Why LawStore poses a threat to QualitySolicitors

By David Green, Managing Partner, MTA Solicitors

More than five years ago, we could see the writing on the wall. The legal landscape was changing and we realised that we could either sit by and watch or create something different by diversifying. So we decided to try something new.

In November 2010, we launched the LawStore concept in the Glades Shopping Centre near our firm’s Bromley headquarters. The aim was to boost our local profile and clientele.

LawStore’s focus is on providing consumers with immediate access to lawyers. It is a simple affair, with a small reception area and consultation area behind. We have clinics for different areas of law every day and, should someone just drop in and need help there and then, we can have someone over the road in a matter of minutes.

It is a different approach and we had to hold our nerve – we could have given up after a few months, but now the business more than covers its costs and is achieving its goals. I think the growing media coverage of alternative business structures is helping people to understand that there are new ways to access legal services.

Growth plans

We have learned some lessons. A stand in the middle of a shopping centre can make potential clients nervous because they don’t want to be discussing their legal problems in such an exposed space. While LawStore lawyers started off wearing branded polo shirts, they have since reverted to suits, because that’s what people expect from lawyers.

So now we are looking to grow the concept with the help of other law firms. There are so many challenges facing the profession – and particularly those operating in the personal injury market with the impending ban on referral fees – that this is truly the time to stand together. That kind of cooperation has never been a great strength of law firms, but if ever there was a time to do it, it is now.

We plan to open branches in Cambridge, London and Manchester in the coming months, and are offering other law firms around the country the chance to join a panel to receive referrals through the unique combination of the LawStore website, contact centre and shops, which they can also help set up and run.

There is potential to have a branch in every region where we have panel firm members. However, we will only open these where it is viable to do so and it will be dependent upon customer needs and panel firms.

Whether or not there is a physical presence, it presents the opportunity to become part of a national network of law firms, providing direct support and assistance to people and businesses who need legal assistance of all types.

Some services can and will be provided remotely – the website is powered by the DirectLaw document assembly software – but the big idea is to combine a national brand with local representation, which is why we need panel firms.

The website will include pages for each participating firm, distributing enquiries on the basis of region and skill set. Our call centre, which is open until 9pm, will do the same with telephone enquiries. We will emphatically not cherry pick.

The key to ensuring this will be complete transparency. Each customer will be given the opportunity to choose a solicitor or ask LawStore to find a solicitor for them. When we are asked to choose, it will be based strictly on location and areas of legal work; it is important that firms receive enquires meant for them or enquiries they can handle in their region. Every firm will be treated equally, subject to expertise and volume restrictions.

However, we will only work with firms that can prove they are financially stable and that can sign up to certain minimum service standards, such as contacting the client within an hour of us passing on their details during office hours.

For the time being, panel membership is free: there will be no fee sharing or referral fees. This will not be the case forever, but we have delayed finalising the financial structure until we see the shape of the market after the referral fee ban has come into force. The priority at the moment is building confidence in the brand.

Crucially for those who have been put off the likes of QualitySolicitors, firms are not required to adopt LawStore branding or pricing – although we will discuss it if they want to – but they will not be allowed to undercut LawStore. We will encourage, but not demand, fixed fees, which I believe are the only viable way forward in the longer term.

Ultimately, this is about like-minded and good-quality law firms standing together against new competition, building public awareness and making ourselves accessible, while not compromising our individual values and independence.

Only two firms in each area (split by postcode) will be able to join the panel – unless demand requires more – and current firms cannot assist customers. Panel firms will also have access to our support businesses at preferential rates.

Firms that have signed up so far include Kent law firm Judge & Priestly and specialist London-based litigation practice Taylor Hampton – well known at the moment for its involvement in the phone-hacking scandal.

I want MTA, and indeed the other firms that join the panel, to put their destinies in their own hands. Alternative business structures and the referral fee ban represent significant risks to our future and the best way to address these threats is to face them head on.

We believe in diversification and are practising what we preach. I hope that other law firms will see the sense and value in what we are doing, because together we will surely be stronger.

david.green@mtasolicitors.com