The Internet Revolution Lawyers Tried to Ignore

Remember when lawyers said the Internet was a fad?

While Amazon was shipping books and iTunes was killing CDs, the legal industry insisted: “People will never get legal services online. We’re different. We’re special. We require mahogany desks and leather-bound books”.

They were half right. People were slower to seek legal help online. But not because they didn’t want to – because lawyers refused to meet them there.

For 20+ years, here’s how it worked:

Big businesses got white-glove service from top-tier firms
Regular people could find local lawyers for wills and divorces
But SMEs, solopreneurs, and online businesses? Nobody’s problem

Traditional lawyers didn’t understand online businesses. Didn’t want to. An e-commerce store? A SaaS startup? A digital agency? “Come back when you have a real business”, they’d say.

We saw a different future.

Legal123: One of the First to See What Others Missed

In 2009, while other law firms were still printing documents in triplicate, we made a bet:

Online businesses aren’t just real – they’re the future. And they deserve lawyers who understand online.

We were one of the first Australian law firms to:

Deliver legal services entirely online
Speak fluent “Internet business”
Price transparently (shocking)
Answer emails same-day (revolutionary)
Create templates for businesses that didn’t exist in law school textbooks
Operate 100% virtually (we walk the talk)

People thought we were crazy. “Online law firm” was an oxymoron.

16 years later, we’ve helped 10,200+ businesses. Turns out we weren’t crazy. Just early.

What We Believe

These beliefs drove us then. They drive us now:

Legal protection shouldn’t be a luxury. It should be as accessible as registering a domain name.

Lawyers shouldn’t be gatekeepers. We should be guides, teachers, and partners in your success.

Understanding your rights shouldn’t require a law degree. If we can’t explain it simply, we’re not doing our job.

Online businesses aren’t “less real”. They’re the future, and they deserve lawyers who understand that future.

Geography shouldn’t determine access to quality legal help. A solopreneur in Broken Hill deserves the same protection as a startup in Sydney.

Today, getting legal help online is normal. And we are proud to say we helped make it that way.

Legal123: Online business lawyers since before it was a trend.

And Just In Case You Were Wondering

Legal123 Pty Ltd is an Incorporated Legal Practice (ILP). We are registered with ASIC and regulated by the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner (a division of the NSW Attorney General & Justice Department) and The Law Society (NSW).

Vanessa Emilio is the Legal Practice Director and founder of Legal123. Vanessa is a qualified Australian lawyer with over 25 years of experience and a specialist in online businesses and Australian online law.