(This is an article which was first published in the Internet Newsletter)

The internet is becoming increasingly important for all businesses and law is not exempt from this.

I have been fascinated by the Internet ever since I discovered, on buying my first computer when setting up as a sole practitioner in 1994, that there was this thing called the internet, where computers could talk to each other through telephone lines.

I truly believe that over the next 100 years it will bring in changes of the same magnitude as those brought in by the development of the printing press and the telegraph. Already we are able to collaborate with colleagues in real time wherever they are in the world; blogging allows us all to be journalists and the growing popularity of ebooks allows us all to become publishers.

In this new world, the sole practitioner solicitor has a big advantage over his colleagues in larger firms. He (or in my case she) can develop new ideas and services without having to get them past hostile partners. My partnership meetings (of one) are invariably harmonious and generally productive!

If you have a good idea, it is possible, if you have the right skills or a good web designer, to get it online within days or in some cases, hours.

So how can the sole practitioner (or small firm lawyer) take advantage of the opportunities presented by the internet?

The membership site

I set up my membership site, Landlord Law ten years ago. At that time, I had to get bespoke software specially written, but nowadays membership sites can be built fairly easily from open source software such as WordPress and Drupal (the software Landlord Law uses).

If you are a techie, you may even be able to create your own site, using WordPress and plugins. There are courses online to help you do this sort of thing.

What can you provide in a membership site? My site, Landlord Law, is aimed at landlords, tenants, letting agents and housing advisors. The services provided fall into the following groups:

• Information – e.g. FAQ, articles and the like
• Documents – tenancy agreements, notices, standard letters etc
• One to one help – principally provided via the members discussion forum but I also ‘sell’ fixed fee telephone and written advice
• Casework. I offer standard repossession work, for fixed fees.

When Landlord Law was launched in 2001 case work was the biggest part of my income. Now it is the membership subscriptions which are more important.

I am lucky in having a small discrete area of law which lends itself to this subscription service model. However it is not the only one. Have a think about your practice. Is there any specific area where clients would appreciate (and pay for) an online service to keep them up to date?

Where you could also provide precedent documents and give some quick advice in a forum? Most people don’t want a great long written opinion, they just want a quick pointer, or perhaps a bit of reassurance that they are on the right path. You can do this really easily in a forum – and your answers will also help the other members and enrich the site generally.

An online instruction facility for basic case work is also worthwhile. For standard repossession cases it is not necessary for clients to come in and talk to me about it. All they need to do is give details and send over the documents so I can get on with it. My service also requires payment in advance. This means no bad debts which is a considerable saving in time and irritation.

Some case work requires more client contact than this of course, but I expect you do at least some work which would fit this model.

Blogging

It is no good just putting up a membership site and expecting hundreds of members. You have to market it and one of the best ways to do this is with a blog.

When people are considering paying for a service, they like to know a bit about the person or company providing it. A blog lets you show that you ‘know your stuff’ and are a suitable person to help them.

It will also help raise your profile generally, in particular in the search engines. Inevitably your articles will have ‘keywords’ relevant to your service, making you easy to find for someone searching for information in your niche.

There is a lot of writing involved in keeping a blog though. You also need to write in an ‘easy’ style which ordinary people will understand. You don’t want to come across as a pompous fusty lawyer type, as this will put people off.

(Note, you can see my ‘professional blog’ Landlord Law Blog here.

Audio and video

Writing is not the only option. You can record and publish audio ‘podcasts’. This is surprisingly easy to do, and the podcasts can be promoted via your blog and registered on itunes. People can then subscribe and download your podcasts regularly.

Lots of people enjoy listening to podcasts, for example in the car, while walking the dog, at the gym etc. Through listening to your voice regularly they will come to feel they know you, making you an obvious choice if they need legal help.

Or what about ‘vlogging’ – Video blogging? If you have a camcorder you can set this up on a tripod and speak to the nation regularly, updating them with news and comment on your niche. This can easily be published on your blog. You can also set up your own Your Tube channel and publish it there. It’s really not that difficult.

Twitter

People often think twitter must be silly, because of its name, and how can you say anything sensible in 140 characters? Actually you would be surprised but that’s not the point. If you have a blog, you need a twitter account because it is an important way to promote your blog posts.

A vast amount of twitter traffic consists of people either publishing a ‘tweet’ about their new blog post, or recommending (or ‘re-tweeting’) someone else’s blog post. You need to become a part of this. It needn’t take a lot of time (although it can do if you are not careful).

As a sole practitioner you have an advantage in that you can tweet for your business under your own name. People like to follow a real person with a real photo in their twitter profile.

Let’s talk technical

Blogs are quite easy to set up. You can set up a blog using the free Google software on Blogger in a couple of hours. However if you are serious about blogging it is best to have a self hosted blog, maybe as part of your firm website.

WordPress is the most popular blogging software. Many web hosting companies provide it for free and you can install it with just a couple of clicks. You then need to customise it with a ‘theme’ to give it an individual look.

I use a brilliant premium theme called Headway (affilate link), which has a ‘visual editor’ allowing you to change the appearance of your site without using code. You can further customise your blog with bits of add on software called ‘plugins’ of which there are thousands, for all kinds of purpose.

Or you can just commission your web designer to create a bespoke website and leave it at that, but I find that half the fun is messing about and tweaking my site.

Newsletters

As well as writing your blog, and giving out useful nuggets of information to your followers on twitter, you should produce a regular newsletter.

This performs a number of functions. It keeps you in the forefront of your clients mind, making you (hopefully) the obvious choice for legal work if they need it. You can also use it to sell your services and any products you may decide to produce (see later).

However remember that it is all too easy for people to consign your newsletter to the spam folder. Once this is done, all future newsletters will go there automatically, so they simply won’t see them. Try not to do anything which would make them want to do this.

If you decide to set up a newsletter it is a good idea to use one of the specialist companies such as Constant Contact, Aweber or Mailchimp. If you are worried about producing content there are firms out there who will do this for you, such as www.words4business.com.

Be your own publisher

If you write a book nowadays, you do not need to worry about publishers. You can do it yourself! With the growing popularity of kindle, ipad and other ebook readers, people are increasingly buying ebooks rather than paper books, and they are not hard to create.

The ebook can either be given away for free, maybe as an incentive to get people to sign up to your mailing list, or be sold via your website to form an extra income stream.

Many people sell their ebooks using an online service called ‘e-junkie’ which is fairly easy to use and very cheap. Alternatively you can add a shopping cart to your blog or website. You will need one which will allow you to sell digital downloads.

I have set up a whole new ecommerce business recently with my web designer specifically to sell my ebooks and kits, which we produce ourselves called Your Law Store. This has already started to make a modest profit

Conclusion

With the ever increasing complexity of our world, people are crying out for easy ways to understand information about the regulations which affect their daily lives. Lawyers are the best people to provide this. The internet is the perfect medium for providing it, promoting it, and selling it.

If you are a sole practitioner who likes writing, has keyboard skills and enjoys messing around with computers, the world is your oyster!

The British blawg / law blog

Welcome to the June 2011 UK Blawg review, a quarterly round up of British Blawgs (legal blogs) and discussion.

In the last Blawg Reivew, Brian Inkster took the past as his theme. Speaking from his newly materialised Time Blawg, he took us on a journey back into the mists of 2006 (or even earlier), before whisking us back again to see where those original bloggers were today.

Today I am going to see if the UK Blawg time rotor can give us a peek into the future. One of the things I will be looking at is whether blogs are just a frivolous fancy, or whether they can be a serious support to a law practice.

Because this is the year when everything changes. Deregulation is coming in October (2011) as the Legal Services Act 2007 finally comes into force. Lawyers (they say) are going to be forced to do things differently. Will blogging be a part of this new future?

I start with a serious and thought provoking post, the time is now from Viv Williams on Legal Futures which discusses the problems raised by deregulation and the options available to law firms. Well worth reading if you are a law firm principal. We all need to think about these things.

But back to blogging.

#Lawblogs

Blogging inspires passion among its practitioners, and there have been several law blog events, none of which sadly I have been able to attend (living as I do in the wilds of Norfolk – or Norwich as many people call it). The most recent event took place on 19 May 2011 and had as its theme the future of legal blogging.

It appears to have been well attended and was reported online by Siobhain Butterworth of the Guardian who commented that “blawgs seems to be in blossom”. (It was also reported in the Times but I can’t show you that as it is behind their paywall).

The event brought forth an interesting crop of blogs on what the future of legal blogging might be.

James Wilson writing on Halsburys Law Exchange  feels that legal blogging ensures more debate about the rules that govern us, and keeps better scrutiny on those who make and enforce them, which has to be a good thing

Adam Wagner writing on the UK Human Rights Blog  is more concerned about the ethical side of blogging – do lawyers have a duty to correct errors in the press about legal cases, and explain the law to the general public?

Law student Dylan White found the event inspiring and thinks that the current crop of law students is the future of blogging

Emily Albon writing on Lawbore Future Lawyer  thinks it is a great way for law students to show their engagement with the subject, and has many benefits to the student blogger, not least helping them find a job in due course.

But, firmly grasping the commercial nettle in his canny Scottish fist, Brian Inkster asks is law firm business development the elephant in the #LawBlogs room?  A question answered in part in the vigorous debate which followed in the comments section. Brian’s posts generally attract vigorous comments – a sign of a good blog.

So we have a number of themes identified there:

• Providing informed comment on legal topics and news items
• Educating the public
• Correcting reporting errors
• Keeping a scrutiny on law makers and enforcers
• Supporting a law firm / promoting the writer

I think I would add to that, writing for the love of it. Anybody who chooses to write a blog and keeps it up for more than a year, must enjoy writing or they wouldn’t bother with it.

So lets go look at British law bloggers blogs and see what they are doing.

The top ten blogs of 2011

Where can we find law blogs? One place I discovered recently is Cisions list of top ten Law Blogs.  Cisions is a resource for PR and communications professionals – lets see which blogs they put at the top. In reverse order:

No 10 is Pangloss from Lillian Edwards, Professor of E-Governance at The Law School of Strathclyde University who writes on online privacy and security law, cybercrime, online intermediary law, etc etc. Recent posts include Do you want to know a secret about twitter and superinjunctions and Return of the Robots! and Hay on Wye Festival! which looks at re-drawing (Sci fi writer) Asimov’s laws of robotics.

No 9 is Pink Tape – a blog from Lucy Read of the family bar. She covers all manner of things, from a talk by HH Judge Bellamy (not y’know, the wildlife bloke, but the other one), to legal blogging goes boom

No 8 is my blog - The Landlord Law Blog. Here I mostly have educational posts for landlords / tenants such as What can you do if your tenant just WON”T GO!, and comments on news items such as Tenancy Deposits – the law that never was plus there is the newish blog clinic where I publish readers problems, such as International students still waiting for their deposit after three months

No 7 is the Marilyn Stowe Blog – a very professional looking blog and the winner of the UK Blawg awards 2010 no less! This is a family law blawg – and she has recently considered what makes a good family law blogger , as well as looking at Michelle Obamas sound relationship advice and how to avoid the CSA.

No 6 is Law Actually an amusing blog from “a typically deranged law graduate, with a poor taste in blogging and too much spare time on his hands” who in between posts works in-house for a wholesale business telcoms operator. He serves up an entertaining mix of commentary such as Woman goes hyper at dunkin donuts, lawyer in waitering funds law degree by dropping trousers and the unfortunate (although probably fictitious) story of  Employees & the right to erm … play at work.

No 5 is the well respected Head of Legal blog from barrister and former government worker Carl Gardner. I can remember Head of Legal from way back in the early days of legal blogging. He comments on legal stories in the news such as can the Danes ban Marmite? and Mosely v. UK.

No 4 is the UK Human Rights Blog – from barristers chambers One Crown Office Way publishing several human rights posts daily. This blog burst upon the blawgosphere fairly recently but is up there with the best. Recent posts include  why religious freedom does not stop at the prison gate and how the police may have a duty to inform victims of phone hacking .

No 3 is Tim Kevan’s barristers blog. This is fairly self promotional at the moment with lots of posts about reviews of his book and a few sponsored posts and book reviews.

No 2 is the Magistrates Blog – another long running and very well respected blog. The Magistrates Blog is anonymous and and all names in cases are changed. A recent oddments from the front line post had a very sad and telling comment from a South London JP on the day his court closed and the insensitivity of HMCTS, and plate sin with gold looks at the nature of theft.

The top spot (cue drum roll) is taken by Charon QC, an enormously popular legal blog which has been around for a very long time. Charon QC himself apparently does not exist (so how come he does all those podcasts then?) but is a figment in the imagination of law lecturer Mike Semple Piggot.

In view of this it is perhaps not surprising that in a recent post the learned QC (or maybe his alter ego) had a few things to say about the new college of humanities. Other recent posts include episodes from the continuing story of that ever popular and ethically rock sold law firm Muttley Dastardly LLP plus various law reviews, for example on Legal tweeters on TV – Miscarriages of Justice – Politicians interfering with the judiciary?

Charon QC is probably the best known of all the legal blogs, partly because it has been around for such a long time, but mainly of course because it is a stonking good blog.

So thats the Cisions top ten for May 2011. Its also interesting to see what their top ten was the last time they reviewed law blogs in September 2009.   All of the blogs listed are still going (albeit some maybe in a slightly different format).

The top ten blogs of 2009

Here the countdown was as follows:

No 10 – PJH Law – an employment law blog, rather difficult to find from their sites home page, recent posts include wasted costs – acting in pursuit of profit and payment in lieu

No 9 – Family Lore from John Bloch – John is a long established and well known family law blogger, and I was surprised not to see him in the 2011 list. I have a soft spot for Family Lore as it was reading this which inspired me to start blogging way back in 2006. Recent posts include one on how divorces can be aimiable and one about a considerably less amiable couple spying on each other on facebook His blog is also home to the family law wiki.

No 8 – Yay! Me again! – Landlord Law Blog

No 7 - Current awareness from the Inner Temple Library. This seems to be mostly extracts from online news reports and links to them. Looks like it could be a good source of stories for the law humour blogs.

No 6 – the Barrister Blog (Tim Kevan) again

No 5 – Nearly Legal. I know the Nearly Legal blog very well as it deals with my area of law, ie Landlord and Tenant, although NL covers all the social housing cases whereas I just do the private sector. Nearly Legal himself is actually a good example of how writing a blog can help with your career. He started it back in 2006 while unqualified (hence ‘nearly legal’) and has since qualified and works now at a good London legal aid firm (I was going to say a quality firm but that word is now perhaps best avoided).

Nearly Legal is now written by a team of solicitors and barristers (including the original NL) and provides what is more or less a legal reporting service on case law in the housing area. It is hugely respected and rightly so. Generally the reporting is straight and serious, but I commend to you Hot tub lovin’, the Daily Mail and Article 8 (don’t ask) and Oh Cluck where NL considers setting up a specialist hen and rabbit practice.

No 4 – panGLos (as aforesaid)

No 3 – Baby Barrista from Tim Kevan – formerly in the Times but now (since the paywall came in)  in the Guardian and on its own site here. This as everyone will know is the account of a fictional junior barrister. Recently he has been considering selling off the Inns of court and upholding the rule of law.

No 2 – Binary Law from publishing consultant Nick Holmes (who also produces, with Delia Venables, the excellent Internet Newsletter and who initiated the Free Legal Web). Nick has probably been blogging longer than any of us, as he set up in February 2004!   Nick tends to concentrate on publishing related posts such as Innovations in law publishing and the death of (some) print but of particular interest to us today is his post Too many #LawBlogs?

The no. 1 post in 2009 was the excellent  Magistrates Blog, so not a lot of change there as it is No 2 now.

Some more blogs

A few (well quite a lot really) other notable blogs I need to mention are as follows

The Jack of Kent blog, from London lawyer and writer provides intellectual comment on the news, with some philosophical musing thrown in. Posts range from legal gags on Wikileaks to whether Pippa Middleton should have a page on Wikipedia (answer, yes).

Trouble Ahead from Mike Scutt is specifically about UK legal services deregulation. Recent posts include the The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Legal Services Act and countdown to the LSA where he provides a handy list of acronyms.

Mike also blogs as Jobsworth on his legal specialism Employment law where he asks whether the government should cap discriminaton awards and whether stressed workers are more at risk of redundancy.

Legaleaglemhm is from Scottish law student Michelle containing her diary of a trainee solicitor.  A recent post includes Legaleaglemhm TOP TIPS for Law EXAM revision

Julian Summerhayes is a solicitor turned coach / consultant and blogs about legal practice and social media. Recent posts include why lawyers hate the telephone and people learning and development

In house lawyer looks at how lawyers can uses social media to best effect, for example looking at what Linkedin map says about Linkedin and reflecting on contract law

Alrichs weblog from journalist Alan Rich looks at legal related items in the news such as the Jonathan Sumption debacle and Privacy, human rights, horizontality and the issue of judicial underwear

Steven Mather has a rather snazzy blog which covers legal, mediation and geeky issues among others.  He is asking if chimps are more intelligent than most under 16s and looks at Ken Clarke’s plans for compulsory mediation of small claims.

piBlawg from 1 Chancery Lane covers personal injury issues eg we are the village green preservation sociey, God save Donald Duck, vaudeville and variety and the fashon for fraud

The William Flack Blog is another housing law blog from social welfare lawyer William Flack, who is wondering if the telephone gateway to legal aid services is a good thing and has a few thoughts on Sharon Shoesmiths sucessful appeal. William has also set up a social welfare law wiki

Paul Hajek’s Clutton Cox site has a number of different property related blogs, for example a post on setting up home with an unmarried partner and the perils of undervalued probate properties

Legal 2.0 is from Jon Busby, Business Development Director at Epoq Legal. He wants to know if you want the truth or somethig beautiful and talks about how legal tech can do much more than make you accessible (well he would wouldn’t he?)

The LegalBratBlawg is from Tim Bratton general counsel at the Financial Times, who has recently looked at the case for self regulation – however I found his white font on dark background blog very difficult to read – am I alone in this?

John Floods Random Academic Thoughts is another long established blog, recently he has been telling us that we might not have realised that the world was ending,  and looking at risk management in from father confessor to compliance officer

Law and lawyers from Obiter J looks at legal issues in the news and is currently running a very helpful series our law and the legal system, the most recent post being on the Judges

The Bizzie is an in house lawyer who has been considering how aliens can help you write off your debts and the state of the union

Motoring lawyers online blog supports Steve Williams online motoring law service and discusses relevant issues such as drink drive limits to remain the same and drink driving defences

Likewise Shireen Smiths Blog supports her trademark / copyriight law practice – recent posts include twitter etiquette – twitiquette and innovation as differentiation

Jonathan Lea’s Posterious blog is more of a place where he thinks aloud – currently he is wondering if social media can replace the banks and considering the future of law firms.

Penninsulawyer is from Jon Bloor in the Wirral, where he is looking at format shifting copyright and the cloud and the differences between writing for print and screen (if you blog – just read it!).

The Pain Smith landlord and tenant blog is very well known to me, working as we do in the same field, and is full of excellent posts, and sometimes breaking news of their own cases. For instance in the Potts v. Dansley Pays case. It is also, like many blawgs, reminding people that Bailii is appealing for funds.

Finally, I would like to include a blog which I have enjoyed for some years, Technollama. The author, formerly a lecturer at University of Edinburgh School of Law has now returned to his ancestral acres in Costa Rica but as his blog remains as entertaining as ever, I venture to include it.  For example in a recent post on the internet nobody knows youre a meme he has some excellent advice for dealing with strangers on the internet.  He also wonders if we should have any expectations of privacy in the internet age.

Pause for reflection

So, having had a whistle stop tour around the legal blogosphere (with apologies to anyone who has accidentially been left out), what does it say about blogging and the future of the profession?

There is as we have seen a huge range of blogs, running from the mostly commercial, which are mainly about the authors products, to the blogs (particularly the anonymous ones) which are written purely for the love of it with no expectation of reward..

There are numerious examples of blogs dealing with all the themes identified at #lawblogs, with many blogs falling into more than one catetory. Lets take a look.

Providing informed comment on legal topics and news items

Most blogs do this to some extent or other. Some are humorous such as Law Actually, and some mainly comment on political and current news items, for example Head of Legal blog and Alrichs weblog. Others keep readers up to date in their particular field, such as the Pain Smith blog and Technolama.

Educating the public

Most blawgs consider this to be one of their main raison d’être. For example if you want to know what it is like being a Magistrate – read the Magistrates blog. If you want to know want the top human rights issues are today – read the UK Human Rights blog.  If you want to know what its like being a trainee solicitor, read LeagleagleMHM’s diary of a trainee solicitor.

For those of us who blog under our own or our firms name, it is not entirely altruistic. ‘Content marketing’ as it is called, is a proven method of marketing. It consists providing useful and helpful content to the public on the basis that it will raise the bloggers profile (and the profile of their business) and improve their chances of survival in a hostile world.

For example, my Landlord Law blog publishes a lot of educational material, as does Steve Williams Motoring lawyers online.  Then, some excellent blogs are written with lawyers as potential customers in mind, for example Julian Summerhayes and Legal 2.0 from Jon Busby.

Free Legal Web. On the theme of education, I must mention again the innovative and rather wonderful  Free Legal Web. This collects legal articles and blogs published around the blogosphere and publishes them all in one place to make life easier for the seeker after legal knowledge.

The FLW is presently concentrating on housing law, and the three main housing blogs (Nearly Legal, Pain Smith and my own – although we are not the only contributors) all have special categories on our blogs for FLW so posts can easily be uploaded to the beta housing law pilot. However I believe Nick has plans to extend FLW to other areas of law. You can read more about it all here.

Correcting reporting errors

The barristers blogs do a very good job with this, for example the Human Rights Blog and Nearly Legal (although NL has both barrister and solicitor writers). However there are sometimes restrictions on what barristers can say about their own cases – discussed by Adam Wagner on the UK Human Righsts blog here.

Keeping a scrutiny on law makers and enforcers

Lawyers blogs, due to their specialist knowledge, are well placed to do this. For example most blawgs are united in condemning the gradual dismantling over time by government of our once proud legal aid scheme. In my own area we have all been highly critical of the tenancy deposit legislation. Other niche blogs will do the same for topics in their area of expertise.

Supporting a law firm or promoting the writer

One reason why many of us blog is to support our business, and there is nothing wrong with this. But does it work?

Brian Inkster asked this question on the Time Blawg – do clients search online for a solicitor?  The answer seemed to be probably yes. My experience has been very much “yes” and Paul Hajek has also had a big success with his property blogs. It would be great if some legal bloggers could leave a comment below about the effect their blog has had on their practice.

Writing for the love of it

I suspect that this applies to most blogs, certainly the ones that last. I first started blogging because I wanted to write and express myself. It takes a lot of effort to maintain a blog – it should be something you enjoy doing – otherwise why do it?

Many of the blogs discussed above deal with things which interest the writer, and are perhaps written more for themselves or other lawyers than for clients. For example Jon Bloor’s Penninsulawyer and Brian Inkster’s Time Blawg. And indeed the blog you are on right now (or should be, unless this post has been scraped), my Solicitors Onlne blog, which I set up when I decided to limit my Landlord Law blog to landlord and tenant topics only.

We’re all publishers now

One of the wonderful things about this new interconnected world we live in, is that we can all be publishers now. Gone are the days of having to kow tow to ‘them upstairs’ for a book contract or a column in the paper. All it takes is a bit fiddling around on blogger or one of the other free providers and Bobs your uncle!

So are blogs set to grow into the future? You bet they are! As we have seen, there are masses of thriving and interesting law blogs out there covering a huge and diverse spectrum of legal topics. Their authors do not look like stopping any time soon.

But what do YOU think?  You’ll find a comment box just below…

Charles Dickens blogging photo by Mike Licht

A new year today, nay, a new decade.  2011.  A hundred years ago my grandmother was 7, in those last few years before the Great War.

I very much hope that this century we can avoid such horrors and remain, more or less, at peace.

In my life there are a number of new things.  As mentioned in a previous post, I spent most of last year getting my new Landlord Law web-site ready to launch on the world, and now I have a new toy to play with.  New things beckon, ebooks, podcasts and courses are some of the things I have in mind.  Watch this space.

On a more domestic level, I have celebrated the new year by moving my desk from one side of the office to another.  A difficult job, which has left one of the internet box thingys stranded in the middle of the floor.  The cable (our internet is cable) is too short to reach my desk now, under which the rest of the cables writhe together in decent privacy.  Apparently Virgin are going to need paying £150 to move it over to join them.

One reason for the move (the desk move that is) is to get me away from the draughts coming in through the front door and window, and closer to the fire (and thus hopefully stop my back playing up).  However I feel it also symbolises the change from one web-site to another, to new ways of working, and to new ideas and initiatives.  Towards a greater prosperity I hope.

And then today I learn that my friend and UK Lawyers collaborator Brian Inkster, has started a new blog – the Time Blawg – materialising out of the nether space to take its place among the canon of British Blawgs.  Good luck with it Brian!

This year is of course the year when everything changes in the legal profession, with the coming into force of the Legal Services Act.  None of us know yet whether it will be a bang or a whimper or just a slow burn.  But those firms with foresight are positioning themselves to move forward into the future.

So an interesting year awaits.  I have started the year as I mean to go on, by working on my new web-site and watching old Doctor Who DVDs.

What are your plans and where do you think the new year and decade will take us?

This article was first published in the Internet Newsletter.  See also the interviewes on which it was based in the posts below.

There can be very few solicitors unaware of the arrival of the Quality Solicitors brand on the legal landscape. With their pink and black colours, launch parties, and snazzy advertising, they have made an immediate impact on the High Street.

Last year I wrote an article about Quality Solicitors (QS) as part of a series on referral organisations, which at that stage is essentially what they were. Why the change? It is all down to the Legal Services Act, and the effect it will have on the market, says Craig Holt, the dynamic CEO and driving force behind the QS brand. He explains:

“When the LSA comes into effect “find a solicitor” type services will become extinct. Why? They only operate successfully now because of how fragmented the legal market is. When people need a lawyer there is no brand name they immediately think of and go to. So they have no choice other than to ask a friend or browse the Yellow Pages or go online and type in “solicitors in Liverpool” etc.

The LSA will change all this. The biggest impact will be the entry – in a wide variety of forms and demographics – of brands in the legal market. We took a decision to ensure that alongside Tesco, Virgin and Co-op , QualitySolicitors was one of those brands. In fact, our aim is for it to be the legal brand.”

So the decision was taken to alter the model of QS.

“The most effective way of establishing a new “high street” name brand alongside the banks, opticians, travel agents etc is to be amongst them and to have a national physical presence.

We therefore refined the QualitySolicitors model to be more akin to a franchise arrangement. QualitySolicitors members now actually become QualitySolicitors. They retain their name and therefore their own goodwill and reputation but brand as “QualitySolicitors [firm name]”.

It has been and is a huge undertaking. The first fifteen ‘founder members’ launched in May. How was it for the firms?

The QS firm in Brighton is Howlett Clark. Partner Warren Clarke :

“It was a massive undertaking for us. A full rebrand of our offices, website, stationary. Every facet of the business had to change. It was all done in around two months as we signed on the dotted line to become Founder Partners only in March.”

The QS firm in Wigan is Stephensons. They have a number of offices but only the Wigan office was re-branded. Partner Tom Bridge:

“Change of signage , internal branding , new uniforms for staff etc . As we deal with so many different work types we had to ensure that the staff in that office could deal with any type of enquiry across the board . A lot of training was required and a lot of input from the various worktypes”.

A lot of work then. Was it justified?  The QS firm in Hull is Lockings. Partner Richard Swaine is enthusiastic:

“Being part of the QualitySolicitors brand has, in a short time, very significantly raised our profile locally both amongst fellow professionals from other law firms and disciplines and with our existing and prospective client base. It has also given our staff a real boost and a feeling of belonging to something big new and exciting”

Tom Bridge is more cautious:

“It has not impacted massively in terms of the fees generated so far but the major benefit is that it has provided us with a lot of free publicity, it has created a lot of interest locally and has provided an opportunity to potentially work with a firm in London on a new QS retail unit in a shopping centre .”

While Warren Robertson is reserving judgment:

“It has not been a cheap undertaking! As to whether we have recouped our costs, we will not know for some time. The television advertising is due to start in September and the key time for being able to gauge the success of it will be say in six months to a years time”.

Not all the initial QS member firms will go forward to become branded QS firms. Some have decided not to take this route, others have been dropped as the QS model only allows one QS firm per town or city. Last year I spoke to Brian Inkster of Scottish firm Inksters, not one of the new branded firms. What is his firms position?

It will, he says

“depend on how well current initiatives on the part of QualitySolicitors, work out. The Legal Services (Scotland) Bill has not finished its passage through the Scottish Parliament and when it does it may well be somewhat different from the Legal Services Act in England. This could dictate if and how we rebrand in association with QualitySolicitors”

Although he would prefer ‘Inksters QualitySolicitors’, to ‘QualitySolicitors Inksters’.

So what of the future? Craug Holt again:

We are due to launch 35 new QualitySolicitors ‘branches’ next month and will have 100 nationwide before the end of the year. We have received enquiries about becoming a branded firm from over 1,000 law firms. Our aim for this time next year is for approx 250-300 ‘branches’ providing total UK coverage. We have had applications now from firms in most towns and cities however we have yet to reach decisions in most areas and therefore are happy to still receive applications.

As Warren Robertons points out, the LSA will change everything :

“being good lawyers will no longer be enough, as we will be competing with the most successful companies in the country, with bottomless pits of money, colossal marketing machines, massive retail presence, potential client databases well into the millions and at least some with an utterly ruthless approach.

But Tom Bridge has faith in the QS model establishing “a national presence in advance of the implementation of the legal service act reforms . Being part of it provides us with a vehicle to potentially compete with new entrants to the market”

What is Craig Holt’s advice then for the rest of us?

“Do something and do it now. Complacency is not an option.”

You have been warned!

With thanks to Craig Holt CEO Quality Solicitors, Warren Robertson of QualitySolicitors Howlett Clarke , Tom Bridge of QualitySolicitors Stephens, Richard Swaine of QualitySolicitors Lockings , and Brian Inkster of Inksters .

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Tom Bridge of QualitySolicitors Stephensons in Wigan, is the third of the three QualitySolicitors solicitors who provided background information for my article for the Internet Newsletter (to be published shortly). Here are his answers:

1 How would you describe your firm – very briefly

We are a foward thinking modern law firm who’s brand value is to provide legal services the way clients want them rather than the traditional model of lawyers telling clients what they can have and how it can be delivered. We are based in the north west of the country but operate across a multitude of work types nationally .

2 How did you learn about QSO?

Initially via an article in the LS Gazette and then via e mail from Craig Holt.

3 What initially attracted you to the idea?

The concept was innovative and therefore appealling to us a a firm . We had already discussed the opportunities / threats of the Legal Services Act and de-regulation.

4 Were there any aspects which were negative or worried you, before you joined up?

Not really albeit no guarantee of success . We took the view that it was a calculated risk worth taking.

5 What is the cost? Has it been recouped?

Not prepared to disclose what our membership fee is but so far have at least covered it .

6 When did your membership go ‘live’?

We have been a member since June 09 . We re-branded one of our offices in Wigan in May 10.

7 What did joining involve – was it a big shift for your firm and its staff?

Initially our membership was simply a referral agreement with membership fees . Not really any issues as we deal with numerous referrers of work across various worktypes. The referrals from QS were centralised to enable management of them more efficiently.

The re-branding exericse was a much bigger issue as it involved a complete re-branding of one of our offices. Change of signage , internal branding , new uniforms for staff etc.

More to the point as we deal with so many different work types we had to ensure that the staff in that office could deal with any type of enquiry across the board . A lot of training was required and a lot of input from the various worktypes.

8. How has being part of the QS brand impacted on your practice?

It has not impacted massively in terms of the fees generated so far ( we have only re-branded one office in one town and we are based across five major towns/ City ) but the major benefit is that it has provided us with a lot of free publicity as we have featured as part of several QS press releases and articles ( eg the wrap around on the latest LS Gazette ).

It has created a lot of interest locally and has provided an opportunity to potentially work with a firm in London on a new QS retail unit in a shopping centre.

The dedicated PI referral scheme will hopefully be a valuable source of PI work once it commences.

9 Are there any unexpected benefits/plus points?

The publicity mentioned above and the potential opportunities that have been created .

10 Are there any downsides?

Not really . Some people on some internet forums have been cynical / critical of QS but that is to be expected as the legal profession are generally resistant to change .

11. Are there any other points you would like to make about the service?

It is a new innovative brand with a real chance of establishing a national presence in advance of the implementation of the legal service act reforms.

Being part of it provides us with a vehicle to potentially compete with new entrants to the market who may well have an existing brand image and large sums of money to finance new ventures.

It is not the only option but we feel it is one which hasa great chance of success and being part of it can only help to safeguard our position

*****

Ton Bridge kindly answering my questions back in August 2010.

Warren Robertson of QualitySolicitors Howlett Clarke in Brighton, is the second of the three QualitySolicitors solicitors who provided background information for my article for the Internet Newsletter (to be published shortly). Here are his answers:

1. How would you describe your firm – very briefly

We are a medium high street practice with two offices covering Brighton & Hove. We act for both private individuals and commercial clients. Established in 1773, the oldest firm in the area.

2. How did you learn about Quality Solicitors?

There was a small front page article about Quality Solicitors in the Law Society Gazette. Being a sceptic I assumed they were yet another middle man company simply looking to cream off the profession but my interest was tweaked by a link they had to Which so I made some initial contact and it went on from there.

3. What initially attracted you to the idea?

From day one they appeared very driven and offered a product fairly unique to legal services, almost a conduit for small and medium sized firms. We have been aware of the threats from the Legal Services Act for some years and had considered various options to try and deal with this. The QS idea is very simple. Get hundreds of firms together under one banner.

4. Were there any aspects which were negative or worried you, before you joined up?

As with any business proposal we looked at it very carefully. We initially joined as members and at that stage it was low risk. Essentially it was a referral organisation and kite mark.

The real decision came when we were invited to become Founder Partners. This meant an expensive markeover and rebrand. If QS fell flat on it’s face we would face at the very least egg on our face, we would have lost a fair amount of cash and would have the additional expense of changing our branding again.

More fundamental though were concerns about losing our identity and the benefit of the reputation we have built up in the town and beyond. After much discussions with QS and other potential Founder Partner firms it was decided to go with Quality Solicitors Howlett Clarke. We would gain from the national branding whilst keeping our own name.

5. What is the cost? Has it been recouped?

It has not been a cheap undertaking! As to whether we have recouped our costs, without wishing to sound cliched we will not know for some time.

The television advertising is due to start in September and the key time for being able to gauge the success of it will be say in six months to a years time when the advertising has had a chance to bed in.

Such advertising works as is evidenced by the success and longevity of the various national PI companies.

6. When did your membership go ‘live’?

We joined as members over a year ago but Founder Partners from May this year.

7. What did joining involve – was it a big shift for your firm and its staff?

It was a massive undertaking for us. A full rebrand of our offices, website, stationary. Every facet of the business had to change.

QS dealt with much of the launch PR. We had our own launch party for clients, introducers, suppliers and other contacts. It was all done in around two months as we signed on the dotted line to become Founder Partners only in March.

Particularly due to the short time it was a big deal internally for the staff so we arranged a full on staff meeting and follow up small group and individual meetings.

The only thing which did not have to really change was our culture. QS is focused almost entirely on being client focused and achieving service standards which is how we operate anyway so aside from having to formulate that into client charters and QS staff manuals that fitted comfortably with us.

8. How has being part of the QS brand impacted on your practice?

As stated earlier our working culture is very similar to what QS are looking for which is partly why they invited us to join as Founder Partners so in a day to day sense not much.

What it has done is make us far more focused on the business side of the practice. Come October next year being good lawyers will no longer be enough as we will be competing with the most successful companies in the country for work.

Companies with bottomless pits of money, collossal marketing machines, massive retail presence, potential client databases well into the millions and at least some with an utterly ruthless approach to wipe out traditional legal practices. By the time that comes around I believe we will be a far slicker organisation and the QS brand will have had over a year to establish itself as THE solicitors brand.

In other words if the brand only partly meets it’s potential we will not only survive the changes but will have the opportunity to significantly grow.

9. Are there any unexpected benefits/plus points?

Not really although early days.

10. Are there any downsides?

No. We anticipate we will have the best of both worlds. We will retain our independence whilst being part of a large national group.

11. Are there any other points you would like to make about the service?

Not yet. Come back in six months!

*****

Warren Robertson kindly answering my questions back in August 2010.

Richard Swaine of QualitySolicitors Lockings in Hull, is one of the three QualitySolicitors solicitors who provided background information for my article for the Internet Newsletter (to be published shortly).  Here are his answers:

1 How would you describe your firm – very briefly

QualitySolicitors Lockings is a High Street practice with offices in the heart of Hull and Beverley. We deliver quick cost-effective and friendly legal services to individuals and small to medium businesses.

2 How did you learn about Quality Solicitors?

Our managing partner Richard Allen has been alive to the opportunities and challenges presented by the Legal Services Act for some time now and we were alerted to the QualitySolicitors project as a result of his research into how to best to meet those challenges.

3 What initially attracted you to the idea?

We were initially attracted to QualitySolicitors through a combination of the infectious enthusiasm of their charismatic CEO Craig Holt and by the fact that the concept of like-minded firms working together to pool ideas and resources to drive a national brand forward made a huge amount of sense. We simply would not have been able to do this on our own.

4 Were there any aspects which were negative or worried you, before you joined up?

There were no negative aspects before we joined up and none have since presented. There were aspects that we knew we needed to get right such as making sure the membership contained the right firms to deliver on our promise but we had every confidence in Craig and his excellent team in bringing the most appropriate firms to the table and that confidence has proved to be well founded and continues to be so as more excellent firms are recruited.

5 What is the cost? Has it been recouped?

For confidentiality reasons I cannot disclose to you what the cost was but I can say that we feel it is excellent value for money.

6 When did your membership go ‘live’?

Our membership went live on 20 May 2010 and our official launches in both Hull and Beverley with Stacey Solomon of X Factor fame took place on 25 May 2010. The launches were thoroughly enjoyed by our staff, our clients and the public alike.

7 What did joining involve – was it a big shift for your firm and its staff?

Joining involved us focusing our thinking on delivery of our customer promises of no hidden costs, same-day response, direct lawyer contact and first consultation free. All our staff know how important our clients are so it was a question of building on our reputation of client focus by obtaining as much feedback as we could from everybody within our firm and our clients and prospective clients with the aim of continually improving on both putting our clients at ease and making our services easy to use.

8. How has being part of the QS brand impacted on your practice?

Being part of the QualitySolicitors brand has, in a short time, very significantly raised our profile locally both amongst fellow professionals from other law firms and disciplines and with our existing and prospective client base.

It has also given our staff a real boost and a feeling of belonging to something big new and exciting and, for much the same reasons, has attracted new staff to come and work for us. The pooling of ideas with QualitySolicitors and the other founder partners has also created a real driving force for innovation. It is incredibly exciting to work with highly talented forward thinking like-minded people.

9 Are there any unexpected benefits/plus points?

By joining QualitySolicitors I feel that we have given ourselves a real opportunity to thrive rather than just survive in the new marketplace that is rapidly opening up.

10 Are there any downsides?

I prefer to look at what some may view as downsides as opportunities. For example some may observe that we don’t have as much freedom as member firms as before we joined. That observation is probably fair but my take on this is that what we still remain entirely independent law firms and what we lose in ‘freedom’ isn’t really that much particularly when viewed against the benefits that will be achieved by like-minded firms pooling their resources and ideas.

11. Are there any other points you would like to make about the service?

I am a big fan of the QualitySolicitors concept of mutuality. This not only opens up the possibility of our firm being referred work by other member firms which don’t do a work type we do (we do a lot of licensing for example which not every firm does) it also allows us to refer work on of the types we don’t do whilst getting a solicitor’s fee share on it safe in the knowledge firstly that it will be done as well as we would do it at our firm if we did that work type and secondly that our client will not be snaffled which I am always suspicious of when we don’t have an ongoing relationship with the firm we refer to.

*****

Richard Swaine kindly answering my questions back in August 2010.

Last year I wrote an article about Quality Solicitors for the Internet Newsletter.

As Quality Solicitors have moved on since then, I was asked this August, if I would write an updating article.  This I did and the article will be published later.

However the responses I got from both Craig Holt and the other solicitors I contacted were so interesting that I obtained their permission to publish them here.

Here are Craig Holt’s comments, responding to my questions in bold.  Note that Craig’s comments were made in early August this year.

Q: When we spoke last year it was in the context of Quality Solicitors as a referral organisation, but you have developed considerably since then.  Can you outline the major developments which have taken place since we spoke last August?

A: As you know, when we last spoke, QualitySolicitors operated as a straightforward marketing collective. Members paid £x which was spread between national and local marketing. Enquiries were channelled through our QualitySolicitors website and were distributed amongst our members.

This was working well enough. However, there was a lingering concern. We were, in effect, operating as a high budget, glorified ‘find a solicitor service’. We lacked the presence to generate real awareness amongst the public.

People came to us because of our marketing and high online visibility when searching for a solicitor. But, and this is crucial I think for marketing collectives generally, when the LSA comes into effect “find a solicitor” type services will become extinct.

Why? They only operate successfully now (in all their guises, from contactlaw & takelegaladvice, to more plain directory type companies of which there are probably hundreds) because of how fragmented the legal market is. “Find-a-solicitor.com”, “search4lawyers.co.uk” etc type services only operate because when people need a lawyer there is no brand name they immediately think of and go to. So they have no choice other than to ask a friend or browse the Yellow Pages or go online and type in “solicitors in Liverpool” etc.

The Legal Services Act (LSA) (due to come into force in 2011) will change all this. The biggest impact of the LSA will be the entry – in a wide variety of forms and demographics – of brands in the legal market.

Whether that is Tesco or Virgin or (inevitably) Co-op and whether there is also a much more visible Irwin Mitchell type law firm brand etc is anyone’s educated guess. But brands there will be (and I don’t mean strong local firms who think, erroneously on any sensible definition of the work brand, that they have a brand as opposed to a good reputation).

These brands will remove the need for people to use find a solicitor type services. They won’t need the Yellow Pages anymore to find a law firm.

It is why there are not really any “find-an-optician.com” type services or why people don’t really look for their bank in the YP. There are brands and people needing the former know of ‘Specsavers’, ‘Vision Express’ etc and will have seen TV ads for Natwest, Lloyds-TSB etc and so have an idea which bank they want.

This is how things will be in the legal market and we took a decision to ensure that alongside Tesco, Virgin and Co-op – say – QualitySolicitors was one of those brands. In fact, our aim is for it to be the legal brand.

That required us to fundamentally alter the basic model of QualitySolicitors. The most effective way of establishing a new “high street” name brand alongside the banks, opticians, travel agents etc is to be amongst them and to have a national physical presence.

We therefore refined the QualitySolicitors model to be more akin to a franchise arrangement. QualitySolicitors members now actually become QualitySolicitors. They retain their name and therefore their own goodwill and reputation but brand as “QualitySolicitors [firm name]”.

There is a consistency to this branding. We opened our first 15 QualitySolicitors ‘branches’ in May to huge publicity. Our next 35 are planned for September and we are targeting 100 branches of QualitySolicitors by the end of this year.

In a few short months we will be catapulted into the public conscious by sheer force of our physical presence alone. This is increased in effectiveness by virtue of selecting members who have good, visible locations.

There is just one firm per area permitted to become a QualitySolicitors branded firm and therefore we have had to not renew the membership of a number of our members either because they were in an area where there was more than one or because we didn’t feel they were of the right ethos to become a QualitySolicitors firm in this sense.

Alongside this our branded members contribute to a much higher budget marketing fund which, included in which is a mainstream TV advert voiced by Amanda Holden which is about to go on air.

We plan to “premiere” the ad on ITV News at 10. The combination of these two strands will, we are sure, prove extremely effective and place us as the first ever household name legal brand. We are pitching the brand at a John Lewis/M&S type demographic. We do not intend to necessarily be the cheapest legal brand – in fact, people will pay more for branded legal services as the Co-op are currently proving in their probate work.

Alongside this we have developed – at the request of our members who were tired of being hostages to fortune of unreliable CMCs over over-priced cost per converted case referral fees – a slot based PI scheme which, unlike the main scheme, is focussed more on generating cost-effective referrals for PI. The details can be found in the brochure – the link for which is www.qualitysolicitors.com/for-solicitors/qspi

In short, we believe we will be able to be much more effective in this (which is to launch later this month) than other marketing collective based schemes. This is in part due to our physical presence which the likes of NAH, IL4U etc lack and have much less brand awareness for their millions of pounds spent as a result.

It is also because we intend to market in a very refreshing way. We have 3D animated ads – similar to the Lloyds-TSB ads – which are far removed from the typical CMC ads. We are confident it will be extremely effective. The scheme will launch in a few weeks having sold all 200 slots.

Q: What is the main driving purpose behind the QS brand?  Is the referral element (which I wrote about last year) still important to the QS mix?

A: Our focus is on increasing the profit of QS branded firms. Our aim is for QS to hold a dominant market share of the legal services market. That would enable each branded firm to achieve, for the first time in legal services, a true dominance in their local area.

One of the consequences of a highly fragmented market is that it becomes very difficult for one firm to really stamp their mark on their local area and because a reasonable proportion of people choose almost at random from the YP etc, even the not especially great firms still manage to survive.

QualitySolicitors and the LSA will change all that. In the opticians market in any town where there is a SpecSavers they have around 40% local market share and we intend on emulating that kind of dominance.

I find the SpecSavers analogy interesting. A straw poll amongst Managing Partners at QS firms recently revealed a significant majority used SpecSavers despite being in the type of demographic that law firms would hope would not use these types of brands. Universally, the reasoning was ease and familiarity. This is exactly the type of “pull” that brands in the legal market would have – to a wide range of demographics and also to SME work….

In terms of referrals, QS no longer “refers” work. We drive our website visitors directly to our members through a search function on our site. Eventually, this will simply be “Find my nearest branch of QualitySolicitors” with ordinary members phased out entirely.

Q: Is the project going as expected?

A: Much better. We are due to launch 35 new QualitySolicitors ‘branches’ next month and will have 100 nationwide before the end of the year. That kind of branch coverage was beyond our wildest expectations. We have received enquiries about becoming a branded firm from over 1,000 law firms since the launch in May.

Q: Have there been any unexpected good things happen or …

A: The level of co-operation amongst our branded firms has been remarkable and surprisingly so. Law firm partners have a reputation for not being able to agree upon anything. Yet when we get together with all our branded firms to discuss innovations and strategy moving forward the level of consensus and idea sharing is incredible.

It bodes extremely well for our future success as a brand which will depend, not just on the advertising and physical presence but on us being at the forefront of innovation and ideas etc.

Q: … unexpected problems?

A: Rebranding 15 branches of major law firms simultaneously was always going to be challenging in the extreme! So whilst there were undoubtedly problems along the way, I couldn’t say they were unexpected!

Q: How many solicitors do you have in the scheme?  Are you still looking for more or is it too late now?  If yes, what sort of overall coverage are you looking for?

A: See above. Our aim for this time next year is for approx 250-300 ‘branches’ providing total UK coverage. We have had applications now from firms in most towns and cities however we have yet to reach decisions in most areas and therefore are happy to still receive applications.

Q: Can you let us in on any new developments in the pipeline?

A: Whilst we generally look for members often in quite prominent locations, we are shortly to open our first bespoke built QS store in a shopping centre in London allowing people to genuinely see to their legal issues whilst out shopping etc. It will open on evenings, Saturdays and Sundays and will endeavour to make accessing legal services as easy as popping into a bank etc.

The QS brand has, mistakenly, been thought by some to be solely based on this model. It isn’t but I think this particular element of innovation is one that may well prove a model for the future.

Q: How will the QS brand help participating forms cope with the challenges which will come with the Legal Services Act?

A: The Act, as stated above, will change to way people think about legal services from a fragmented “how do I find/choose a lawyer” type approach to “which brand of legal services shall I go with”. QS aims to be at the forefront of those brands.

Indeed our strategy is very much centred around being well-established as the legal brand before October of next year. We want it to be natural for people to search out their local branch of QualitySolicitors and in doing so the benefits of the QS brand to law firms become obvious.

My views on the force of brands in the legal market have been well documented. There are too many firms, too much choice and too little recognition of law firms. Choosing a law firm is a chore due to the excess of choice and lack of differentiation.

This makes the market ripe for brands. People would much rather have someone in their mind to use than have to spend an hour or two selecting (with the fear that they may make a bad choice). This is where the power of branding in the market will be most effective.

My own honest appraisal of the situation, prior to launching QualitySolicitors, was always that I could easily see myself using a “Halifax legal services” or “Virgin law” type service – and I’m a barrister!

Q: What are the main dangers do you think, for firms which are not part of a brand exercise such as QS.  Do you have any advice for them?

A: See above! My advice has always been the same. Do something and do it now. Complacency is not an option.

The LSA came about as a result of lobbying by the big brands to be able to provide legal services and yet there is a (naive) hope that nothing will really happen.

The Co-op are inevitably in the market and, properly run, could well achieve a significant market share. They are but one of dozens of new competitors who do not just included retail and banking giants.

It is often said that firms need to be niche to survive – I’m not sure that is enough myself. The brands and new competitors will cover a huge range of products ultimately – not just those most easily rendered to a commodity. They will be attractive employers and thus won’t necessarily provide the poor quality service the profession expects.

Nor, in my view, will it all be call centre driven. There will be branded providers with a branch network so law firms can’t rely on the “face-to-face” advantage.

Nor should firms overstate their “strong local presence”. It is loyalty untested thus far in any real sense and it would be dangerous to rely upon it. Firms should be looking at strategies now – leaving it until next October could be too late.

Ask yourself – if a potential customer can choose between going to the legal desk at their local Halifax, calling into a branch of Co-operative legal services, going to a newly national Irwin Mitchell, calling up Tesco law or doing Virgin Legal services online – what compelling reason would they have to use your firm instead? If you can’t answer that in any other way than “we offer a good quality, personal service” then it is time to start strategising.

****

That was Craig Holt, CEO of QualitySolicitors in August 2019.  Do you agree with his prognosis?  If you are a solicitor, what plans do you have for 2011?

Three stories have struck me in the news today.

The HIPS disaster

HIPs were introduced in about 2007 I think as a way to ‘speed up’ conveyancing.  Practically every conveyancer I have ever spoken to has said that it was ill conceived and would do little if nothing to help conveyancing delays.  Did the government listen?  No of course not.  They had to be ‘seen to be doing something about it’, so in they came.

On the back of this, thousands of people put their trust in the government and paid for expensive training, set up new businesses, and/or developed now software so they could offere a HIPs service.

Today we are told that HIPs have been suspended with immediate effect.  So good, in that a pointless piece of red tape has now gone.  But a disaster to all those professionals who put their trust and their  careers in the government’s plans.

Legal aid again

I have written frequently in the past on my Landlord Law Blog about problems with legal aid (as that blog is now more focused on housing matters, I will be bringing some of that discussion over here).  Everyone in the legal profession knows that far from being a ‘gravy train’ (as is often claimed in the press),  those doing legal aid work are actually earning substantially less than their colleagues acting for private clients, and in some cases are not really making any profit at all.

However many solicitors continue to offer a legal aid service, partly because they believe in providing a service for those more disadvantaged in our society, and partly because that is what they ‘do’ and re-training is not really an option (or not an option they want to take).

I now read that some firms are actually threatened with bankruptcy because the Legal Services Commisison (the government funded body which runs the legal aid system) is delaying payments to legal aid firms. My view is that firms should think very carefully indeed today about offering any type of legal aid service.  It could result in substantial financial losses.  There are after all other ways of helping the disadvantaged.

Some good news

The third story which has struck me today is that Quality Solicitors, (which I wrote about here) is to set up a chain of High Street offices, in a bid to become the first ‘big name’ solicitors chain.

Good luck to them!  It is good to see lawyers fighting back.

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This article was first published in the January/February edition of the Internet Newsletter.

In this short series I have looked at Quality Solicitors, a very new player run by a barrister for solicitors, and Contact Law, a non solicitor run organisation which started in 2005. LawNet is very different from both of these.

Started in 1989 by Simon Maddox a visionary solicitor in Birmingham, it was formed as a way for firms to collaborate on issues such as training and the sharing of knowledge. LawNet started initially with eight firms, five of whom are still there today. The group then grew fairly rapidly and there are now some 65 member firms (59 in England and Wales). LawNet firms generally are very loyal to the brand, as 80% of them have been members for over five years.

There are three main areas where LawNet helps its members:

1. Group purchasing powers. The group negotiates professional indemnity insurance terms for the group as a whole, which gives members firms security and very reasonable rates. In fact LawNet members did not have any worries at all about PI this year, as this is the second of a two year deal which was negotiated for them. The placing at £1.2 billion is the largest in the legal sector, which is very attractive to brokers and insurers alike.

2. Quality assurance. LawNet has its own ISO 9001/2008 Quality Standard which is nationally (and internationally) recognised, and very rigorous. Firms are inspected independently every six months, and it is a requirement of all firms that they are accredited to this standard within two years of joining.

3. Learning, shared knowledge and resources. LawNet is accredited for CPD, provides training for all its firms, and holds an annual conference. They also have a number of specialist panels and refer work to each other, to use their group resources to the best advantage. For example there are some 8-9 firms who specialise in medical negligence, and they receive referrals from other LawNet firms. .

LawNet is owned by its members and any profits are either ploughed back into developing and providing services, or re-distributed. There are fairly hefty membership fees paid monthly, ranging from £900 per month depending on firm size, but most find that these are easily offset by the savings that they can make from the group services. One firm is reported to have saved some £35,000 on PI insurance premiums alone upon joining LawNet!

But what do the members firms say about it? Andrew & Co LLP (www. andrew-solicitors.co.uk) joined in 1989. They are a Lincolnshire firm and joined initially as they felt that they needed to broaden their horizons. LawNet has been very worth while for them. Philp Hoskins, partner, suggested the following additional benefits of membership:

* Networking. Relationships with people in management at other LawNet firms and with fee earners have proved invaluable. Two way advice is something which is really quite unique.
* Bulk Purchasing. LawNet gives mid market firms the opportunity to use products such as WestLaw and LawTel, which are normally beyond the reach of most mid market firms
* CMS Cameron McKenna. Our relationship with a leading City firm brings significant benefits to corporate/commercial lawyers within the group

He went on to say “There are no disadvantages to membership of LawNet as such. The professional indemnity insurance scheme means that membership in most cases is self funding.”

Note that the relationship with CMS Cameron McKenna referred to is under an arrangement called LawTeam. This provides LawNet members and their clients access to a number of benefits including free telephone advice, corporate transactional support, tender support, transactional referral service and reduced City rates on larger transactions. The relationship is governed by the LawTeam Protocol which includes a non-poaching condition. It is of great value to and is used regularly by many LawNet firms.

Another member is Keston Cunningham John (www.kcj.co.uk) in Norfolk. Readers may remember Mary Porch, Marketing Manager of Kester Cunningham John’s comments about Contact Law in my last article. How does she view the firms membership of the LawNet group?

“LawNet membership works for different firms in different ways. Many were initially attracted to the group in the 1990s on the back of professional indemnity insurance savings but now see substantial benefit from the courses, workshops and conferences offered and especially from the networking opportunities they provide.
The knowledge sharing between firms is generally good, whether you use your own network of contacts built up within the group or avail yourself of the ’round robin’ e-mail system for getting answers to specific questions. Items such as regular draft press releases are a useful addition.”

For a long time the benefits of LawNet have mainly been ‘internal’ ones. Shared resources, collaboration, bulk purchasing. It is only fairly recently that they have decided to use the group for more ‘external’ relations. Some 18 months ago (before Quality Solicitors burst into the limelight) it was decided to do more on the group marketing front, and the idea for the www.LawNetSolicitors.co.uk website was born.

This is the group’s marketing website, and unlike other referral sites, the member firms are all named. The idea with the website was to do more than just provide a referral service, but to give Q&A which will allow readers to do a bit of research on their on their problem, and help them find the appropriate firm for the particular problem that they have.

The website is very new, having had a ‘soft launch’ in July 2009. They do not have a lot of money to throw at it (members do not pay any referral fees), so are now working at improving their search engine optimisation and trying to grow organically. However several member firms have already received enquiries and work from the site, although it is still early days.

What do the members think of the new initiative? “Strengthening identity, and creating a stronger brand, with the greater credibility this gives all members of the group” are considered by Phillip Hoskins to be particularly important aspects. “The website is part of the long term development of the support which the group can give to individual member firms”

Mary Porch is more cautious: “Like any organisation, Lawnet continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of its members. If it is able to add ‘work generation’ to the list of benefits this will be a bonus but the new web initiative is entering an already- crowded market place so it is very much “wait and see””

As to the future, the group is obviously very stable and is well placed to face out whatever horrors the post Legal Services Act regime may throw at the profession. The LawNetSolicitors.co.uk website is an important part of the mix, and the group is actively looking for new firms to allow them to have a more comprehensive cover. Target firms are those with between about 6 and 30 partners (the model does not suit very large firms) in Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham and the west country, in particular areas such as Torquay, Exeter, and Taunton.

Said John Thomas, Chief Executive of Law Net:

”Our model has stood the test of time and we have a very loyal membership, who long ago saw the benefit of collaboration and being part of something bigger. We are well placed to meet the challenges ahead and make the most of being “Stronger Together”.

*****

With thanks to John Thomas, Mary Porch, and Phillip Hoskins.