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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The Legal Web

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?

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.

This article was previously published in the September 2009 isssue of the Internet Newsletter.

“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.

Note: you will find a more recent article on Quality Soliciors (August 2010) here.

Anyone in the legal profession who is at all interested in the development of legal services on the internet should sign up for the Internet Newsletter (full name internet Newsletter for Lawyers & Law 2.).

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.