Hi. This is Adam Stofsky – the founder of Briefly. As I write this, we are about to hit the button to go live. I’d like to take a moment to give you some background on who we are on what we do. You can hear me talk about it right here, or read about it below.
Briefly ‘s missions is to transform how people understand and deal with everyday legal issues.
First, we’re making better information about law. As of the time I’m recording this, Youtube has 578,000 explainer videos on how to fix a leaky pipe – some are definitely better than others (it’s kind of a rabbit hole…) but the information is there. them are really good. But there’s almost nothing about any legal issue – issues of critical importance to our housing, health, education, and work.So our core product is information – lots of free stuff, video, audio, and text – and more detailed classes and coaching sessions. (You can start with our annual legal checkup PDF; our legal starter kit for new parents; or our “law in a minute” series, coming soon to this very blog.
Second, we want to encourage better planning, to allow people to take control and address legal issues without stress or fear. We think of it as “legal primary care,” sort of like medical checkups – but for law. This is what a lot of our content and services focus on.
Third, we want people to have a better experience when dealing with lawyers. For whatever reason, lawyers are among the least trusted of professionals – we’re at the bottom of the barrel according to Pew. According to Gallup, only 18% of Americans think lawyers have high or above average ethical standards – only a few percentage points above senators! This is nuts. I can’t pretend to know why lawyers have such a bad reputation, and it’s not Briefly’s mission to improve it. What we aim to do strengthen relationships between lawyers and you, their potential clients – to give you the knowledge to get what they need out of the profession that serves as society’s navigators of the legal system.
Demystify the Law
The first kernel of the idea for Briefly came to be a few years ago. I was struggling to set up an LLC for my wife’s new business. We filed the papers, and, shortly after, got a whole bunch of solicitations from vendors offering to help us meet a legal requirement: to publish an announcement of the formation of the business in two local newspapers.
Now, I’m a little paranoid. Why were these vendors asking me for money? Actually a lot of money for a tiny business. It also seemed kind of weird – why local newspapers? So I searched and searched online to get information. The New York Department of State’s website mentioned the requirement, but didn’t explain the consequences of not doing it.
Bottom line: All I could find was gobbledygook and legalese. We paid the vender and met the requirement – but I was, frankly, pretty angry that a legal requirement was being imposed on me – that cost us real money – and I could not find any clear explanation of why.
This little issue really stuck with me, and provided the kernel of an idea – why can’t legal information be easier to access?
If any listeners are curious, an intrepid business law blogger at Forbes posted a detailed article about this last year – the only coherent piece of information about this that I can find online.
So, that’s why we’re here. To make law clearer, easier to understand – more accessible to all of us.
Take the Next Step
You can take the next step by browsing content on this blog or attending one of our webinars – all free – or by taking a deeper dive and enrolling in one of our courses, or scheduling a consulting session for you or your business.
Thanks for joining us on our journey towards legal empowerment.