Lisa Munyon has gone from serving cocktails to casino gamblers to serving up clients for the legal industry.

The former waitress at the Venetian in Las Vegas now runs Lazinga, a Century City online directory that helps consumers find a notary, mediator, court document preparer and other legal professionals, all of whom pay $79 a year to be listed in the directory.

It’s a strategic expansion of her similar search operation for law firms and other companies, National Paralegal & Notary, which has grown in five years into a national network of more than 10,000 paralegals and notaries. NPN’s revenue comes from a finder’s fee.

The idea was born when a family friend in the legal business suggested she should develop a searchable network of legal professionals. When she realized none of the existing websites offered much beyond lawyer introductions, Munyon began a quest to fill that void.

Plus it sounded more fun and lucrative than what she was doing at the time to repay student loans.

“As well as being a cocktail waitress at the Venetian, I also shined shoes at Mandalay Bay to help pay off my degree,” she said.

Such financial worries are over with NPN’s success, and now Munyon plans to make Lazinga another hit, saying, “We want to be the Angie’s List of the legal world.”

– Cale Ottens