Andrew Weaver CEO at www.lawyerfair.co.uk The legal procurement & comparison service for business owners
Commercial Expectations about legal lawyer services and competition among lawyers
This is a follow up from an initial blog (Dawning of a new era) but relates to a similar theme as a recent visit to my old home town brought back memories that cemented my thoughts on the changes taking place in the legal profession.
Short story Let me take you back. I was brought up in a small cornish town and I can tell you, not a day goes by when I don’t think about eating a pasty.
But of more relevance to this article is that in my small town there were 3 pillars of authority, respectability and awe: the policeman, the doctor and the lawyer. Well, the policeman soon eloped with the doctor, leaving our parents a full 2/3rds short of the community role models they needed to keep us in line, but the lawyer remained in place.
Memories of father’s lawyer Office Memories of my father’s trips to the lawyer’s office remain vivid and it ticked all the traditional boxes you might hope for; Dusty and forbidding premises (designed in alignment with town’s banking ghetto) • Wood panelled office festooned with cartoons of corpulent golfers • Fearsome gatekeeper and her barely touched but rapidly fading cigarette • Deep pin stripes of his suit, with more than a hint of ‘eau du stout’ It created within me a sense of deep trepidation and that legacy lived on as I spent years doffing my hat in grateful deference to the legal profession. •
It must be why I accepted many of their working practices, the open ended hourly rates, failed deadlines, endless chasing for updates and a general lack of transparency and clarity about their abilities (or failings). Gradually I became less awestruck and more baffled by the legal professions approach to commercial realities and their inertia to change. We’re deep into 2013 and my man from small town cornwall still exists in many corners of the UK.
For example, where in the commercial world is an open ended hourly rate still acceptable? I once paid someone by the hour to sort out my garden and ended up with the most expensive gravel path in West London. Most requests for legal advice are relatively standard and likely to have been handled many times by said lawyer or firm. They should be able to form a quick view on likely cost and complications and provide a fixed fee. Yet there is often resistance and concern on the basis that ….”every instruction is different”. And so, the traditionalists suck their teeth at change and stick to their own agenda and meter. In their eyes, the legal world is and should remain supply led. But the market is beginning to see who they are.
Commercial Expectations about legal lawyer services Commercial expectations have changed and the world is spinning faster. The legal services space is shifting from supply led to demand led and with that, so too is the balance of power between user and supplier. This shouldn’t be a threat to good lawyers. It should be grabbed with both hands. This is an era of great opportunity where the platform of raised expectations, transparency and access enable the best lawyers to provide clear evidence of market value and expertise.
Competition among lawyers Competition is not all about cut price law, it’s about a shift in the balance of power and with that an alignment of process and practice
that works for the user. It’s about creating a more efficient process that clips costs, outsources non-critical functions, streamlines delivery and drives forward value added services. The lawyer that delivers expertise in a form and at a cost that works for the modern user of legal services, will thrive. I’m no longer in awe of law but I am in awe of great lawyers. The market will find out who they are.