Epoq.co.uk Legal Services News

Speculation continues as to the benefits of “off-the-shelf” legal documentation and whether or not it fits the bill as a replacement for traditional legal services. “Now you can go online and, for a few pounds, you can download a solicitor’s letter for almost anything” noted a recent discussion piece on Radio 4’s Analysis program, “…professions are under pressure as technology and de-skilling are undermining them, and rightly so”.

As one would imagine, such statements have not gone unchallenged by solicitors themselves, who are keen to point out that a basic document template will not suffice in the majority of cases, and may actually be an example of false economy. By purchasing a will online, “you can miss all the key things you should be thinking of in order to avoid tax and in order to benefit your family”.

We believe that the arrival of off-the-shelf legal documentation has had an effect on the legal profession, the very fact that these products exist is testament to the fact that the public are increasingly demanding the right to take the initiative with their legal problems. Our technology satisfies these demands without compromising on the accuracy and professionalism provided by a law firm.

MyLawyer® will provide an answer to law firms looking to re-assess their web-strategy in the light of recent developments in the legal market, and being part of the network will enable them to satisfy the demands of the modern legal consumer.

The MyLawyer® network is designed to meet the needs of consumers and law firms alike. On one hand, technology and the internet can be harnessed to provide a slicker, more transparent process for creating legal documents that cuts out any unnecessary ‘busywork’. On the other hand it fully recognises that every case is individual and as such deserves focused attention from an expert. By successfully taking on board both of these points, we are able to deliver a better, cheaper solution without compromise.

We are making healthy progress with the latest version of Rapidocs 4, which will help the MyLawyer® vision become a reality in the near future. Watch this space.

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’.

We are currently coming to the end of the latest development cycle for the client side of Rapidocs, which we have moved up a whole version to 4, that’s because it’s such a substantial departure from our previous version, indeed I believe we have made a leap in transparency and accessibility, one that will have a positive repercussion in the market.

As part of this process it became clear that a number of aspects of this development may be unique enough to warrant a patent, so we are seeking the same.

Now, we were originally just seeking patents outside the UK, but in a recent case the High Court said that the Patent Office was incorrectly applying the law in automatically rejecting claims for computer programs, this was in a case brought by four small British businesses. This means there is a greater chance that software patents can be achieved in the UK.

I naturally cannot say too much right now about the patents we are seeking. What I can tell you is that it’s been a long time since I last applied for a patent and had forgotten the embellished language used, the law is without doubt filled with obscure and esoteric terminology. I suppose one of Epoq’s values is to remove the obscure, then simplify the language as much as possible thus making it accessible. However, I suspect that patents are not an area we will be putting our automation hand to any time soon.

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.

Epoq (www.epoq.co.uk) the award winning legal services company, today announced the launch of Halifax Legal Solutions (www.halifaxlegalsolutions.co.uk), a brand new comprehensive and affordable legal service, developed specifically for customers of The Halifax.

According to a recent Which? survey 63% of consumers would like access to legal services via their high street bank or supermarket.

Epoq’s £10 million investment in consumer friendly legal technology gives customers precisely that, with unlimited access to legal services either online or via a dedicated telephone line, all linked to a team of solicitors, barristers and other qualified professionals.

With the UK market for consumer legal services estimated at £8 billion* and the forthcoming introduction of the Legal Services Bill, instigating the most significant change to the legal market for over 100 years, it’s no surprise that financial institutions such as The Halifax are taking their first major steps in legal service delivery.

For an annual membership fee of only £89.00 customers using the Halifax Legal Solutions will receive:

· 24 hour legal advice helpline

· Will preparation and updates

· Qualified legal professionals to review and approve all documents prepared using the service

· ID theft resolution service

· Searchable web-based law guide

· Discounted conveyancing

Richard Cohen, Solicitor and Joint CEO of the Epoq Group said “I believe that we are now entering a new era of accessibility and value for consumer and small business legal services. Our clever document technology combined with internet delivery and call centres will keep the quality of service high but costs low.

Halifax has recognised this and their customers will benefit.” Indeed Halifax, Nationwide and the AA are seen as the brands that consumers are most likely to trust to buy legal services from.**

Legal advice, ID theft resolution and Will preparation will be provided over the telephone. In addition over 150 legal documents, such as tenancy agreements, powers of attorney and letters of complaint can be instantly prepared online

following a sophisticated step-by-step system. Once the customer has prepared their legal document it can then be reviewed by the qualified legal team, if required.

*Department for Constitutional Affairs

**Research by Finnacord in association with IMRS

Notes to editors

Epoq Group

Since 1994 Epoq (www.epoq.co.uk) has been developing new and innovative legal solutions; we are a trusted provider to many of the worlds leading financial institutions and now provide intelligent legal document services to over 1 million of their customers.

Epoq has invested over £10 million in technologies and relationships to fully manage the delivery of legal services, we have developed over 200 individual award winning solutions (including Wills, Divorce and Employment), and work with our network of highly respected legal call centres in the UK.

Coinciding with radical changes in the legal services industry, Epoq’s legal solutions have reached maturity at a critical time. In the UK, proposed regulatory changes (under theClementi Review and The Legal Services Bill) are driving many organisations to offer legal services directly to the public and business community.

Epoq’s clients include Royal & Sun Alliance MORE TH>N, ARAG Insurance Capita Insurance Services and Thomson Legal & Regulatory. Epoq is also well known for its direct Web services including Desktop Lawyer (www.desktoplawyer.co.uk).

Rapidocs

Epoq has achieved high levels of standardisation and accessibility by developing Rapidocs®

document and form automation technology (www.rapidocs.com), which is now in its third generation. Rapidocs is fast becoming an industry standard having been adopted by leading international legal publishers, corporate legal departments and even our competitors.

Rapidocs is a sophisticated software solution that follows an advanced question and answer ‘advice’ session leading to the creation of tailored legal documents or PDF forms. Rapidocs documents and forms are designed to be published for use on the Web, CD ROM or through Call Centres.