David and Sally Alden with their extensive legal book inventory available for purchase. / Photo by Jeremiah McWright
BY ROBYN EIFERTSEN
THE NATOMAS BUZZ | @natomasbuzz
When husband-and-wife team David and Sally Alden moved to Natomas from Palo Alto in 2003, they brought a piece of Silicon Valley with them.
The Aldens own the online legal resource website, Legal.com and operate it out of their offices on Duckhorn Drive.
Legal.com will mark its 20th anniversary in August. The website boasts between 6,000 to 7,000 visitors each month worldwide — nearly 80,000 users a year, according to Sally Alden, vice president.
Legal.com website
“I feel that Sally and I in some small way, with Legal.com, are bringing the Silicon Valley to Natomas and are contributing to broadening Sacramento’s economic base,” said David Alden, chief operating officer.
Legal.com is meant to be an affordable alternative for those seeking legal advice. It features online message boards, access to legal research, an attorney search engine and other legal resources.
In addition to the website, the Aldens also run the Natomas Alden Law Group and Natomas Professional Suites commercial tenant offices.
David Alden is a former computer consultant and an experienced intellectual property and bankruptcy attorney.
Sally Alden is a former marketing director for Atari Home Computers and was co-founder of the Computer Learning Foundation in Sunnyvale.
The Aldens first operated Legal Recourse as a brick-and-mortar business in 1991 to help people access legal information. The business went online in 1993.
“Our goal is to make the law more accessible to people so they know their rights and they can do more on their own.”
The couple’s combined technology background and a passion for helping others led to their idea for the dot-com. The Aldens said their website helps keep people from being taken advantage of others when it comes to legal business.
“Our goal is to make the law more accessible to people so they know their rights and they can do more on their own,” said Sally Alden.
The couple relocated to the Westlake neighborhood in Natomas because of its proximity to the Sacramento International Airport, downtown Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area. They are parents to 13-year-old twins and founding parents of Westlake Charter School.
Sally Alden can often be found volunteering at Westlake Charter School, at the Capitol lobbying for Natomas residents’ flood insurance rights or heading the Westlake homeowner’s association annual barbecue. David Alden is vice president of the Westlake Master Association, is a member of the Sacramento Collaborative Practice Group which provides legal and other services to people going through divorce, and volunteers helping people prepare documents at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Sacramento.
Awesome story.