UpCounsel Launches In Illinois To Help Businesses Get More Value From Their Legal Services

SAN FRANCISCO, March 31, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- UpCounsel, an on-demand legal marketplace that makes it easier and significantly more cost-effective for businesses to get high quality legal help, today announced it will be officially expanding its legal service offerings to businesses in Illinois. UpCounsel will initially focus on Chicago, where the company has been running its closed beta for several months.

UpCounsel, which already works with thousands of businesses throughout New York, Texas and California, will now be able to meet the legal needs of small to mid-size businesses and entrepreneurs in Illinois. While offering a much more cost-effective alternative to expensive law firms, UpCounsel provided businesses with easy access to a virtual community of experienced, specialized lawyers who are available to help on-demand for a wide range of legal needs. UpCounsel is free to use and matches the specific legal needs of the client with several attorneys who best match their needs and budget, while providing each party a virtual workspace for private communications, documents, and digital signatures.

"We're excited to be launching in Illinois, and especially Chicago," said Matthew Faustman, CEO of UpCounsel. "While San Francisco and New York City get all the hype about startups and small businesses, Chicago has an exciting, and growing, business ecosystem that we are really eager to be a part of now."

For the last three months, UpCounsel has offered a beta version of its legal services for businesses. There are currently 30 lawyers in Illinois actively participating in the beta program, and an additional 100 lawyers (and growing) who have recently joined UpCounsel. Just by signing up, UpCounsel offers these lawyers free tools to efficiently manage and grow their practice, get paid faster and eliminate administrative headaches.

"Many don't realize how time consuming administrative work can be, which is part of the reason we created UpCounsel," said Faustman. "We've also created a community that is meant to help other business owners and lawyers connect with one another."

During its beta period In Chicago, the company worked with several dozen small to mid-size businesses in numerous industries such as healthcare, construction, retail and financial services. UpCounsel works with both small and large companies, and alongside General Counsels of long standing companies.

eSale Solutions, a Chicago-based technology startup that helps small businesses sell their products online across multiple channels, engaged with UpCounsel because the company needed legal counsel for assistance with raising funds from investors and with establishing an employee equity incentive program. The company needed to make sure everything was in order before its launch in April. Other local law firms were too expensive and inefficient. When eSale Solutions went to UpCounsel, within 24 hours they had received several proposals from different Chicago attorneys ready to help them immediately.

"The attorney we used from UpCounsel gave us the time of day and really worked with us to make sure we had everything we needed," said Andy Balan, founder and CEO of eSale Solutions. "UpCounsel helped make the entire process transparent and effortless."

For more information and company updates from UpCounsel, please visit: UpCounsel's blog

About UpCounsel
UpCounsel is on a mission to make the legal experience remarkable for businesses. We provide small and medium businesses with an alternative to expensive and slow legal services through an online platform and an all-star virtual lawyer community. UpCounsel is working with thousands of entrepreneurs and companies to increase the quality and speed of legal services while dramatically reducing costs. When businesses have easy access to great legal services, they make better decisions and can grow their business with confidence. The company is currently based in San Francisco, CA. For more information, please visit: www.upcounsel.com

SOURCE UpCounsel

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http://www.upcounsel.com