Matching legal service providers and consumers

As one of the first non-lawyers to found and head up a UK law firm, I have hands-on experience of running and growing legal businesses. And, as something of an outsider looking in, ?I have a clear vision of what the profession must do to keep up with consumer demands and ensure future growth. 

While looking to the likes of Uber, Airbnb, and Tinder may seem frivolous, we can learn ?a lot from their phenomenal success and their ability to understand the wants and ?needs of their customers.

What these sites do is provide customers with easy access to a whole host of vetted suppliers who offer transparent information about the services they offer, so that the customer can make informed decisions based on facts.

With an online dating service, individuals are vetted to establish what they are looking for and what they can bring to the party; they share their likes, their dislikes, and what’s most important to them; and some sophisticated software with thousands of built-in algorithms then provide a number of potential matches for the individual to choose from.

Far from simply providing ?a random list of likely suitors, these dating sites bring together well-matched individuals – in fact, many offer money-back guarantees for failed matches.

We believe we can do pretty much the same thing when it comes to matching legal service providers and customers.

Online platforms

People increasingly buy services through online platforms and comparison websites. A decade ago, it was inconceivable that people would choose their insurance brokers through ?a comparison site, but the ?likes of Compare The Market ?and MoneySuperMarket have transformed the way consumers shop for such services.  

Only four years ago, Shop Direct (which includes brands such as Littlewoods and Very) didn’t sell via mobile devices, ?but in June 2015 it reported that 60 per cent of its sales came from mobile – proof that we ignore the changing technology landscape at our peril.

Consumers are now savvier about where they buy things. Thanks to the digital revolution, people shop around and buy from different places – not only online, but evidently in traditional retail too, given the shrinking ?of the big supermarkets and the rise of local convenience stores. 

The same applies to legal services, especially in the commercial market, where business owners will use different law firms for different work. 

The Law Superstore enables the unbundling trend to accelerate and drive new enquiries to partners who previously may have struggled to compete. Our own research revealed that 79 per cent of people would happily use a ?legal services comparison site, and we didn’t only interview Generation Y.

However, I appreciate we’re ?not selling a taxi ride or a ?holiday home, and that levels ?of professional advice will vary between cases. This is why ?we will be helping providers to standardise their basic services ?to ensure that consumers can compare like-for-like services, and why we have a built-in function to allow for the complexity of cases. 

There is greater competition among lawyers for visibility online and demand from customers to be able to access legal services with greater ease and transparency. And that ease and transparency will not only help consumers to choose providers based on what’s important to them, but it will ?help to attract new consumers ?to use legal services. 

According to the Legal Services Board’s 2015-18 strategic plan, there needs to be a focus on unlocking the significant ‘access gap’ of consumers not using legal services when they should, estimated to be worth billions of pounds annually. The research indicates that 50 per cent of individuals will experience a legal issue at least once every three years, yet only 20 per cent will use a lawyer, and nearly 40 per cent ?of small and medium-sized businesses will encounter a legal problem each year, but fewer than 20 per cent will seek advice from a regulated lawyer. 

The launch of the Law Superstore has generated debate and even raised alarm bells. Some fear it will undermine the profession and could force ?a race to the bottom, but this won’t be the case, given the sophisticated technology now available to us. 

So, with such obvious potential to create new business opportunities for providers, maybe it wasn’t such madness ?to take our lead from friends ?in black cabs, holiday homes, and dating services after all.

Matthew Briggs is CEO of the Law Superstore @LawSuperstore www.thelawsuperstore.co.uk