Hair today, gone tomorrow

What do hairdressers and lawyers have in common? No, it’s not the start of a joke (if you feel compelled to send in a punchline, tweet us at @SJ_weekly and we’ll publish the best ones), but a question that got me thinking about how the profession is perceived by clients and consumers.

If you’ve been to a hairdresser recently, by which I don’t mean the high street barber but one of those places that serves you a drink and has a library of well-thumbed ‘style’ magazines, you may have had a difficult decision to make. 

 No longer able to request a short back and sides with a common or garden snipper, you undergo a booking-in process to ensure you don’t come out looking like an early ‘80s version of Toyah Wilcox (and if you don’t know who Toyah is, think Miley Cyrus with even less concern for her appearance).

Once you have determined whether you have long or short hair, and are a man or a woman, you are then asked if it’s for a wash, cut, blow dry, style, restyle, trim (or any combination thereof), all of which attract a different pricing structure. 

Long gone are the days of requesting a male or female hairdresser. You are now asked which level of hair professional you would like to fondle your follicles. There’s the trainee, the apprentice, the stylist, and the senior stylist. Maybe a director, or if you’re feeling flush, a creative director, or even an image consultant.

The problem with all of this is that if you book an appointment without any awareness of the world you are entering, you will inevitably and unwittingly end up with the most expensive hair overhaul of your life.

But what does all this have to do with lawyers? Without experience in the legal market, is there any surprise that prospective clients are turned away when faced with a barrage of options when making a call or looking online for legal services? As partners work later into life, career progression has become less obvious. This has led to the creation of new roles and job titles. I am often asked, what is a ‘legal director’?

In reality, it can be difficult to explain to professional colleagues, let alone clients. The difference between associates, assistants, senior associates, managing associates, solicitors, senior solicitors, supervising solicitors, directors, members, non-member partners, partners, and consultants (many of which are listed on the Law Society’s ‘find a solicitor’ website, each without any consistency or definition), make it difficult to know what you are getting and, importantly, how much it may cost.

Is it time for the Law Society to step in, or for the Legal Services Board (LSB) to regulate how lawyers describe themselves? Seeking the advice of a lawyer is a big step for many individuals or businesses and no matter how much the Law Society promotes the importance of ‘using a solicitor’, it will have little impact if we no longer choose that brand to represent ourselves.

Kevin Poulter, editor at large #SJPOULTER | editorial@solicitorsjournal.co.uk