Has the Deliveroo for legal services arrived?

The term 'disruptor' certainly sticks in my craw when used in the same sentence as 'legal services'. How many times have we heard that an innovative new service is set to be unleashed on the marketplace? Well, if my inbox is any yardstick, then revolutionary developments are occurring on a daily basis. Yet, when you dig below the surface of a press release, there is often little to get excited about.

By and large, the profession is resistant to change. So much so, it is becoming clichéd to say as such. There is an increasing number of individual lawyers and some legal businesses that are thinking outside the box, while many more just talk a good talk when it comes to innovation. Unfortunately, in most cases, big plans designed to change the way lawyers work can quickly be diluted by senior partners paralysed by fear of risk or by a failure to see any instant return on an investment.

It was with all this in mind, that I approached this week's LHS Solicitors 'real law, made easy' launch with trepidation. Would I be subjected to yet another presentation of the bleeding obvious by a group of lawyers who think that communicating with 'customers' via the medium of email was a game-changer? Would I find myself impressed by naked ambition only to find the fabled project binned when it didn't reap the expected rewards a month or two down the line?

The location of the event - the Walkie Talkie building, where the alternative business structure (ABS) law firm shares an office with its paymaster, US insurance giant Markel - quickly dispelled any illusion that this would be just another run of the mill PR event. Instead of a tired sales pitch over a tired boardroom table or florescent-lit conference room, LHS's clients, honoured guests, and more than a few fellow legal hacks, were treated to an assault on the senses.

From somewhat garish coloured gin cocktails to avant-garde finger food attached to feather-filled balloons and a questionably flavoured edible mist, which I can only assume was not on the government's list of 'legal highs' - what a story that could have made - to strobe lighting and crackling thunder effects, the whole event had the feel of a Heston Blumenthal orgy, rather than a stereotypical law firm shindig.

In addition to LHS's managing director, the assembled crowd heard from the firm's head of business legal services, Merlie Calvert, who has clearly been the driving force behind plans to disrupt - there's that word again - the legal landscape. Also presenting at the event was Deliveroo founder William Shu, and it was clear that the ABS law firm is angling to create the same sort of waves in the legal marketplace as the high-end delivery service has made on the takeaway food sector.

Unlike some legal businesses, LHS does not seem to be suffering from delusions of grandeur. It is not targeting a top 100 spot anytime soon. Its new client offering is not designed as a panacea to all that ails the industry. It is not trying to create the kind of nationwide brand recognition that Slater and Gordon attempted with what must now be seen as an ill-fated and wasted attempt to buy customer loyalty.

LHS, which was created by the full merger of Abbey Legal Services with Lewis Hymanson Small in April 2015, is still a young firm. It will obviously take time to make its mark, although its success to date is noteworthy. There are similar services out there to what it is now offering. Some are even cheaper. But its offering - and the way it has been marketed - has certainly put the firm on a watch list for those interested in the next big thing. Am I excited for the future of LHS? Let's just say I'm intrigued to see where it goes from here.

John van der Luit-Drummond is deputy editor for Solicitors Journal john.vanderluit@solicitorsjournal.co.uk | @JvdLD