LegalForce Opens General-Interest Bookstore Offering Walk-In Lawyer Access

  LegalForce Opens General-Interest Bookstore Offering Walk-In Lawyer Access

  Bookstore “Lounge” in the Heart of Silicon Valley Designed to Make Lawyers
                        More Accessible to the Public

Business Wire

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- February 7, 2013

LegalForce (formerly Trademarkia.com), one of the largest legal websites,
today announced the opening of LegalForce BookFlip™, a brick-and-mortar retail
store in downtown Palo Alto’s historic 323 University building.

The three-level, 8,000-sq.-ft. store, in the heart of Silicon Valley within
walking distance of Stanford University, is on downtown Palo Alto’s
prestigious University Avenue, the location for Google’s, Facebook’s and
PayPal’s first offices.

The LegalForce BookFlip store uniquely provides seven-day retail hour access
to licensed U.S. attorneys on a walk-in basis without appointments. LegalForce
lawyers provide initial advice on a wide range of personal and business legal
topics. Follow-up meetings can be set up with specialists in a variety of
practice areas. The store, designed as a retail bookstore lounge, sells not
only a wide range of books and tablets but also offers free classes on topics
including entrepreneurship, business, and law. It is designed to fill the
growing bookstore void left on Main Streets across the U.S.

“People want and need bookstores on Main Street,” noted Raj Abhyanker,
LegalForce CEO. “Independent bookstores and national chains such Borders and
Barnes & Noble are finding it increasingly difficult to survive because of
high rent and because some prefer to purchase books online.”

This undermines the community-based feel and the sanctuary of knowledge that
bookstores have provided to neighborhoods over hundreds of years. LegalForce
is working to keep bookstores on Main Streets by supplementing them with a
revenue model based on access to legal services. In addition to its flagship
LegalForce BookFlip store, the company plans to form partnerships with
existing bookstores across the country.

The historic LegalForce BookFlip building, across the street from a new Apple
store, has been fully restored to its original characteristics with an
investment of over $2 million. It features original mahogany doors and
staircases, as well as historical facades accurately reflecting the Spanish
Colonial revival style of the original architect, Birge Clark, which the Palo
Alto Weekly nearly a century ago labeled “Palo Alto's best-loved architect.”
The historical restoration is refreshed with a hip and ultra-modern Apple
store-like interior in which books on shelves surround tablets for sale.

“We want people to realize that lawyers, like doctors, can provide help
throughout various stages of life,” CEO Abhyanker, himself an attorney, said.
“Few people know where to turn for legal help. We solve this by letting the
public walk into a major retail location for help. This makes obtaining legal
assistance easy, convenient and affordable.”

LegalForce plans to create a new national brand for legal services, based
around the core values of efficiency, transparency, and accessibility. To
achieve this goal, LegalForce plans to attract other law firms that share
these core values and will unite under the LegalForce brand.

Clients can also book LegalForce attorneys online through the website’s new
“Chat-torneys” feature, which delivers worldwide access to a
California-licensed attorney privately via video chat, telephone, or instant
messaging. LegalForce will also sell books and Google Nexus tablets online,
offering individuals and businesses unique bundled offerings of legal
services, books and tablets.

Since its Sept. 2009 launch, the self-funded LegalForce has helped to create
the world’s largest trademark law firm, having filed more than 23,000 U.S.
trademarks. LegalForce has already helped to file more American trademarks
through licensed U.S. attorneys than any other law firm in U.S. history. Its
trademark search engine attracts more than 1.8 million unique visitors per
month, making it one of the largest legal-oriented websites.

About LegalForce:

LegalForce is a technology company helping a network of independent law firms
improve access to law for millions of people worldwide through online and
offline technology. LegalForce achieves this through rearchitecting legal
processes, improving internal efficiency, and creating compelling online and
offline operational and marketing collective law firms sharing the
“LegalForce” brand.

Contact:

SS|PR for LegalForce
Tony Keller, 312-750-0858
Sr. Vice President
tkeller@sspr.com