Our Story: A Better Mousetrap
The “Black Hole Problem”
Hargrove Law Firm founder and partner Jamie Hargrove is that rare attorney who is popular among financial advisors. Why? Because he addressed what he likes to call the “black hole problem” for financial advisors. Simply stated, when financial advisors need to refer their clients to attorneys for estate planning legal services, they too often experience delays, red tape, and unexpected costs. This can damage their credibility and needlessly compromise their client relationship.
“First Step Planning”
Jamie had already built a successful estate and trust law practice when he decided to create a fixed-price, streamlined solution for estate planning. “First Step Planning” as he called it, was quickly embraced by the financial advisor community as well as the legal community. In time the service was moved online. Soon after, the First Step Planning service was awarded the American Bar Association eLawyering award for the best online delivery of legal services in the United States. Hargrove was, as it turned out, ahead of his time.
NetLaw Goes Online
Enter Jamie’s son, Alex Hargrove, a patent-holding technology executive. Alex had a vision of how the Hargrove solution could be delivered via digital media to address the huge number of Americans who have no estate plan. He recognized that his father’s method could be delivered with a purpose-built, web-based software application that would make the service easy to use, accessible, simple, and affordable.
That service became NetLaw, and is now available to financial advisors in all 50 states.