BOSTON, Jan. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- UpCounsel, an on-demand 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 services to Massachusetts with a major focus on Boston's business community where the company has been running its closed beta for several months.

UpCounsel, which already works with thousands of businesses throughout New York and California, will now be able to meet the legal needs of small to mid-size businesses and entrepreneurs in the Greater Boston Area. UpCounsel offers a cost-effective alternative to expensive law firms by providing easy access to a virtual community of experienced local lawyers. The free online application matches attorneys to clients and tasks, and serves as a virtual workspace for communications, documents and digital signatures.

"With the launch of UpCounsel services in Boston, Bostonian businesses can now find a lawyer that meets their budget and legal needs, so they can focus on the important things," said Matthew Faustman, CEO of UpCounsel.

There are currently 45,000 lawyers licensed to practice in Massachusetts, 20,000 lawyers just in the Greater Boston Area and over 100,000 small businesses in Boston that will be able to utilize UpCounsel's services.

According to Faustman, "With the large number of independent lawyers available in Massachusetts, we estimated about two-thirds of those lawyers are actually struggling every day to meet new clients."

UpCounsel has been in beta in Boston for the last three months and seeks to close that gap. Currently there are two dozen lawyers part of the beta program and 250 lawyers in the state that have signed up. Just by signing up, UpCounsel offers lawyers free tools to grow their practice, get paid faster and eliminate administration headaches.

"I have been really impressed with what UpCounsel has done for my practice. I've been able to connect with interesting clients and have done substantive and exciting work," said Lara Phimister, a Boston attorney who utilizes UpCounsel. "UpCounsel handles all the administration side of the engagement, allowing me to focus on practicing law and helping my clients."

During its beta period, the company has also worked with several dozen small and medium businesses in the Greater Boston Area in numerous industries such as biotech, financial services, tourism and technology. UpCounsel works with both small and large companies, including alongside General Counsels of long standing companies.

Veer, a Boston-based startup, engaged with UpCounsel because the company required personal attention and legal counsel for their Terms & Conditions clause. Other local law firms were inefficient, wasted their time and were too expensive. When Veer went to UpCounsel, within 24 hours they had four proposals from different Boston attorneys ready to help.

"UpCounsel made the entire process efficient, painless and transparent," said Aaron Kolenda, co-founder of Veer. "Their presence here will make it much easier for founders to tackle legal and bureaucratic hurdles and let them focus on creating a successful business."

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

Contact:
Selena Yang
syang@n6a.com
1-212-334-3558

SOURCE UpCounsel

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http://www.upcounsel.com