Lost in space

A solicitor’s parable for uncertain times:

a private client partner was told by ?an unusually wicked senior partner that ?he should consider himself fired unless:

• the private client partner would guarantee to quadruple the profitability of his department (“with no extra staff”) within 12 months; and
  he could ensure all his staff would become fluent in Japanese and Chinese (“think of all the legal needs of so many ageing foreigners”), also within 12 months. ?

The private client partner thought for a moment and he accepted the challenge. “Are you mad?” asked his colleagues. “No,” said the private client partner. “There are no jobs out there and, who knows, within a year the office ogre may die, I might die, or else profits might quadruple and my staff will be able to converse fluently in Russian and Chinese.”

Short sighted

The moral of this tale is that to see things clearly you need the ability to get within close range of them. I am not sure we are quite there yet with legal services in the new era of alternative business structures, which still seem an alien environment for lawyers. Times are still highly uncertain in legal services, not least in private client, which was for so long driven by property work. It never ceases to amaze me or colleagues around the country that the continuing falls in prices and transactions happening just about everywhere are, or were until recently, so frequently ignored by the dailies. Instead they chose to refer to overall statistics supercharged by that singular and perverse distortion known as the central London market. We really seem ?to have two island nations in one.

The word on the street from lawyers, who seem to like their history books perhaps more than any other profession, is that the world’s economic policy makers are ignoring the lessons of the 1930s. That is by failing to see the need for reflation at this point rather than austerity. And that is the view of many lawyers, not a bunch especially noted for their profligacy. How the present austerity will pan out is probably more certain than the shape of legal services will take over the next ten years or so as ABS beds down. It is clearly a recipe for more crises followed by, at best, a long period of flat-lining activity as the debts built up are reduced, minus the growth, which is actually necessary to achieve debt reduction with less pain. That is not good news for the balance sheets of clients, their pensions, trusts and all the other activities law firms really need to happen so they can prosper.

Looking to the longer term, the lesson of history is that the banks will eventually be restricted by fierce regulation. That is what has always happened in the past, because the casino mentality of parts of that system is periodically shown to be utterly corrosive so far as the rest of the economy is concerned. Sometimes opening up markets does not work. But although it is often suggested that there are cycles or waves in history that we can learn from, it is a shame we rarely do. We should naturally all hope that the SRA has got outcomes-focused regulation right in a way that the FSA maybe did not.

End game

These are the ‘big things’ that individual law firms cannot control so, being practical, we typically like to get to grips with things we can actually do something about. Having recently stepped out of partnership into consultancy mode I have - apart from tackling the garden for the first time in years – been trawling the net looking at legal websites. After all, it was not a great summer and a man should engage in only so much outdoor activity. Websites are something you can control and have the added benefit of not having to cost very much.

There are many law firms with websites straight out of The Land of Dull. Some are not only dull, but serve no purpose. They become a form of due diligence package for other law firms, curious to find out where rivals have branches, whether or not others are less good looking than they are (I have always been disappointed on this issue personally) and whether or not there is anything useful to crib. What should be a cost-effective part of our marketing kit is therefore often rendered useless. Websites for law firms cannot replace relationships with law firms. They can, however, create a connection – conversations are leads so you really want to have as many as possible of the right sort.

Being a real ‘trusted adviser’ is about building long-term relationships right from the first point of contact. That contact is generally made through our receptionists or via website-based emails. So the website, its ‘feel’, its accessibility and its content should be viewed as a part of the integrated whole of our client-service process. Cherish your website and your receptionist and make that first impression really count. A website has no birthday to forget, so that also helps. The initial connection is extremely important – vital in fact – because it sets the tone for the long term, and often determines whether or not there will even be a long term.

Eagle eye

What are the most important factors to bear in mind when developing a website for your law firm?

Here are a few pointers - more will follow in next month’s column:

 

Design your website for its chosen audience. Is it young? Is it rich? Is it older people and their families? Every bit of style and content must consistently bear this in mind.

 

 

Avoid obvious stock pictures which add nothing to your proposition.

 

 

Reject all stereotypical images of lawyers and clients. For example, not all lawyers wear Armani suits, have inch-deep suntans and highly toned bodies. Nor do all the over-50s sit in high-seat chairs with weirdly jolly smiles on their faces despite also having obvious walking-related disabilities.

 

 

Avoid tired-looking logos and banners which link law firms to the legal past, to anything negative or to something of no relevance to your work. The image of a judge with a black cap and gavel is invariably inappropriate.

 

 

Keep it simple. Always ensure a website is fast, unfussy, quick, easy to navigate and highly readable.

 

 

Think poor-quality receiving technology. Don’t assume everyone has an up-to-date PC with the brainpower of HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Avoid things which slow down accessibility. We all click off websites that take more than split seconds to download.

 

 

Focus. Make sure you know what the interests, issues and needs of your target group really are. Don’t make assumptions. Think it through carefully - take expert advice if you cannot get out of ‘lawyer think’ mode.

 

 

Test your website on innocent volunteers who have no vested interest in your firm. Try it out on a few good clients. Maybe use it as an opportunity to build your relationship with key clients.

 

 

Add value. A good website should contain user-friendly, jargon-free material which is of real value to the target client group.

 

 

Information should not be of a technical nature unless you are only addressing a notably technical market, for example, lawyer-to-lawyer stuff. Keep sentences short and self explanatory. n