Epoq.co.uk Legal Services News

What does your website offer your clients?. Stock photos and contact details?, or a fully engaging online legal platform where they can learn about, draft and purchase legal services from you?

With modern consumers growing to consider online delivery of services the norm, what is your firm doing to embrace and profit from this new culture, what is your client-web-strategy? We take a look at what members of the MyLawyer network can offer their clients, most specifically the new “try before you buy” technology that comes with the latest generation of Rapidocs technology.

When a potential or existing client lands on your MyLawyer website they have instant access to a full law guide that explains the area surrounding their matter, and introduces the range of documents that may be of help to them. The client is presented with clear, upfront pricing and is able to start drafting the document without having to commit so much as an email address.

The drafting process involves an intelligent online interview system where (although partially obscured and not printable) the document can be seen to evolve in real time as answers are provided and the client’s situation becomes clear. A draft can then be saved to a personalised section of your website and returned to at any point to be edited further and purchased when complete. At this point the document is passed to the firm itself for legal review, if appropriate.

So how does all this make the user feel, and what does it mean for you? Well, our feedback suggests that users remain in their comfort zone and don’t feel the pressure that may be exerted by a face-to-face interaction. Perhaps most significantly, it is the transparency of the process that enables both potential and existing clients to see the value of what is being sold and builds a degree of trust before having to make any sort of commitment whatsoever, and the overriding emotion that users feedback is one of control;

“From start to finish I felt in control: I found the right documents and read some background info which helped put my mind at rest, and being able to fully preview them before committing to purchase was a nice touch. All in all I found the process transparent and reassuring, and came out with the documentation I needed without sacrificing quality and whilst saving substantially from the price I would have paid on the high-street”

M Noar, Libra Solutions, online business services.

The modern consumer banks online, buys their insurance online, pays their bills online, and yet the market for online legal services is still relatively immature. Is it time your website became more than just an e-brochure for your legal services?, is it time it became a portal for successful web-engagement 24/7?

Our research suggests that firms joining the MyLawyer network are set to benefit from substantially reduced drafting costs and increase firm-wide margins just from servicing their existing client base.

MyLawyer firms will be able to provide online drafting services to clients from their own website, will receive pre-drafted referrals from MyLawyer.co.uk, and will have access to Rapidocs V4 technology for in-house drafting use, making cost savings across all three channels.

“Our detailed and law-firm supported research suggests that MyLawyer members will be able to save money in 4 key ways”, explains Business Development Director, Dave Jones:

a)    Firstly, the cost of drafting a document virtually disappears if the client chooses to create the draft themselves online.

b)    Secondly, clients can engage with the firm by telephone, with less qualified (and hence cheaper to employ) specifically-trained operators using Rapidocs technology to draft the document in house.

c)    Thirdly, in-house face-to-face interviews can be performed by less qualified staff that have a lower hourly rate.

d)    Finally, even when a face-to-face interview is conducted by the fee-earner themselves, time and money are still saved as at the end of the interview the document has been automatically drafted, whereas traditionally they would need a separate ‘write up period’.

On top of these savings, admin overheads can be reduced: a proportion of the clients who engage with any firm invariably do not complete their engagement – but if these clients can be directed online for the first draft, these lost transactions do not take up valuable staff time. Additionally, electronic billing means that the need for staff to chase invoices is reduced.

The latest Rapidocs technology means firms are able to service their existing client-base much more efficiently: in fact through both online and in-house drafting we believe some firms will be able to cut their direct cost of fulfilment by as much as 50%. Even if only 30% of their existing customers engage online we still forecast a 10% rise in the overall margins of the firm. This is a staggering statistic when you consider that this model doesn’t take into account any new business generated as a result of the new online capabilities MyLawyer firms will enjoy.

Making accurate predictions of resulting new business is not easy, but by being among the first firms to truly embrace the web and hence give the modern legal consumer what they want, the sky’s the limit.
There is limited space for top-tier firms to join the MyLawyer network.

This week saw the first unveiling of the MyLawyer concept to the legal press, as our first press hit the wires, giving a little taster of what to expect from the MyLawyer network when it is launched. Press reaction has been very positive, with the story most notably making the front page of The Gazette today.

The article explained how the launch of MyLawyer will put pressure on high-street firms as they aim to adapt to changes in the legal market - the Gazette piece quotes Richard Cohen, our joint CEO: “…perhaps the largest unexpected threat to high street Solicitors may come from inside the profession itself. Those firms who are unable to or have not yet considered the ramifications of a changing market may end up facing a second, possibly greater challenge than that exerted by the major financial institutions. High street Solicitors stand to lose market share to other law firms that are embracing the competitive advantage of technology and the distribution of the internet.”

You can see the full press release here.

We believe MYL is the future of legal transaction: smart, open, accessible, online – and yet backed with top quality legal expertise and the ability for direct contact with lawyers if required. We’ll be keeping you up to date with progress here as we head towards the launch of MyLawyer later in the year, but in the meantime you can register your interest by going to mylawyer.co.uk and completing the online signup.

The full ramifications of the Legal Services Act (LSA) are only now beginning to be explored in the media. Despite warnings in the wake of the Clementi review that the changes represented ‘a wakeup call for lawyers’, many have been slow to visualise the new legal landscape. It is becoming clear that in the ‘Brave New World’ for legal services heralded in a recent Intendence report, the market will face serious upheaval, powerful competitive forces will be unleashed and traditional business models will be swept away in what some experts are calling ‘the big bang for the legal profession’. This article will look at the predictions of two experts, Richard Susskind, the Times Law Columnist and Professor Stephen Mayson the Professor of Strategy and Director of the Legal Services Policy Institute at The College of Law.

Richard Susskind

“The end of lawyers?”

Richard Susskind’s new book, ‘The End of Lawyers?’ (subtitled, Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services), points to a future in which conventional legal advisers will be less prominent in society than today. Susskind argues that the legal profession needs to undergo a significant transformation to avoid extinction. According to the book the legal profession will need to react to two market forces: firstly, an irresistible pull towards commoditisation and secondly, ongoing development and uptake of information technology which will become increasingly important for cutting costs and delivering legal services to the web generation of consumers. The tone of the book isn’t entirely apocalyptic as Susskind concludes that new and different roles in the new world will emerge for adaptable lawyers.As Susskind argues:

“the challenge I lay down here is for all lawyers to introspect, and to ask themselves, with their hands on their hearts, what elements of their current workload could be undertaken differently — more quickly, cheaply, efficiently, or to a higher quality — using alternative methods of working. In other words, the challenge for legal readers is to identify their distinctive skills and talents, the capabilities that they possess that cannot, crudely, be replaced by advanced systems or by less costly workers supported by technology or standard processes, or by lay people armed with online self-help tools……. The market will determine that the legal world is over-resourced, it will increasingly drive out inefficiencies and unnecessary friction and, in so doing, we will indeed witness the end of outdated legal practice and the end of outdated lawyers.”

Stephen Mayson

“Catalyst, Cataclysm or Catastrophe”

Stephen Mayson is head of the Legal Policy Institute think-tank set up to examine the implications of the LSA. In a recent article in the Law Society Gazette he stated that changes to the market which will begin to take place when the act comes fully into force in 2012 will mean that qualified lawyers will only be used for reserved activities, such as probate and litigation.

Stephen Mayson has argued in several prominent speeches that the legal services reforms are intended to bring about upheaval and reform in the legal services market and that the forces unleashed could be catalytic. Law firms will need to restructure and possibly refinance to consolidate, to recruit, train and promote sensibly, and to engage in even more sophisticated strategy and management. Mayson predicts that many law firms will be forced to consolidate or go out of business.

“In the context of the market reforms as a whole, however, even [the Law Society's estimate of] 800 [legal aid firms disappearing] might be a significant underestimate.” So what scale of consolidation should we project? It’s difficult to be sure of course but here’s my guess for the next five to ten years… the ‘at risk’ group would lose about 3,000 firms and would imply about £1.5 billion of turnover on the move”

During a speech at the Law London 2008 event, Mayson said law firms would be competing with big, established brands such as supermarkets and membership organisations, which would not use qualified lawyers for unreserved work. This would leave firms with a difficult choice: to get rid of qualified staff, or pay them less.

Mayson added: ‘We probably have twice as many qualified lawyers as that market needs. The number of lawyers has doubled, but the volume of work in reserved activities has not… We have got to get much tighter on what we pay for. The AA and HBOS are doing [legal] work on a massive scale. There aren’t that many law firms around that can compete. Are we going to roll over, or think about consolidation?… The one thing that makes an industry vulnerable is the incumbents not changing. Thinking like lawyers could spell the end.’

According to Legal Week, Lyceum Capital has become the first investment house to openly target legal services as the private equity firm moves to position itself ahead of sweeping deregulation of the UK profession.

The buy-out house has also appointed a senior advisory panel to seal its credentials, including former Clifford Chance managing partner Tony Williams, high-profile legal IT consultant Richard Susskind and Paul Hewitt, who was instrumental in developing legal services arms at the RAC and Co-operative Group.

The venture, revealed today by Legal Week, is being overseen by Lyceum’s managing partner, Jeremy Hand (pictured), the incoming chairman of the BVCA — private equity’s main industry body.

Lyceum is to target opportunities from the Legal Services Act (LSA) by investing in mid-tier firms to help fund their growth, including taking minority and full controlling stakes.

With the help of the panel, Lyceum, which has just announced its latest £255m fund, will look for potential investment targets and give business advice in addition to funding.

Hand told Legal Week: “Law firms are businesses. We are not pretending we are lawyers but we can help businesses develop — whether through giving advice, overhauling IT systems or allowing them to grow with new hires.”

Click here to read the original article

Epoq Comment

Richard Cohen, Joint CEO of Epoq Legal responded by saying:

‘This is a clear demonstration of where the legal services market is going and it is interesting to see the emphasis on helping law firms to develop as businesses. We have certainly seen a change in the way some firms think about their relationships with their clients and are increasingly finding that firms want to add web and phone based services to supplement the traditional face-to-face delivery model. Firms that adopt these new engagement models will have a huge competitive advantage and the fact that the chairman of the BVCA is heading up a team to invest in this sector shows that there is a great opportunity to exploit the changes in the legal services market’.

For those of you that do not know, the Government passed The Legal Services Act in 2007, this is a major piece of legislation that is set to have a huge effect on the legal landscape.

Over the next 18 months, the scope of these changes are going forever alter the way consumers perceive and access legal services.

An in depth new report was recently published by Intendance Research in conjunction with LPA Legal Recruitment and Thomson Sweet & Maxwell, that (unsurprisingly to us) predicts the Legal Services Act will cause major upheaval in the legal profession.

The survey found that 58% of solicitors and 41% of barristers now think that high street law firms will be “drastically” affected by the reforms. According to 60% of solicitors surveyed, high street law firms will be a “rarity” by 2015.

The intro on their site goes on to say “By allowing non-lawyers to own law firms, the LSA exposes high street firms to competition from all-comers, especially those with well-established brands, hence the coining of the term ‘Tesco Law’ to describe its wide-reaching influence. With their superior media exposure, IT capabilities, and existing retail muscle, supermarkets, among others, could grab a major slice of the market.”

To see more about this report and some tasty snippets visit Brave New World report website.

You can also read more detail in their PDF overview Brave New World report overview -PDF.

One of our services gets a mention in it downloadable PDF and the survey anticipates that some law firms will find a way to compete in this market place with the adoption of the right IT, this was predicted prior to our MyLawyer offering (which is still in stealth mode), I’ll talk more about that in another post.