Are you feeling ignorant about the internet. Worried about wikis? Baffled by blogs? Or intimidated by twitter? You need a bit of professional training and guidance.

Allow me to introduce the answer. This is the new ebook and CPD course from Nick and Delia on Modern Practice Topics for Solicitors.

Nick and Delia have been involved in and writing about the legal internet for years. Must be at least ten, probably more. Both have informative web-sites, Delia runs the best set of legal links on the internet, as does Nick, as Infolaw. Together they produce the fabulous and award winning Internet Newsletter. Every now and again they produce an ebook / CPD product and this is the most recent offering. It is very good.

The ebook is in five parts.

1. New ways to organise firms.  This is largely about virtual firms and to me was the perhaps most interesting part of the series. The first article is an introductory one by Delia, followed by studies of three different ‘virtual’ firms.

I have to say that I was HUGELY impressed with the article on Blacklaws Davis, a mostly legal aid firm based in South London and the internet. Of all the articles in the book, this is the one which stayed with me the most and made me happy to look at the ebook again for this review. What a fantastic system them have! If I were a legal aid solicitor I would be beating a path to their door. I also enjoyed the article by sole practitioner Dick Jennings, and quite agree that SPs can be far more innovative than the (often patronising) larger firms.

2. Social Media for law firms. This is an intelligent look at the usual suspects, blogging, twitter, wikis, facebook and LinkedIn. Well worth reading if you are thinking of using these platforms but don’t know much about them.

3. Referral and Marketing companies. This section did not hold many surprises for me as, actually, I wrote much of it! My articles are on Quality Solicitors (which you can read on this blog >> here), Contact Law (which you can read on this blog >> here) and LawNet (which you can read >>here). Delia did an article on TakeLegalAdvice and Justin Patten did one on legallybetter.com.

4. Your website – accessible, interesting and productive. All law firms with a web-site (and that should mean all law firms) would do well to read this section. The first part looks at making websites accessible for disabled people. The second is about ‘converting browsers to business’ and looks at the AIDA principles of marketing. The third looks at online legal drafting software company DirectLaw, creators of that ‘destructive technology’ Rapidocs. Finally there is an article on client satisfaction surveys.

5. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Another very helpful and interesting look at an important subject which can be a bit (whisper it) boring … It features articles by Nick Holmes, David Gilroy and Susan Hallam. (Although I just use Scribe now.)

So there you are. If you fancy finding out more about all these topics AND getting five hours CPD, you want to hop on over to Nick’s site >> here where you can read more and buy it online.

Have you bought this or any other of Nick and Delia’s ebooks? How did you find them?

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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.

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“I would like to make it clear” said Craig Holt, barrister, founder, and CEO of Quality Solicitors “that this is not just a referral company, providing leads to solicitors. It is much more than that”. Right. So what is it then?

It all started when Craig moved to Leicestershire and had difficulties in finding a suitable conveyancing firm. The idea came to him then for developing a trusted brand. More recently, he found an increasing number of solicitors he worked with expressing display at the future of the legal profession and the prospect of ‘big name’ brands entering the market. “How can we possibly compete?” they would say. Craig’s answer was that that alone perhaps they couldn’t, but by combining forces with other like-minded firms they could be powerful enough to provide real competition from within the profession. He decided to give it a go.

This was in about March 2008. Since then he has been working hard to make the dream a reality. Central to this was finding firms to do the legal work. One of the earliest was Scutt Beaumont, a small general practice in Leicester. Senior partner Prakash Modi admits that initially he was very sceptical. However “Craig was very persuasive” and eventually he agreed to join, becoming part of the initial pilot launched in September 2008.

After news about the scheme hit the press, Quality Solicitors were deluged with applications from solicitors firms wanting to join. What are the selection criteria? Craig:

“Our selection committee, of which I am the head, is openly and unashamedly subjective Although accreditation and Lexcel are important, they are not everything. Rather we spend time to get a real feel for the ethos of a particular firm. We look for firms who embody our own approach – an “anti-Tesco law” approach, firms who deplore the over-commoditisation of legal services, and believe passionately in the value of real relationships with clients.”

A more recent member is Scottish firm Inksters. Sole practitioner Brian Inkster:

“One of the main things which attracted me to QSO was the quality aspect. The company only take on firms they consider suitable, and work is subject to quality control. This is done by clients being asked by the head office to give feedback on their experience. If a firm proves unsatisfactory, it will be asked to leave the group. I like the fact that there is an independent third party review in this way”.

The service is essentially a hub and spoke operation. In the centre is Quality Solicitors, who receive queries, either via the web (www.qualitysolicitors.com) or by phone. LLB graduates are employed to assess these, and pass them out to member firms. Firms have an obligation to respond to referrals within a few hours. After that it is up to them. So how happy are the member firms with the work received?

Prakash Modi is delighted. He has made a good profit from his membership so far, and has employed an additional solicitor and legal clerk to deal with the extra work. In fact the only problem is that at times he gets more work than the firm can handle!

Brian Inkster is also upbeat. “We have already received referrals, indeed I was surprised at the number we received so early on. Some have been converted to clients, other may do in the future”. Another firm we contacted however was unwilling to comment, just saying that it was early days and that their experience had been “mixed”.

There is obviously a cost to member firms. This is an annual subscription rather than a fee per case, and is based on whether referrals are national or local. Although it is obviously a fairly hefty sum, both Brian and Prakash feel it is money well spent.

So what is the future for Quality Solicitors? The immediate job is to recruit more member firms to deal with the deluge of work coming in. Apart from this, Craig has ambitious plans for the company.

“We have just launched the QualitySolicitors.com Buying Group which provides discounts on a wide-range of items, sometimes so much that it actually offsets the cost of QualitySolicitors.com membership!”

The company is also looking to provide free CPD, and run regular courses and conferences for member firms.

And long term? Craig again :

“I see us growing to be the first true household name legal organisation. People will talk of Barclays for their banking, Halifax for their mortgages, Direct line for their insurance and QualitySolicitors.com for their legal needs.”

You know, he might just do it!

© 2009 Tessa Shepperson

With thanks to Craig Holt of Quality Solicitors, Prakash Modi of Scutt Beaumont and Brian Inkster of Inksters.

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Run for many years by the superb Delia Venables (who runs the best legal links site on the internet) it won a major award a few years ago. Delia now runs the newsletter jointly with Nick Holmes (who also has his own site, Infolaw, which has been online since about 1995). It is snip at a mere £45 pa for six issues.

I have been a subscriber to the Internet Newsletter for more years than I care to think about, and it has always been interesting, informative, and thought provoking. For example in the current issue (May/June 2009) there are fascinating articles on LegalOnRamp, blogging for lawyers, writing for the internet, and email campaigns.

I cannot recommend the newsletter highly enough. If you are a solicitor and do not already subscribe you can do so here, or email delia@venables.co.uk.

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