Standing out: how to make your mark as a virtual lawyer
After ten years as a solicitor in a real-life office, Mike Scutt has stepped into the virtual world. With his head in the Cloud and feet on the ground, he talks about the challenges of working remotely and offering a service that clients want to buy
Since the Legal Services Act came into force, the structure and appearance of the profession has been under unprecedented scrutiny. Even now, roughly two years after alternative business structures came into being, the future of the profession is as unclear as ever. Will the high street wither and die? Will the large brands take over?
At the end of March this year, licences had been awarded to 137 businesses that wanted to trade as an ABS. The internecine squabbling between regulators continues and the chair of the Legal Services Board states that the future is for all the regulators, including his own organisation, to be swept away and replaced by one all-encompassing super-regulator.
The whole sector is in turmoil, battered by recession, regulation and a lack of direction. Aside from regulation (and the intricacies of COLPs and COFAs) there has been more focus on how many law firms are viable, following the high profile collapse over the last few years of businesses like Cobbetts, Atteys, Blakemores and Halliwells. The SRA had used 10 per cent of its annual intervention budget by the end of this year's first quarter, and there were fears that 48 more firms were in intensive care.
For many firms it is a struggle just to stay afloat, let alone plan how to navigate the choppiest seas seen for many years.
Just over four months ago I jumped ship and left the niche City employment law practice where I had been for ten years and decided to start afresh. I joined a virtual law practice, which means that I work via cloud-based computing, mainly from home. It is a radical change to the way I have practiced law since qualifying 20 years ago and to judge from some of the reactions I get at networking meetings, it challenges others too. I have had to rethink how I approach work and how I gain new clients. It has challenged me because in going to networking meetings I have had to address the hardest question that most solicitors will face - why should that potential client instruct me? At first you think the answer is easy - because of experience and qualifications, but that does not tend to cut the mustard. Most clients expect their lawyers to have both in spades. Neither does being friendly or professional or offering free initial interviews: everyone is or does that. Just how do you stand out from the crowd?
What I am learning (and I confess I thought I knew this) is that law firms need to approach this issue from the point of view of the client. That means standing in their shoes and evaluating what it is you do that is of benefit to them. What information does the client need to make the decision to instruct? Can you see the buying decision from their point of view? Many might scoff at this but when every law firm says it offers friendly, professional, high-quality advice how is the lay client to decide? Free car parking or being open on Saturday morning might be the deciding factors. Being friendly and accessible is de rigeur - who markets themselves on the basis that they are miserable and unapproachable? - but it is no point being friendly and approachable if prospective clients cannot afford your services. Corporate clients may well be looking for more than convenient car parking from their legal advisers, but do you know what they want? Have you asked them? Concerns over fees are bound to be near the top of most lists.
Client knowledge
Quality Solicitors latest advertising campaign is aimed squarely at this issue and sets out to try and get clients -individuals and businesses - to "love their lawyer". The route to this is to offer Saturday opening, free first advice, a promise there will be no hidden costs, direct contact with a lawyer and same day response - but it's not us building client confidence. Undoubtedly trying to build client confidence with these service standards is an important step, especially for a business that aims to be a high street presence.
After all, most big retail brands offer some sort ?of consumer guarantee - why should law firms ?not follow that lead? But, better communications and building trust with your clients is only part of the solution.
The service that is being offered has to be financially viable for the business and is having a presence on the high street, with expensive rents and business rates, the way forward?
Riverview Law, the business and divorce law firm that was set up in 2011 aggressively offers its services based on offering fixed prices and keeping costs low. They do this by utilising technology and not having expensive premises in order to offer a competitively priced service. Its lawyers are not rewarded by achieving billable hours targets, which has been the standard for model for law firms for many years but by reaching customer service targets.
However, the "killer app" in my view is the client portal, containing over 650 pages of advice and 450 documents, which allow clients to access legal information as part of the package offered to them. That provides real value to clients, gives them the ability to help themselves and develop an ongoing relationship rather than just a one-off instruction. It strikes me as being to the legal profession what the supermarket was to retail in the 1960s: people liked being able to browse and select what they wanted without having to deal with a shop assistant.
A search on Google can unearth any item of information on, probably, any subject in the world. That cannot be controlled, but a law firm providing access to its own library of information at least has the opportunity to showcase its expertise by providing a wiki-type portal. It will also generate business because a client may well seek the law firm's opinion or assistance on the subject having conducted an initial review and having realized they do not have the skills or the nerve to complete the task themselves.
The power of this has been demonstrated in the USA where LegalZoom.com has come to dominate the market for online document creation services in such areas as wills, estates, leases and business formation. In October 2012 Quality Solicitors announced a tie-in with LegalZoom to offer the same service here.
Another online legal services provider, Rocket Lawyer, part owned by Google itself, is another similar online business which enables clients to obtain legal advice. When you think of how the retail sector has been "disrupted" (to put it mildly) by the internet, why should legal services be any different? Technology is making it possible.
Low overheads
An only slightly-less radical solution offered by the use of technology is demonstrated by the growth in the number of cloud-based "virtual" law firms, such as Excello Law (for whom I work) where the internet is used to allow the lawyer to work from wherever they happen to be.
I have swapped my office in Lombard Street for a spare bedroom at home. I go into London when I need to meet clients, but why have the overhead of a city-centre location 24/7 when there is no need? Overheads are slashed, meaning a more competitive deal can be offered to clients.
Virtual law firms are networks of lawyers, not franchises, each member connected only by technology. There are no partners or employees in this model: every individual is self-employed and remunerated via what they bill themselves. The umbrella firm takes a percentage of what the solicitor bills and that takes care of insurance, stationery, IT and so on, leaving the lawyer free to carry on fee earning.
When I need to meet with someone, there is usually a Regus or other serviced office that can be used. Some people find it a slightly odd scenario but can see the benefits when it is explained to them; lower overheads means a lower bill.
Losing touch
High street lawyers might complain that this emphasis on technology and working remotely distances lawyers from their clients.
I disagree for two reasons. Firstly, if anything virtual working takes you nearer to the client.
With the virtual lawyer model the solicitor goes to the client's premises or meets them at a mutually convenient location, which could even be a coffee shop. With the near ubiquity of the internet do you need to have a permanent high profile presence on the high street?
More to the point, can you afford to? Secondly, the best form of business referral is personal recommendation and you do not have to be sitting in an office to get that.
Many clients may be rather more impressed ?by a solicitor that comes to them and demonstrates Sir Jack Cohen's business maxim "YDDBSOYA"- "You don't do business sitting on your arse."
He transformed the retail sector by founding Tesco, which was radical because it gave customers a choice and enabled them to help themselves.
That is what virtual law firms, particularly ?those like LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer, ?offer clients in the 21st century. In the new environment law firms need to be trusted ?advisers and if you can achieve that status it doesn't matter if you practice from a city centre location or a back bedroom - but can you ?get there?
Mike Scutt is a solicitor at ?Excello Law