Overview and History

Legal.com is an e-commerce company specializing in legal books, information and resources for legal professionals, law students and consumers. Founded in 1991, Legal.com began as the Legal Recourse retail store in Palo Alto, California, with the goal of providing economical access to the law for consumers and businesses. The company quickly grew to be a leading source of law books for law students and legal professionals, in addition to consumers and businesses.

Since its inception, the company has been an innovator and early adopter of computer technology. The company has offered online access to legal information, initially with a computer bulletin board system (BBS), since its inception in 1991. The BBS became connected to the Internet in 1993, and in 1995, the company launched its Legal.com website with information from leading experts on a variety of legal topics, along with links to legal research and related Internet sites.

In 1996, the company launched its online law speciality store at Legal.com, offering more than 1,400 titles for consumers, law students and professionals. The online store makes it easy for customers to browse and place orders and includes titles from all the major law publishers. All items are inventoried, enabling the company to ship most orders placed at Legal.com the day they are received for ground delivery anywhere in the U.S. within five business days (two days for West Coast orders).

In 1999, the company changed its name to Legal.com, Inc. and began offering Internet services with the prestigious @Legal.com email address for legal professionals. A directory of legal service providers is also being launched.

Our Mission

The mission of Legal.com is to be the leading online provider of legal information through content; sales of products and services to consumers, law students and legal professionals; and provider of marketing services to law firms and legal publishers.

Contact Information

Legal.com, Inc.
4440 Duckhorn Drive, Suite 420
Sacramento, CA 95834
Phone (916) 575-7563
Email: dma-at-Legal.com

The Market

Consumer Market: According to Nielsen Media Research, over 70 million people are now online in the U.S., nearly a third of the population. A large percentage of current Internet users are well-educated and intellectually curious, paralleling the profile of the majority of consumers who purchase legal self-help materials. Thus, the online market for legal self-help materials is very large and growing.

Law Student Market: According to the Research & Education Association, there are slightly more than 200 law schools in the U.S. with a total of approximately 135,000 students. More than 36,000 students enter law schools each year. In addition to required casebooks, there are numerous study materials to help law students master the necessary concepts in each course. Most college bookstores have so many programs to concern themselves with that they cannot focus attention on the specific needs of any one graduate program’s students. Thus, law students often have difficulty finding the study materials they need. Further, students are expected to stand in long lines to buy their books and lug them to their cars which are often parked blocks from the campus bookstore. This is even more problematic for the parttime student who often holds a full-time job in addition to studying at night. Legal.com offers students a convenient way to order their books and study materials at any time of the day or night and have them delivered to their door. The estimated retail market for required law school texts is over $100 million per year, and the market for law school study materials is over $15 million per year.

The Legal Professional Market: There are over a million attorneys and legal paraprofessionals in the U.S. Legal professionals frequently need professional treatises, practice guides and codes for the different areas of law in which they practice. In addition, a large percentage of attorneys are sole practitioners or in small law firms that do not have technical experts to set up Internet services or email for them. Legal.com stocks numerous professional law books, legal forms and software to assist both paralegals and attorneys. The company also is the first vertical market Internet service provider dedicated to the legal profession, providing Internet services, email services (with the @Legal.com email address) and Web advertising for legal professionals.

Advertising at Legal.com

Context-sensitive text and display ads are displayed on Legal.com's pages via the Google ad network. To advertise at Legal.com:

Management Team

David Alden, Esq. - President and CEO

Alden is a seasoned professional, technical and business person and the founder of Legal.com. Prior to founding Legal.com, Alden practiced law at intellectual property and consumer law firms, founded and operated a computer services company, worked in network operations for a national airline, founded a real estate brokerage firm and taught college and professional courses. Alden has extensive technical knowledge of computers, networks and the Internet. Alden earned a Juris Doctor degree from University of Miami and a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance from Nova University.

Sally Bowman Alden, MBA - Executive Vice President

Bowman Alden is an experienced computer marketing professional and general manager with extensive startup experience and a founder of Legal.com. Bowman Alden was a founder and the executive director of an international nonprofit foundation for computer literacy, was on the start up team and the vice president of sales and marketing for a leading educational software publisher, was a marketing manager for a major computer manufacturer during early startup of their computer operations and practiced as a psychologist in the schools. Bowman Alden earned a Master of Business Administration from Stanford University, a Master of Arts in school psychology from University of North Carolina and a Bachelor of Science from The Ohio State University.

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