Rocket LawyerLegal Terms

These Rocket Lawyer External Pro Terms of Service are an agreement between you (“Eligible Member”) and Rocket Lawyer regarding your use of the Rocket Lawyer External Pro benefits and features as set forth below (the “External Pro Services”). Any use of the External Pro Services are subject to these External Pro Terms of Service and the General Terms (together, the “Terms”). The General Terms are incorporated herein by reference. Capitalized terms not defined in these External Pro Terms of Service have the meanings ascribed to them in the General Terms. If there is any conflict between the General Terms and these External Pro Terms of Service, the External Pro Terms of Service will control.

For clarity, we refer to outside attorneys who participate in our External Pro network as “External Pros” (formerly known as Rocket Lawyer On Call network attorneys), to distinguish them from attorneys offering services directly from Rocket Legal Professional Services, Inc. (“RLPS”). The External Pro Service provides Eligible Members access to the Rocket Lawyer External Pros who provide legal services directly to Eligible Members at discounted rates. These Rocket Lawyer External Pro Terms of Service apply to Eligible Member interactions with External Pros only, and do not apply to interactions with any other attorneys (including RLPS In House Pros). External Pros are neither employees nor agents of Rocket Lawyer.

These Terms contain a dispute resolution provision that includes arbitration which may affect your rights, so please read them carefully.

1. Rocket Lawyer External Pro & Legal Plans

Eligible Members who purchase a monthly or annual Rocket Lawyer subscription (“Legal Plan“) have access to the External Pros. You may not transfer or assign your Legal Plan to another party, but Eligible Members may extend coverage to Eligible Family Members (as defined below). The “Effective Date“ for each Eligible Family Member shall be the date on which the Eligible Member elects to extend coverage to such person. For the purposes of this Agreement:

1.  “Eligible Member“ means any customer with an active subscription to a premium Legal Plan.
2. “Eligible Family Member“ means an Eligible Member’s: (a) spouse or domestic partner; (b) dependent individual under the age of 25; (c) dependent child, regardless of age, who is incapable of sustaining employment by reason of mental or physical disability; and (d) dependent individuals living in the Eligible Member's home, such as a parent or grandparent. Each Eligible Family Member to whom you extend coverage under this Agreement is bound by the requirements, restrictions and limitations of the Terms as though he or she were the Eligible Member.
3. “Program Sponsor” has the meaning set forth in the General Terms.

Eligible Members may elect to receive the benefits and features of the External Pros Services described in greater detail below, including pre-negotiated billing rates and service commitments, from an External Pro. Legal services or advice provided to you by External Pros are delivered pursuant to a separate engagement agreement between the External Pro and you, to which Rocket Lawyer is not a party. Each External Pro is solely responsible for the legal advice provided directly to you, and Rocket Lawyer and RLPS does not influence or monitor the advice provided by External Pro. You acknowledge that the services provided will be limited to your direct attorney-client relationship with the External Pro. Further, you understand that Rocket Lawyer and RLPS cannot guarantee any particular outcome to your legal matter and that any information or advice provided by the External Pro does not constitute a guarantee of success in your legal situation.

2. Benefits & Features

Eligible Members may access the following benefits:

• A legal matter consultation up to thirty (30) minutes for each new legal matter; 
• A legal document review by an External Pro for legal documents up to 10 pages in length (based on the font size and style generated by the Rocket Lawyer Document Service (“Legal Document Requirements“)). 
• Documents that exceed the Legal Document Requirements may be revie wed at the External Pro's discounted rate.

Rocket Lawyer negotiates discounted rates to be charged directly by External Pros to Eligible Members, for any legal service provided by External Pros beyond the benefits and features specified above. These discounted rates are published on the Rocket Lawyer website. Flat rate services may be available in select states, but are not guaranteed in any market. For hourly rates, the pre-negotiated rates for External Pros shall not exceed $125.00 per hour, or 40% off the External Pro's usual and customary hourly rate, whichever is greater. Any other fee arrangements shall be negotiated directly between the user and the External Pro.

If an Eligible Member is not satisfied with an External Pro, such Eligible Member may select an alternative External Pro.

Important: External Pros may require an initial retainer and/or separate attorney engagement agreement prior to provision of services. External Pros may also require additional payment for certain services and out-of-pocket expenses.

3. Exclusions from External Pro Services

The following items are specifically excluded from the Legal Plans and are not included benefits of External Pro Services:

• Any claim, demand, lawsuit or other action that directly or indirectly involves Rocket Law yer, RLPS, or any of its subsidiaries, affiliates, directors, agents, employees, or External Pros;
• Any claim, demand, lawsuit or other action that directly or indirectly involves any External Pro (though an External Pro may represent an Eligible Member in a matter in which another External Pro is representing another party as legal counsel);
• Legal matters in which a Program Sponsor, or any director, officer, agent, or employee thereof, of the Eligible Member has an adverse interest;
• Any matter involving pre-nuptial agreements or active real estate sales documents;
• Any matter involving the laws of jurisdictions outside of the United States or its subdivisions;
• Any matter that, as determined by the External Pro in the External Pro's sole discretion, is frivolous or illegal in nature or objective;
• Any matter or requested service that, as determined by the External Pro in the External Pro's sole discretion, lacks sufficient merit to warrant pursuit, or that has been raised an excessive or unreasonable number of times;
• Any matter that is frivolous, immaterial or illegal in nature, as determined by Rocket Lawyer or the External Pro in their sole discretion;
• Any legal matter involving an alleged violent crime; or
• Any matter for which the Eligible Member is currently represented by other legal counsel.

4. Rocket Lawyer External Pro Services and Users; Disclaimers

As set forth more fully in Section 4 of the General Terms (Rocket Lawyer Legal Information is Not a Substitute for Legal Advice), Rocket Lawyer provides a platform for general legal information and self-help.

The Ask a Lawyer feature is limited in nature and not a substitute for retaining a qualified attorney to provide legal advice. By using the Ask a Lawyer feature of our External Pro Services, you agree to allow certain personally identifying information to be shared with External Pros, Rocket Lawyer, and RLPS in order to provide the services to you. However, unless you specifically enter into a legal engagement agreement, the use of the External Pro Services is for general information purposes only and does not create an attorney-client relationship between: (a) you and Rocket Lawyer, (b) you and any Rocket Lawyer employee or representative, (c) you and RLPS, (d) you and any RLPS employee or representative, nor (e) you and an External Pro. These Services should be used only as a starting point for addressing your legal issues. You should not rely upon such legal information to determine any specific outcome as applied to your specific situation. If you need legal advice for a specific problem, you should consult with a licensed attorney using Rocket Lawyer’s Ask a Lawyer service (as provided by Rocket Legal Professional Services, Inc. (“RLPS”). Any communication between you and Rocket Lawyer is not subject to an attorney's duty of confidentiality and is not protected by the attorney-client privilege or work-product doctrine. For the avoidance of doubt, by using the External Pro Services, you hereby expressly waive any duty of confidentiality that may be implied to all of your communications via the Rocket Lawyer platform.

Rocket Lawyer will not influence or interfere in any manner with the External Pros independence of professional judgment. External Pros are solely responsible for the content of any legal advice rendered to you, either directly or through the use of  the Ask a Lawyer feature of our Services.

By submitting questions, content and other materials via the Ask a Lawyer feature, you acknowledge that you may not receive any response from an attorney and that any response may not address your question completely, accurately, or satisfactorily. You acknowledge that any response to your inquiry is not guaranteed by Rocket Lawyer, and the return and receipt of any such response is at the individual discretion of the participating attorney who receives such inquiry. Because of the limited scope, duration, and brevity of the exchanges between attorney(s) and Eligible Members within the Ask a Lawyer feature, attorneys who receive questions may not have had an opportunity to conduct an independent investigation relating to your communication, to review pertinent documents, or to carefully research the applicable laws. Therefore, you acknowledge and understand that any information provided by an attorney is preliminary and conditional in nature, might not be timely, is often subject to modification based on information the attorney may not have, and could contain errors or omissions.

Rocket Lawyer reserves the right to remove or block attorney responses submitted through the Ask a Lawyer feature for any reason. Attorney responses should only be used for informational purposes. You acknowledge that there are inherent limitations to the Ask a Lawyer feature, and as such, you should not rely solely on information obtained using the Ask a Lawyer feature. Rather than relying solely on the Ask a Lawyer feature, which is by nature limited and incomplete, you are encouraged to find legal representation for assistance with your legal matter(s).

You are responsible for selecting your attorney. Rocket Lawyer uses its proprietary External Pro Services technology to provide Eligible Members with prospective attorneys, but Eligible Members must carefully vet prospective attorneys to ensure they are a good fit. Rocket Lawyer does not guarantee that Eligible Members will successfully find legal representation using the External Pro Services. Hiring an attorney is an important decision that should not be based solely upon Rocket Lawyer’s technology platform. External Pros may provide certain information regarding legal practice areas, pricing, and experience on their Lawyer Profiles. You should review the Lawyer Profiles as if they were advertisements and do additional research before making a decision. Rocket Lawyer does not investigate, verify, or warrant the accuracy of such information. External Pros are third-party independent contractors who are solely responsible for the legal services they provide directly to you, not through Rocket Lawyer, using a separate attorney engagement agreement between you and the External Pro. Rocket Lawyer is not liable for any statements, representations, ratings, endorsements, advertisements, testimonials, responses, comments, information, opinions, advice, links to any third-party websites and content contained on such third-party websites, or content of any other kind transmitted by External Pros, and any such reference(s) in the External Pro Services. Rocket Lawyer does not sponsor, endorse, or recommend any External Pro.

Forming an attorney-client relationship is up to you. As with all legal situations, you should discuss any concerns you may have regarding the legal representation with your External Pro and obtain the costs and scope of your agreement for legal representation in writing. Each Eligible Member is solely responsible for assessing the quality, integrity, and trustworthiness of all persons with whom the Eligible Member communicates regarding his or her legal needs. Each External Pro is solely responsible to the Eligible Member for maintaining the attorney-client relationship and all legal services provided. Each External Pro shall make independent professional judgments regarding the legal representations. Rocket Lawyer has no influence on or involvement in the professional services of the External Pros. Rocket Lawyer makes no representation that the quality of the legal services to be performed will be greater than the quality of legal services performed by other attorneys. Results of an attorney's prior legal representation do not guarantee a similar outcome.

5. Rocket Lawyer Legal Plans and Use

You acknowledge and agree that Rocket Lawyer may establish general guidelines regarding the External Pro Services, including without limitation, the maximum limit of legal services you may receive in a given period of time included with your membership. In addition, you are responsible for all expenses incurred or other actions that may occur through your use of the External Pro Services. You also acknowledge and agree that Rocket Lawyer reserves the right to modify or amend the Terms at any time. The details or availability of External Pro Services in any jurisdiction is subject to change without notice.

If you are entering into this Agreement on behalf of a company or other legal entity, you represent that you have the legal authority to bind such entity to these terms, in which case the terms “you“ or “your“ shall refer to such entity. If you do not have such authority or if you do not agree with the Terms, you may not use the External Pro Services. If you do not have authority to bind the entity for which you have purchased the membership, you will be personally responsible for the obligations in the Terms, including without limitation, any payment obligations associated with the membership account in question. Rocket Lawyer is not liable for any loss or damage resulting from our reliance on any instruction, notice, document or communication, reasonably believed by us to be genuine and delivered by an authorized representative of your company. If there is any doubt regarding the authenticity of any such instruction, notice, document, or communication, we may, but are not obliged to, require additional authentication from you. You must immediately alert Rocket Lawyer of any fraudulent, unauthorized, illegal, or suspicious use of the External Pro Services, or any other breach of security or unauthorized or illegal activity that you reasonably suspect.

6. Prohibitions on Use

State and federal laws, rules, and regulations are referred to herein as “Laws.“ The state, territory, court, or administrative agency where an External Pro is licensed to practice law is referred to herein as “Jurisdiction.“

Each Eligible Member can only use the External Pro Services if such services do not conflict with or violate the Laws of the applicable Jurisdiction(s). Rocket Lawyer does not intend for users to utilize the External Pro Services if prohibited by the Laws of the Jurisdiction(s). Any availability of the External Pro Services or other Rocket Lawyer Services in a Jurisdiction is not an invitation or offer by Rocket Lawyer to access or use the Services in violation of any applicable Laws. By using the External Pro Services, Eligible Members accept sole responsibility for confirming that their use or access of the Services do not violate any applicable Laws. 

Eligible Members may not use the External Pro Services for any inappropriate or otherwise objectionable purpose as determined in the sole discretion of Rocket Lawyer, including without limitation, transmitting communications deemed to be offensive, obscene, indecent, abusive or frivolous in nature. 

In cases where use of the External Pro Services violates these requirements, Rocket Lawyer reserves the right to refuse membership, or suspend or terminate a user's account immediately and without prior notice at the sole discretion of Rocket Lawyer.

7. Dispute Resolution By Binding Arbitration

If there is any dispute involving you and Rocket Lawyer arising from your use or attempted use of the External Pro Services, you and Rocket Lawyer mutually agree to resolve such dispute through binding arbitration as provided in the General Terms.

Rocket Lawyer does not manage disputes between Eligible Members and External Pros. Eligible Members also have the right to file a complaint directly with the applicable state's bar association concerning the conduct of an External Pro. While not required to do so, please notify Rocket Lawyer if you have a dispute with an External Pro, believe an External Pro has violated these Terms of Service, or you filed a state bar association complaint concerning an External Pro.

8. Disclosures and Notices

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Circular 230 Tax Advice Disclosure:

To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS under Circular 230, we inform you that any U.S. federal tax advice contained in any communication from Rocket Lawyer (including information provided by an External Pro offering a free consultation) is and was not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (1) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (2) promoting, marketing, or recommending to another party any matters addressed therein.

General Notices

Changes to these External Pro Terms of Service will be posted in accordance with Section 22 (Modifications) of the General Terms.

For more information, please review our General Terms, Privacy Policy, and our FAQ Section.