakes. Is the relationship not apparent in their minds?

[ommunist]

That was done in the UK. I wrote the first working version for Legal Cost Finance, who offered instant credit facility "to make justice affordable to everyone". It took them 3 years to take off even when the whole case was that they literally brought bulk of pre-paid (!) customers to legal firms.

[exceptione]

(...) if they can bill their clients directly.

Can you explain what you mean? Letter generation etc is still usefull, I don't see what billing has to do with it. They can still charge what they want to.

[dpc59]

I think he means pricing schemes are more simple when you go with a flat "200$/hour rate". Obviously it's shit for the client since they have no idea how many hours will be spent on the case, but that's not the lawyer's problem.

[rpedela]

Sure. The purpose of a SaaS product would be to improve efficiency and save time. Given lawyers typically charge by the hour, they would lose money unless they could bill their clients directly for the use of the more efficient software to make up for the lost revenue due to saved time. However billing clients for legal software is not the norm.