Modern Law Magazine - Issue 32

The Business of Law

Kerry Westland

Issue 32 ISSN 2050-5744

“Whereas before, technology was something extra you could put into a pitch or talk to a client about, it is now key to a relationship with that client and how we deliver legal work for them”

Addleshaw Goddard

“It’s fair to say that other industries have embraced technological change more than the legal profession” Supported by

Mike Potter

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MODERN LAW

Editorial Contributors Alice Owen Modernising Justice Policy Adviser Law Society of England and Wales

Phil Whitehead GM Alliances InfoTrack

Andrew McErlean Chartered Financial Planner Saunderson House

Phil Snee Development Director Linetime Ltd

Colin Fowle Managing Director Blue Car Technologies Limited

Richard Allen Senior Consultant and Costs Lawyer Burcher Jennings

Gavin Russell CEO and Founder Wavex

Sarah Roberts Marketing Executive Eclipse Legal Systems

Geoff Hornsby General Manager EMEA of iManage

Susan Fairbrass Marketing Manager Geodesys

Jane Malcolm Executive Director of External Affairs Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)

Vibeke Bjomfors Regulatory Project Manager Legal Services Board (LSB)

Josh Richardson Financial Planner Informed Financial Planning Mark Richardson Technical Operations Manager VFS Legal Funding Noel Inge Managing Director CILEx Law School

WELCOME s 2017 draws to a close, Modern Law takes a look back at some of the areas where legal professionals have been innovating in the past year. Historically, the legal sector has been reactive to innovation, rather than proactive, perhaps necessarily so owing to the strict rules and regulations that come with being a solicitor. However, innovation is a word we hear now more than ever, to the point that it could be argued it is something consumers expect as the norm, rather than the exception. 2017 has therefore been a big year for innovation in the legal sector, as firms look to stand out from the crowd to give their clients the service they expect from a 21st century business.

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In this issue we spoke to Kerry Westland and Mike Potter, who are driving innovation at Addleshaw Goddard through Intelligent Delivery. They discuss how firms can take advantage of the technology solutions that are out there, as well as what to expect from tech in the years to come. Of course with increased dependence on technology comes an increased need for security, as Paul McCluskey, Lloyds Banking Group, explains when he talks news. Cybercrime is often identified as a top risk for law firms, regardless of size or specialism. 2017 has seen a spate of highprofile cyber attacks, and Paul discusses how law firms need to be prepared for more in 2018.

On top of all this, we have great features on how start ups, social media and design thinking can all help your firm to innovate, and as usual our all-star editorial board will share their thoughts and insights on the business of law. If you believe your business is an innovative one, feel free to get in touch about writing for us.

Innovative players in the sector will be recognised at the Eclipse Proclaim Modern Law Awards in the New Year, so I’d like to take this chance to congratulate everyone who has been shortlisted and to wish you all the best of luck on the night.

I’m also pleased to announce the Bold Legal Group Modern Law Conveyancing Conference takes place Wednesday 2nd May 2018 in London. The public has little understanding of the conveyancing process and of all the work conveyancers do for them, and so this conference will examine how the sector can educate and inform the public to manage client expectations and improve service quality even more. We hope everybody will be able to take away something tangible and practical they can put into practice, and I look forward to seeing lots of you at the event in May.

Issue 32 ISSN 2050-5744 Editor Brendan Gurrie

Editorial Assistant Poppy Green

Project Manager Martin Smith

Events Sales Kate McKittrick

Modern Law Magazine is published by Charlton Grant Ltd ©2017.

Brendan Gurrie, Editor, Modern Law Magazine.

01765 600909 @ModernBrendan Brendan@charltongrant.co.uk

All material is copyrighted both written and illustrated. Reproduction in part or whole is strictly forbidden without the written permission of the publisher. All images and information is collated from extensive research and along with advertisements is published in good faith. Although the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure that the information in this publication was correct at press time, the author and publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.

Issue 32

Modern Law 03

MODERN LAW

CONTENTS NEWS

INTERVIEWS

07

12

07 Paul McCluskey talks news

EdiTorial Board

Paul McCluskey, Lloyds Banking Group, discusses the growth of cyber fraud and asks if your law firm is prepared for an attack by fraudsters.

12 Kerry Westland and Mike Potter

Technology adoption is on the rise in the legal sector and shows no signs of slowing down. As Addleshaw Goddard’s Intelligent Delivery seeks to capitalise on this trend, Kerry Westland and Mike Potter talked to Modern Law about how the firm will be at the forefront of tech implementation and what the effects will be on the wider sector and clients.

16 Christine Kings and Edith Robertson

As Christine Kings, Outer Temple Chambers, and Edith Robertson, Falcon Chambers, move on from their roles as Co-chairs of the Legal Practice Management Association (LPMA), they talked to Modern Law about the changes they have witnessed at the Bar, particularly in regards to diversity and technology.

EDITORIAL BOARD contributors

25

23 Making sure regulation keeps up with technology

Jane Malcolm, Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)

25 Driving quality and competition

Vibeke Bjornfors, Legal Services Board (LSB)

27 Test driving the online court

Alice Owen, Law Society of England and Wales

29 An untapped resource?

Sarah Roberts, Eclipse Legal Systems

29 Connecting with the community

Noel Inge, CILEx Law School

31 The modern cloud

Geoff Hornsby, EMEA of iManage

31 To Tweet or not to Tweet?

Can e-branding & social media help your firm stand out in the digital age?

Mark Richardson, VFS Legal Funding

33 Fixed fees for all

Richard Allen, Burcher Jennings

33 One step ahead

Gavin Russell, Wavex

35 Integrating third-party systems into your case management system

04 Modern Law

Phil Whitehead, InfoTrack

Issue 32

MODERN LAW

Issue 32 ISSN 2051-6495

EdiTorial Board

FEATURES

35

35 Occupational Life Insurance and the £1m Pensions Lifetime Allowance

44

42 GDPR will bring good data to your practice

Andrew McErlean, Saunderson House

37 Fees and feedback

Josh Richardson, Informed Financial Planning

37 Not if, but when

Colin Fowle, Blue Car Technologies Limited

39 The obstacles of a paperless future

Phil Snee, Linetime Ltd

39 Becoming social media savvy Susan Fairbrass, Geodesys

40 How can law firms best action feedback?

Mahinan Pathmanathan, Smart Legal

40 The myth of multi-tasking and the price of paying attention Alisa Gray, Kaplan Altior

FEATURES

Dominic Cullis, GDPR Academy, explains that, despite all the scaremongering, GDPR can be a positive benefit for your practice if you are properly prepared.

48

52 The innovation imperative

54 Risks and reports

44 Regional Focus: Devon and Somerset

Modern Law extended its regional focus to Devon and Somerset and spoke to Sue Aggett, President of the Devon and Somerset Law Society, about the progress of the society and her plans for the next year.

48 Legal design thinking: Interview with Adam Billing

Adam Billing, Treehouse Innovation, believes the concept of design thinking is one that will only become more prominent in the legal sector.

Adam spoke to Modern Law about what legal design thinking means for a law firm, and how firms can implement this culture shift to catch up to their clients.

50 Alt.learning

All paths to qualifying as a lawyer used to lead to the training contract.

Now legal education and qualifying is at a crossroads, and the new paths lead to satisfying terrain for organisations and employees.

Dan Jansen, CEO, talks about the industry trends from legal tech trailblazer Nextlaw Labs.

Paul Addison, DevAssist, discusses the limitations of traditional search reports and how they need to evolve to meet the needs of today’s clients.

55 How effective is social media?

Paul Hajek, Clutton Cox Conveyancing Solicitors, examines the do’s and don’ts of social media within the legal industry, and how firms can best utilise its platforms.

57 Case Study - Eclipse

Eclipse’s Proclaim Practice Management system maximises potential at international firm, DKLM Solicitors

57 Case Study - FCI

Flood Risk: Know Your Options

10 MINUTES WITH 58 10 Minutes With

James Jobling, AmTrust Law

51 Why the technology tail will always wag the legal dog?

Our resident Tech commentator Charles Christian writes…

Issue 32

Modern Law 05

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NEWS

Paul McCluskey TALKS NEWS Paul McCluskey, Lloyds Banking Group, discusses the growth of cyber fraud and asks if your law firm is prepared for an attack by fraudsters. or some time, fraudsters have considered law firms to be an attractive target, and it’s not difficult to understand why. Significant balances of clients’ funds held in call accounts mean that fraudsters who identify a weak spot in a firm’s controls and processes can potentially steal huge amounts.

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Law firms have access to large sums of electronic money, and the need for large volumes of genuine transactions may mean that any fraudulent payments will be difficult to spot. Fraudsters also know the busiest days to strike, such as a Friday, which is busy for conveyancing firms. All of this puts the legal sector towards the top of a fraudster’s hit list.

The remote, faceless existence of an internet fraudster means that online attacks can be hard to spot, particularly for any unsuspecting employees within a firm who are not aware of current threats. As digital technology advances, fraudsters also continue to develop new, increasingly sophisticated uses of technology to steal funds.

Malicious software (Malware) is not only used to carry out an attack, but also widely used by fraudsters to carry out reconassience work beforehand in order to increase their likelihood of a successful attack, as well as cleaning up ‘the crime scene’ on a firm’s PC network before disappearing and leaving no trace.

How do cyber frauds target law firms?

Phishing

Many cyber frauds start with a phishing email that is specifically targeted to capture secure information or trick the recipient into downloading malware by disguising it as a genuine email message.

These emails are often made to look like they’ve been sent by your Bank and may contain hyperlinks or attachments to fake websites or malware downloads. Malware describes software that is deliberately designed to deceive a PC or its user. For example, it can allow a fraudster to secretly and remotely view information on a PC network or capture keystrokes and passwords that could be used to access a firm’s online bank accounts, as well as many other operations.

Ransomware

Ransomware is a specific type of malware that severely restricts access to a computer, device or file until a ransom is paid by the user. It has the ability to lock a computer or encrypt files.

A demand is then displayed informing the user that it will not be unlocked until a sum of money is paid. A time limit is usually imposed for the ransom to be paid, or the code to decrypt the data will be deleted and the data will not be recoverable.

Cyber Extortion

This is a crime that occurs when a fraudster issues a threat and demand via online methods to a potential victim. As with Ransomware, the demand is usually aimed at forcing a payment to the fraudster in a digital currency such as bitcoin, or they will carry out their threat. Threats will vary, but have previously included fraudsters stating that they will leak confidential data about a firm’s clients on the internet or a threat to post thousands of defamatory comments on a review site, causing reputational damage.

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Law firms will need to adopt the mentality of “when we get targeted” rather than “if we get targeted” Payment Impersonation Frauds

Fraudsters also use email to target firms with impersonation frauds. Typically these will be emails disguised to look like they have been sent by a known beneficiary of the firm, quoting alternative bank account details for a settlement or payment that is due to be paid. These frauds can also target your clients, such as fraudulent emails being sent to them falsely advising them that your firm has changed their account number for where clients need to send funds. Another common impersonation fraud is where an employee receives an email that appears to have been sent by a senior person within the firm asking for an urgent and confidential payment to be made. With both of these types of impersonation fraud, if the recipient does not check that the email is from the genuine sender as opposed to a fraudster, any payments sent to the fraudsters account are likely to be lost.

Modern Law 07

NEWS

The remote, faceless existence of an internet fraudster means that online attacks can be hard to spot, particularly for any unsuspecting employees within a firm who are not aware of current threats How should law firms protect themselves against these types of cyber fraud?

• Have a good quality Anti-Virus software suite with the latest version, and update regularly.

• Carry out operating system updates and other software updates such as Adobe or MS Office as soon as they become available.

• Don’t rely on a phone’s caller display to identify a caller, as fraudsters can make the phone’s incoming display show a genuine number.

• Never divulge online banking passwords or online banking secure codes to anyone on the telephone, or via email, even if you think it’s the bank contacting you.

• Back-ups – establish a programme of making regular backups, ensuring that your most important files are copied most frequently and to a location not permanently connected to your network. This will enable machines and systems to be restored in the event of infection, without a significant impact. Regularly test the recovery process, and if you are targeted, retain the original cyber extortion emails. Maintain a timeline of the attack, recording all times, type and content of the contact and report it to Action Fraud.

• Have a documented process for employees to follow, which ensures that email requests to set up or amend payment details are verified as genuine. They should use known contact details other than e-mail to make these checks and apply the same caution to all payment related emails from both external and internal sources.

• Employee education and awareness – ensure users are aware of the risks associated with allowing malware into a system.

Additionally, educate them about the typical ways malware can get onto a device.

• Removable media controls – consider the benefits of implementing a technical solution to control access to removable media devices, and scan all media for malware before importing on to any of the firm’s systems.

08 Modern Law

Law firms’ response to the increased threat of cyber fraud now and in the future?

The legal sector have delivered a very proactive and effective response to the increased threat of cyber fraud, probably more than other industries, and this of course is understandable given the significant amounts of funds they hold on behalf of their clients. The seriousness of reputational and regulatory damage is also a key factor.

Legal bodies such as the Law Society have been very proactive in organising fraud awareness seminars for their members and, along with events hosted locally by firms themselves, the sector is considered to be one of the most astute when it comes to fraud vigilance. However, even though we see many reports of fraud attack prevention, there are still too many firms who do still fall victim. This is often down to employees who have not received the appropriate fraud education, or those who do not receive it frequently. It’s really important that firms have a regular schedule of delivering up to date fraud awareness material to their employees.

A fraudster’s preference for cybercrime as a method to commit fraud is only likely to develop further in the future, with attacks becoming more complex and difficult to detect. Law firms will need to adopt the mentality of “when we get targeted”, rather than “if we get targeted”, and those best prepared for a cyber fraud attack will have multi-layered controls in place. This will include a robust ongoing employee awareness program as well as clear plans on how to respond in the event of an attack.

Paul McCluskey, UK Head of Professional Practices for Lloyds Banking Group, SME Banking.

You’ll find more information on many other fraudulent scams by visiting www.lloydsbank.com/fraud or www.bankofscotland.co.uk/fraud Lloyds Banking Group supports “Take Five”, a Government campaign. Read more at: www.takefive-stopfraud.org.uk/

Issue 32

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Whereas before, technology was something extra you could put into a pitch or talk to a client about, it is now key to a relationship with that client and how we deliver legal work for them Kerry Westland

It’s fair to say that other industries have embraced technological change more than the legal profession Mike Potter

INTERVIEW

Kerry Westland & Mike Potter Technology adoption is on the rise in the legal sector and shows no signs of slowing down. As Addleshaw Goddard’s Intelligent Delivery seeks to capitalise on this trend, Kerry Westland and Mike Potter talked to Modern Law about how the firm will be at the forefront of tech implementation and what the effects will be on the wider sector and clients.

Q

Can you explain a little about the work you and the Transaction Services Team (TST) do at Addleshaw Goddard?

Mike Potter: I am Head of the Transaction Services Team, which we set up seven years ago to complete work that didn’t necessarily need to be done by qualified lawyers. In that time we have grown from five to over 150 people, and that is a result of us delivering work to almost all of our major clients and divisions. We have got wide penetration as we do a wide range of work.

Kerry Westland: The whole point of the TST is to do something a bit different and challenge the way that legal services are delivered. This involved the creation of a legal technology team, who are/have been paralegals and who can use those skills alongside their technology skills to build solutions for our clients.

That is now being officially branded as our Innovation and Legal Technology Team, which I head up.

Q

How has your career to date influenced your work at Addleshaw Goddard, and what led to the formation of the TST? MP: Part of the reason for the formation of the TST was what people talk about as the ‘more for less’ challenge; coming out of the last recession, clients have reduced legal budgets, but are requiring more from their law firms. Client pressures and pressures on our business made us start to examine how we deliver work.

We had had some success with employing paralegals before, so we decided to do it on a bigger scale. We were also finding there were more and more paralegals in the market because there were graduates who were looking for a stepping-stone or a way into the legal profession, and it made sense to make use of that to look at whether something like TST could work. From there, the growth of five to 150 has proved its worth.

KW: In some ways the work at AG has influenced my career, rather than the other way around. We both approached our careers quite differently. I have only been here seven years and started as a paralegal. I have had different positions throughout the TST, whereas Mike was a lawyer before he took on the TST.

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MP: Kerry joined us as a paralegal, but the TST gave her the flexibility to use other skills that we were really looking for as a business, and that was around how we apply technology but also how we apply things like process improvement. Kerry helped shape it by proving that there was value in the approach she was taking to technology and process improvement, which is what ultimately led to the creation of her team.

I came to this very differently. I was a senior corporate lawyer, but then an opportunity came my way that lots of people thought was a risk because it was moving me out of mainline traditional, fee earning work. We were one of the first firms to set up a TST; it was something new and exciting, which put our firm at the forefront.

Q

Do you agree with suggestions that the legal sector is behind the curve in technology adoption, and how have attitudes towards technology within the sector changed over time?

MP: It’s fair to say that other industries have embraced technological change more than the legal profession. We have seen a sea change over the last three years, and that comes from a number of different angles; one is the availability of new legal technologies. Another area is the change in questions raised by our clients and the way in which they articulate what they are looking for from their law firms in terms of technology. The questions have become much more specific and informed, and are now at the stage where it is impossible for a firm of our size to not be focusing heavily on technology.

Most firms have the same tools, and it is how they apply them that gives them that competitive advantage Kerry Westland Modern Law 13

INTERVIEW

Clients expect us to understand new ways of working that we are applying to their work, providing them with more than just legal advice Kerry Westland KW: Whereas before, technology was something extra you could put into a pitch or talk to a client about, it is now key to a relationship with that client and how we deliver legal work for them.

Q

What does the digitally-minded client want from their legal services provider, and do you believe the sector is equipped to give this to them?

KW: They expect us to use technology, and they expect that to affect the way we deliver work and charge for it. They expect us to understand new ways of working that we are applying it to their work, providing them with more than just legal advice.

MP: They are looking for efficiency, and they are looking for added value. Technology opens up lots of different opportunities.

KW: We are still learning and we are getting there; the pace of change is increasing and there is a lot to think about. Law firms, including ours in particular, are equipping themselves for the future.

Q

What are the challenges around implementation of new technologies for law firms, and how can these be tackled?

MP: When you are implementing a new process, you are asking people to change the way that they work. Change is always challenging. We have lots of tools that we can use for a whole range of different things, but we need specialist legal expertise in order to apply them properly. You have to ask people to think in a different way. We have lawyers across our business coming to us as technology experts or flexible resource experts to help solve challenges for them.

KW: We find technology firms have created something to solve a particular problem that they have identified, whereas what we are trying to do is look at different types of technology and how they might solve the problems we have internally.

Then there is security. We work with a wide range of clients, and although they want us to use technology, they have very strict security requirements. How do we tackle challenges around new technologies? That is obviously to do with behaviour. Behaviour is about bringing people on the journey with you, so you have to find people who can be your champions to talk about this with their clients and elsewhere internally within the firm.

MP: You have to reward and recognise people who help. Traditional models of reward and recognition are around hours worked, this requires something different.

Q

Can smaller sized firms keep up with the technological pace set by larger firms?

MP: The move to the Cloud has helped smaller firms because the cost of paying for implementation is a lot lower than it used to be.

Q

What role can technology adoption play in helping a law firm stand out from the competition, and can those firms that don’t embrace technology remain sustainable?

KW: What is really interesting about technology in the legal environment is that most firms have the same tools, and it is how they apply them that gives them that competitive advantage.

At the moment we are in this place where some people are investing in AI, and I do think it is going to get to the stage where it is the norm to invest. But for now, it is all about your delivery model and how you bring these technologies into your way of doing things.

MP: I think you will see more firms advertising what they do.

Rather than just saying that they’re good at tech, you will see more and more firms explaining how they have applied it. That is starting to happen and will happen much more.

Q

Is a totally paperless law firm currently feasible, and do you see digital firms becoming more mainstream in the years to come?

MP: In the last eighteen years I have seen a reduction in the amount of paper used, but we are a way off being completely paperless. There are a number of things that would need to happen in order to ensure that we were completely paperless, for example, the way property deeds are held, because that is outside of our control.

We also find that our clients aren’t completely digital. For example, they don’t hold all of their contracts digitally; they are often held in boxes or drawers and are sent to us. We have found that the volume of paper has decreased dramatically with things like electronic filing. We’re still far from being paperless, but we are heading there.

Although there is so much in the news about AI, its use and potential use in legal so far has been more limited than the hype Mike Potter

KW: My mum is an office manager of a very small high street firm, and they tell us about the struggle with investment in new technologies as a lot of new technology is priced for larger firms.

However, I think the tech companies will look at their pricing model and their product will become a bit more commoditised so that smaller firms can then access it themselves. They need to keep an eye on the market and look at if they can invest at all, because this is about a layered technology infrastructure of a small firm. It will get to a point where this is the norm, therefore they would have to invest, and hopefully the pricing model will be good for them.

14 Modern Law

Issue 32

INTERVIEW

I think you will see more firms advertising what they do.

Rather than just saying that they’re good at tech, you will see more and more firms explaining how they have applied it Mike Potter KW: It will come when there is a fundamental change in the practice of law. We are talking about online smart contracts, electronic signatures, blockchain, and only when they become mainstream ways of doing legal work will we stop needing the paper copies. As the practice of law changes, so will the need for paper.

Q

What do you predict will be the next big thing in legal technology, and how will it impact the sector?

KW: I’m going to say the obvious one, which is AI. With the drive for capturing more data, AI is going to help with spotting trends, analysis and automating some of the processes that you would think would be automated but can’t be quite yet. I think AI will be the next big thing, but it still has a way to go before it completely transforms the legal industry.

Kerry Westland Head of Innovation & Legal Technology Kerry is responsible for driving the use of technology and developing solutions to deliver a wide range of legal work across the firm. She set up and manages the Innovation and Legal Technology Team who focus solely on the application of existing and new technologies. Kerry is a new breed of lawyer at the forefront of a changed and changing legal sector. She was recognised as one of the Young Legal Innovators at the 2016 Financial Times Innovative Lawyer Awards in recognition of her approach to the development of the use of technology across our firm.

MP: Although there is so much in the news about AI, its use and potential use in legal has so far been more limited than the hype.

Q

Which technologies will Addleshaw Goddard and the TST seek to adopt in the future, and how will these improve the service that is offered to clients?

KW: Yes there is AI, but who knows what will be released in the future?! It is really hard to say what we are going to adopt, but we are going to continually assess what is in the market, what is coming and what will serve us and our clients really well.

The whole point of the industry and technology is to create efficiency, consistency, and data. The technology we adopt would have to be able to do that.

MP: As the profession is changing, there are different ways that firms are responding. We talk a lot about technology, but there are also flexible resourcing models. TST is an example, but AG Integrate, our own contract lawyer offering, is also relevant there.

You can also look at how we implement process improvement and legal project management into the way that we deliver work for clients. Clients really want an overall delivery approach that touches on each of those elements as well as the core legal services we provide as a business. The question for us is how we can bring this all together so that we are presenting a consistent message to clients, but also using all of the tools that are at our disposal. For us, we’ve recently launched AG Intelligent Delivery, which is bringing together flexible resourcing options such as TST and AG Integrate, process improvement, innovation and legal technology into one overall proposition.

Issue 32

Mike Potter Partner, Head of Transaction Services Team Mike heads the firm’s Transaction Services Team (TST).

Created in 2010, the TST was created to give clients greater flexibility and to improve cost efficiency. Consisting of 150+ people the team includes; apprentices, paralegals and managers based primarily in Manchester but with coverage across all of our UK offices. The TST delivers work through the use of people, process and technology, in either a standalone or an integrated way alongside qualified lawyers.

Modern Law 15

INTERVIEW

Christine Kings & Edith Robertson As Christine Kings, Outer Temple Chambers, and Edith Robertson, Falcon Chambers, move on from their roles as Co-chairs of the Legal Practice Management Association (LPMA), they talked to Modern Law about the changes they have witnessed at the Bar, particularly in regards to diversity and technology.

Q

How have your outlooks on the profession changed while you’ve been working within it and during your tenures as cochairs of the LPMA, and what are some of the biggest changes you have witnessed?

Edith Robertson. The biggest things we’ve seen are increased regulation at the Bar and the formalisation of practice management.

Previously, the Bar was rather scornful about what practice management meant and how it was different to clerking. Clerking in those days was reactive, and practice management was becoming more proactive; it wasn’t just about waiting for the phone to ring, but going out and making people phone you up. Most sets of chambers now have a marketing function, which when I started in clerking in the eighties would have been complete heresy. I remember when you were first allowed a brochure, and all it could have was the names and the call dates of the members of chambers; you definitely weren’t allowed to state your cases. Now we have very sophisticated marketing through websites, advertising and social media.

The other thing that has affected the bar is the complete decline of legal aid. What that means is that sets have tried to enter the market in different areas of work, and that increases the competition.

Q

How have chambers responded to the higher expectations of modern consumers?

Christine Kings. When I started there was not much that the client got. The Bar was very much shrouded in mystery. There’s now an awareness of the need to keep the professional client on board, which means making sure that you communicate with them, you check whether or not they’re happy with the service, you keep them updated, you make sure you ask them what they’re looking for and you try and provide it. None of those things happened thirty years ago.

The client wants new ways of funding, so there are all sorts of arrangements that can be put in place for big complex cases in the recognition that barristers should also be seen to be taking some of the risk.

Some of these things are relatively new, and that is partly because the pressure has been on solicitors to reduce their costs. So we’ve seen a change in the briefing patterns of solicitor firms. They want good quality barristers and value for money. That’s incredibly difficult, because, by and large, all barristers are competent; to say you provide a really good, high quality service is actually what all chambers should be doing, so you really have to work hard to distinguish yourself.

16 Modern Law

When I started there were chambers that didn’t have conference rooms, they didn’t have toilets for ladies, and they didn’t serve tea or coffee. At every level, chambers have had to respond to modern consumers.

Q

How has equality and diversity in the Bar evolved over time, and is this still an area that needs improvement?

ER. It’s 50/50 into the profession at the moment as far as we know, but we still lose women at a certain point. I don’t know if the Bar is any better or any worse than solicitors, because I know solicitors lose significant amounts of their female members of staff at certain points, and chambers do too. In some ways it’s easier for women to have flexibility and family at the Bar, because there is more control of your career and your diary, but it very much depends on the ethos of the set. Whether it’s a firm or chambers, the ethos and the culture usually comes from the top down.

Changing the culture is a long process. There has been progress, but I’m sad it’s not happened quicker.

CK. The BSB has made an attempt to inculcate the profession with an ethos of equality and diversity, but culture at the Bar has not yet changed sufficiently. For instance, all chambers are supposed to have an equality and diversity officer. In so many sets it’s a young, female tenant who hasn’t got the authority or the means by which she can make a difference.

The clerks are predominantly white and male. I’m not saying there aren’t progressive clerks, of course there are, but nonetheless it makes it difficult for some issues to be really addressed properly.

There are women who have left the Bar after having children who have been in commercial work or financial services, where the culture within those practice areas is different; the solicitors are more demanding, it’s more male, and there’s just less opportunity for women to manage the competing pressures of trying to maintain their practice and balance the needs of their family. The only way we’ve found to address this is to keep open the option for them to come back when their circumstances change. But it’s not ideal, and I have to say recent proposals to extend court day do not help when it comes to keeping women on board.

Q

How have attitudes to recruitment within chambers changed to best utilise the skills of 21st century legal professionals?

CK. From pupillage and into junior tenancy, we’re getting reasonable numbers of women and BAME candidates into the profession. Over time we’ll see more of them come through

Issue 32

INTERVIEW

We’ve got a ridiculous situation where solicitors increasingly send everything by email, and the first thing some barristers ask is to have it all printed out Christine Kings Whether it’s a firm or chambers, the ethos and the culture usually comes from the top down Edith Robertson to senior levels. At the moment there aren’t many role models because there weren’t as many women coming in to the profession thirty years ago, and therefore there aren’t many women still there at the most senior levels.

The media has put so much pressure on chambers by asking them what proportion of their juniors and their silks are women, and they don’t want to be seen as thirtieth out of thirty on that list. So even if it’s for not quite the right reasons, there’s an awareness that their statistics needs to improve.

My experience is that men usually look for men when recruiting.

They’re probably colleagues they’ve met in court or they’ve worked with elsewhere, and you have to push to make them consider women. That’s still fairly normal, which means there’s a lot of education to do.

ER. One of the big changes is how much more professional we are when we recruit. We have our own pupillage application process in order to get a reasonable amount of candidates, and I think it’s because we’re a single specialisation set who only do one type of law. We see it as quite a competitive environment, because a lot of the very best candidates all want to do commercial law or human rights; all the sexy, eye catching stuff.

It’s as important for us to sell ourselves to these candidates as

Issue 32

it is for those candidates to sell themselves to us, and that’s a massive change. We try very hard to engage with all the London universities, and a lot of our members of chambers are actually non-law graduates.

Q

What are the possible benefits of a digital courts system, and where are the potential pitfalls in implementing it?

ER. Tell me when it happens, because I’ve yet to see the digital revolution. We’ve spent time on researching tools that members of chambers might be interested in to make themselves more digital and assist with document management, but at the end of the day we haven’t had a case that doesn’t have twenty or thirty lever arch files.

CK. I can’t really say that we’ve had much experience. We use video conferencing quite a lot, and because we’re directly opposite the Royal Courts of Justice, we have had judges come across to our chambers in order to conduct court hearings with overseas clients.

ER. It’s an indictment of the system they have at the RCJ when they have to use a set of chambers because it has better technology.

CK. We send boxes of case files across the road. We were involved with the Jersey Inquiry. We had four counsel involved in that, and at no point were they allowed to download any of the documents; they all had to be viewed, commented on and annotated online, so there was nothing printed out. The junior counsel didn’t have a problem with that, but the more senior counsel struggled with it; they like paper.

We’ve got a ridiculous situation where solicitors increasingly send everything by email, and the first thing some barristers ask is to have it all printed out. As those who have grown up with digital technology become more senior, the courts will embrace this more easily. You still struggle to get some to change passwords on their computers.

Modern Law 17

INTERVIEW

Most sets of chambers now have a marketing function, which when I started in clerking in the eighties would have been complete heresy Edith Robertson ER. I was talking to younger members of chambers about digital, and I asked if they look at everything on screen or print it out. One said they do it all on screen, but he prints it out when he goes to court, because when you get to court the judge never has the file, takes half an hour to find the file and photocopy it, and you’re then adjourned to the back of the list. He takes paper so when the judge can’t find his he can hand him a copy. It’s very frustrating.

Q

Has the Bar’s adoption of new technologies developed at all alongside advances in the wider legal sector, and what are some of the biggest technological influences?

ER. It’s not specific to the legal sector, but there’s the curse of email and the ‘always on’ environment. I’m not even talking about outside chambers; members of chambers struggle with solicitors who send them an email asking for their thoughts, then following it up by phoning the clerk two hours later if they haven’t heard back.

You can’t expect a two-hour turnaround response to something that could be a vey complex problem, especially in our field.

Q

Is public access to legal services an area where you have seen improvement, and where are there still barriers to access that need to be overcome?

CK. In general, public access to legal services has improved hugely, and it needed to, because the law was intimidating, you didn’t know how much it was going to cost, and it was inaccessible in terms of language and service delivery. But now you’ve got legal services being advertised on TV, legal services available online and a whole range of methods for service delivery.

There are solicitors who are paving the way for great access to legal services and are really trying to get their brand known among the public. The fact that Co-op has cornered the wills market and the television adverts that promote 24/7 access and an instant quote are the kind of things that will make legal services more accessible.

Q

What do you identify as the key challenges that chambers will face in the years to come?

CK. It depends on what kind of chambers you’re in. Some sets in niche areas or with commercial practices will be fine as long as they can develop their markets and their services. At the other end, the challenges will come from cuts and the changes to the solicitor market. You can see that there are some firms that are vying for control of the mass market; they want to be one of the five brand leaders in legal services. They will need some barristers to work on the more complex cases, but some chambers will be offered bulk rates to do the bulk work that comes from these branded firms.

I imagine there will be bigger chambers and firms. The average chambers size when I joined in 1990 was 22, and it’s now up to something like 48, but we already have chambers that are over 200.

At every level, chambers have had to respond to modern consumers Christine Kings 18 Modern Law

Christine Kings Christine Kings is director at Outer Temple Chambers. She was chair of the Barmark panel, on the Organising Committee for the Bar Conference, and has been active on Bar Council/BSB committees and working groups covering, among other things, quality standards, E&D, entity regulation, public access and new business models for the bar. Until recently she was joint chair of the LPMA and Chair of Legal Action Group. A former chair of the Mary Ward Legal Centre, and treasurer of the Bar Pro Bono Unit.

She helped set up Doughty Street Chambers in 1990 and was chief executive there until 2007.

Edith Robertson Edith Robertson has been working with the Bar for over 25 years. After various management positions in industry, she started her clerking career as First Junior at 4 Pump Court, and then moved to Goldsmith Building where she was Senior Clerk for seven years. She joined Falcon Chambers in January 2000 where she is Chambers Director. She has served on numerous Bar Council and BSB committees. Along with Christine Kings she has been a part of the LPMA since its inception.

Q

How will the LPMA continue to support the profession with the challenges and opportunities the next few years will present?

CK. LPMA has good relationships with all the regulatory bodies, and they keep the LPMA informed on anything we ought to know about. We’ve said to the BSB that if they want to make changes to the way chambers work, speak to us first, because we’re the ones who are going to have to persuade people to comply within chambers.

There are going to be a lot of changes, but it’s a profession under continuing change. The GDPR is a good example; the LPMA had a session on what the implications would be for chambers. Nobody really knows how exactly it’s going to impact on us, but the LPMA is working with the Institute of Barristers’ Clerks and the Bar Council to produce templates for the profession so that we’re not all reinventing the wheel.

ER. The LPMA membership is increasing. The biggest advocates for the LPMA are its members. Very often when people are appointed to different positions in their chambers, another member of the LPMA gets in touch with them to welcome them, meet them and tell them about the LPMA. We know we’re all in competition to an extent, but that doesn’t stop there being a collegiate atmosphere where we’re able to support each other.

The LPMA is in very good hands. We wouldn’t have taken this opportunity to leave if we didn’t think there were some very good people to take it forward.

Issue 32

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EDITORIAL BOARD

Making sure regulation keeps up with technology F

rom cybercrime to robot lawyers, technology is changing how the legal sector works at a rapid rate.

As technology changes, so do the public’s expectations. Many people now expect to be able to choose services at the click of a button. Research shows that around half of consumers want online legal services. We are now seeing law firms increasingly adapting and innovating to meet their clients’ expectations and to grow their business.

As a regulator, we need to make sure we are keeping up with such change. For example, if your firm uses an offsite server to hold client information on a cloud, then we expect you to comply with the Code of Conduct and confidentiality. That means making sure that your provider is just as compliant to keep client information safe.

The risks of cybercrime

There are many advantages to firms being able to hold information electronically. For instance, files can be encrypted quickly, data can be backed up easily, information can be accessed anywhere and is cheap to store. And the ability to communicate with clients through emails has clearly sped up many a legal process.

Yet cybercrime is a risk we all know about. Whether it is money or sensitive client information, law firms are an obvious target. We recently reported that there has been a record number of reports of cyber thefts from law firms reported in the first quarter of this year, with house moves the main target. Around three-quarters involve some form of email hacking fraud, where criminals modify emails and alter bank details so funds go to the criminal.

This year we brought together experts, from the National Crime Agency to Microsoft, to discuss cyber security risks. There was an agreement that too often organisations view cyber-security as an IT, rather than business, risk. It needs engagement and ownership at a senior management and Board level. Training staff is important, but businesses also need to develop a culture where cybersecurity is treated as a serious priority.

We need to make sure that our regulation is not a block to new ways or working, while still providing appropriate protection to the public and maintaining high professional standards (AI) to analyse data and precedents in order to free up time for solicitors and save money for clients.

Innovation can come in many forms, from new ways of structuring your business to delivering new services or old services in new ways. We need to make sure that our regulation is not a block to new ways or working, while still providing appropriate protection to the public and maintaining high professional standards.

We have been making a number of reforms to make sure we do this. We have already made good progress on enabling different business models, as well as plans to free up solicitors to work in new markets. Our plans for a simpler Handbook aim to move away from ticking boxes to putting more trust in professional judgement. That means we can make changes to give solicitors and firms greater flexibility.

We are also looking to do more to help those that want to bring fresh ideas to legal services. Our SRA Innovate programme includes a dedicated section of our website with information for those exploring new ways of working, as well as an events where innovators from across the sector can share their ideas.

People and processes are also as crucial as technology. Law firms should consider having rigorous and unambiguous procedures for when clients notify them of any changes to their personal information or bank details during a transaction.

We have also developed an innovation ‘safe space’, which aims to encourage firms to come to us to explore innovative ways of providing services that could benefit the public and small businesses. We are proposing a ‘no enforcement tool’ in line with the approach taken at, for example, the Civil Aviation Authority, which has allowed the testing of drones for parcel delivery, although this breaches its current rules.

We will continue to provide updates through our Risk Outlook, so we can help the sector stay on top of the latest risks and trends in this area.

We will continue to need to adapt to make sure our regulation keeps pace with change, and continue to welcome views on how we can encourage innovation.

Encouraging innovation

If you want to get in touch to explore your innovative ideas, please contact the SRA’s professional ethics team on 0370 606 2577

New technology also presents huge opportunities. Creative use of IT can help legal work become more efficient and enable legal businesses to both save money and become more in tune with clients’ expectations.

Jane Malcolm, Executive Director, External Affairs, Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).

Examples of innovative use of technology in the sector include automation of time-consuming tasks, developing ‘virtual assistants’ to deal with legal processes and the use of artificial intelligence

Issue 32

Modern Law 23

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EDITORIAL BOARD

Driving quality and competition t will soon be a year since the CMA completed its legal services market study.1 That time has been well spent.

A great deal of work is now in progress by all the legal regulators to ensure that the recommendations of the report are translated into outcomes that work for both those who buy and those who sell legal services.

I

The market study concluded that competition in the legal services sector for individual consumers and small businesses was not working sufficiently well. The CMA’s conclusion was that a lack of information weakens the ability of consumers to drive competition.

It suggested that consumers experience ‘substantial detriment’ and that potential remedies to improve the availability of information could lead to significant long-term benefits, including improving access to legal services for less well-off consumers.

In response, all of the legal regulators have developed action plans designed to implement the necessary changes and help those who purchase legal services. By the time you read this edition of Modern Law Magazine, many of those legal regulators will have started to consult on proposals for increasing transparency in their parts of the market.

The CMA’s conclusion was that a lack of information weakens the ability of consumers to drive competition We have now concluded the initial assessment of the legal regulators’ action plans. Each of the regulators has to exercise their own independent judgement on the specific recommendations made to them by the CMA. We also appreciate that while the CMA’s focus was rightly on individual and small business consumers, this is not the primary focus of regulation for some of the legal regulators.

Overall, we are pleased with the early progress that has been made by the regulators. There is good evidence of effective collaboration between regulators, which will be important to maintain as they develop joint initiatives and to help deliver a coherent approach across the legal services market.

Looking at these action plans, four areas stand out:

Under the 2007 Legal Services Act, the Legal Services Board (LSB) and the legal regulators have a duty to promote the eight regulatory objectives. Measures designed to increase market transparency should promote various regulatory objectives, in particular: • Improving access to justice – a lack of transparency means some consumers either do not obtain legal services which they would benefit from, pay too much for the services, or seek to resolve the issue themselves even though that may not be the best option.

• Increasing competition in the provision of services in the legal sector – greater transparency about price, service and quality should create stronger incentives for legal services providers to compete on offering value for money and to innovate.

• Promoting and protecting the interests of consumers – greater transparency should help consumers to make more informed choices in the market and hopefully avoid unnecessary disputes with providers.

• Increasing public understanding of citizens’ legal rights and duties – increased engagement should make it easier for people to identify that obtaining legal advice could help them tackle the issues they face.

The LSB’s role is to: • Monitor and engage with the legal regulators on their progress in implementing the CMA’s recommendations directed to them.

• Report publicly, at appropriate intervals, on the sufficiency of action plans published by the legal regulators individually and collectively and their progress in delivering those action plans.

• Take appropriate action where regulators do not address information gaps.

Issue 32

• The benefits of understanding current levels of transparency in the market before introducing new proposals. Valuable evidence has been gathered from research to inform the regulators’ thinking.

• Some regulators prefer to rely on voluntary guidance over making mandatory rules to improve transparency. We, however, need to be convinced that voluntary guidance will create strong enough incentives for providers to disclose the full range of information that consumers need.

• Some action plans were less developed on providing information to consumers about the quality of providers. We also thought they could contain more information on improving awareness of routes to redress.

• There are ambitious plans for the Legal Choices website and we are keen to see governance and funding arrangements agreed quickly so that work can begin on improving the website.

The LSB will continue to monitor progress by the regulators individually and collectively, and we will also be considering applications from the regulators to change their rules in due course.

In the meantime, we encourage readers to engage with the consultations now being undertaken by their regulator. By contributing views and evidence, you will help the regulators to design proposals that will make the market work better for consumers and providers alike.

1. Final CMA report: https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/legal-services-market-study

Vibeke Bjornfors, Regulatory Project Manager, Legal Services Board (LSB).

Modern Law 25

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Test driving the online court est driving a new piece of technology long before its public release is usually exciting, but trepidation was the overwhelming feeling when a small group of us attended two workshops to try out the online courts prototype.

T

‘Money Claims Online’, has been worked on by the Ministry of Justice and HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) and will give form to Lord Justice Briggs’ vision of an online platform, contained in his final report on modernising the civil court structure from last year.

This new interface is intended to allow individuals to make routine money claims for up to £10,000.

While the government’s intention to modernise is commendable, it is a system that has caused real concern for the Law Society and solicitors, worried it will lead to an approach that places efficiency before justice.

Put to the test

So, having been provided with some technical information from the developers, we were invited to issue our own mock claim, stepping into the shoes of future litigants in person on both sides of a claim.

It’s obvious from the outset that HMCTS has some serious technical know-how working on this. The terminology was clear and easy to follow, and the design was crisp. The team we met stressed what we were trialling was an early prototype, and that they needed to work closely and seriously with the legal profession to create something that will stand the test of time.

Despite the constructive attitude, there is still a long way to go before the prototype is fit for purpose.

Much of our concern, reflected in the feedback we have given HMCTS, stems from the fact that working through civil litigation is not limited to a number of formulaic steps. The role of the solicitor is not only to represent clients, but also to advise them on the merit of their claim from the outset. No two cases are the same, and solicitors play a vital role in helping their clients navigate through to a just outcome.

It is a considerable task, attempting to rebuild online a court system that has developed organically over hundreds of years Ensuring pre-action protocols are complied with and careful and clear definitions of causes of action are things that a solicitor will do naturally. Without that important input, the current prototype risks getting clogged with unmeritorious claims.

A considerable task

Even so, Rome wasn’t built in a day. It is a considerable task, attempting to rebuild online a court system that has developed organically over hundreds of years.

Wider engagement with solicitors and user groups that deal with litigants in person, such as Citizens Advice Bureau, will help give a broader view of the needs and priorities of users who are likely to require assisted digital services to interact with any online interfaces. The first pilot, which is now underway, will also hopefully continue to iron out some of the wrinkles.

The technical team have expressed a willingness to listen, and a determination to ensure our justice system fits the needs of those it serves. This willingness is encouraging and commendable, but will only count if they can deliver on it. Members of the Law Society’s committees have already invested considerable time and expertise providing them the feedback they need to make the system work. Our hope must remain that they will take this feedback on board, and deliver an online court that truly does have the user, and justice, at its heart.

Alice Owen, Modernising Justice Policy Adviser, Law Society of England and Wales.

This is more than just advancing to the next stage, or filing the right form at the right time. Oversimplification risks missing important opportunities to resolve cases before they come to court, or through alternative venues such as ACAS for employment claims.

In its current form, the system risks losing the important triaging and sifting role that solicitors play when providing early legal advice to those who may be looking to make a claim.

The approach has a sense of well-intentioned technical expertise, but lacking “on the ground” legal experience from those who issue and respond to claims, and it comes up in a number of places.

Issue 32

Modern Law 27

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EDITORIAL BOARD

An untapped resource?

Connecting with the community

Can law firms afford to not take advantage of social media, and how can social media be used by law firms as a tool for standing out?

How do you feel the legal sector is currently perceived by the public, and what can firms do to maintain a good reputation?

ocial media isn’t a flash in the pan. It’s here to stay, and these days it plays an important role in the daily lives of virtually everyone, and it’s changing the way clients and businesses interact.

he legal sector has always been viewed with some degree of suspicion by the public, and the expression ‘fat cat lawyers’ has become accepted into the nation’s parlance. There often seems little public recognition of the benefits to individuals and to the economy of the availability of good legal advice.

S

A strong social media campaign is one of the most cost-effective ways to reach thousands of potential clients, and with that comes the ability to increase revenue at a much lower cost than traditional marketing methods. As an added benefit, it also increases a firm’s visibility, and the chance to establish a reputation as an industry leader.

Savvier law firms are using some of the below techniques to harness the power of social media and effectively handle the risks, simultaneously building an online presence of expertise and approachability: To improve client service: as a starting point, social media can be used to ‘listen’, that is, to see what clients and prospective clients are saying about the services on offer, the solicitors at the firm, client care and the overall client experience.

Armed with an understanding of how a firm is portrayed online will provide in-house marketing teams and/or senior management with insights as to how the client service and experience can be enhanced (whether the discussions taking place are positive or negative), and from here can set realistic benchmarks and integrate these into the wider marketing strategy.

To build authority: one of the major perks to using social media is that it allows firms to demonstrate their industry knowledge, whether that’s sector-specific information, or general advice for those experiencing legal issues. The use of online platforms means that firms are in control of what they post and when, and this can include helpful resources and thought-leadership articles on trending topics, or even to simply demonstrate a more ‘human’ side to the firm using its culture and social engagement.

To gain a competitive advantage: the increasing use of social media within the legal profession means it’s easier for firms to gain competitive intelligence, and keep tabs on competitors. This information can then be leveraged, enabling firms to provide differing insights and new perspectives on particular topics, and contributing to a reputation of authority.

For many firms, the perceived risks of social media can outweigh the benefits. However, missing out on a social media marketing strategy means missing out on an untapped resource of potential business that most firms simply cannot afford to ignore.

T

One of the things that individual firms can do is to connect more to their local communities. Until very recently, most organisations have employed their future lawyers from the oversupply of law graduates, offering traineeships to those with the requisite academic results who are prepared to move anywhere in the country to secure a contract. Legal services organisations have not typically reached into their own neighbourhoods, except to fulfil administrative and secretarial roles.

All this is now changing with the advent of legal apprenticeships.

Forward-thinking firms now see these as a vehicle for engaging with their local communities and are going out into career fairs to recruit school leavers to start as apprentices in the September after they sit their A levels. Legal apprenticeships are now available for paralegal, Chartered Legal Executive and solicitor training.

Recent research by the Sutton Trust found that 74% of school-age respondents said they were likely or very likely to go on to higher education, down from a high of 81% in 2013. This means that there is now a supply of bright school leavers looking for career opportunities without incurring the tuition and maintenance costs of university.

Some of our clients are running open days within their premises as well as offering summer placements for prospective apprentices.

Parents who attend open days with their 18-year-olds will gain insight into the legal profession beyond their narrow client experiences, and this is a great way to showcase what lawyers are really like and how the profession serves the community.

During their training, apprentices fulfil the paralegal roles historically filled by disaffected law graduates, who have failed to secure a training contract. It doesn’t take much to see that apprentices and their families can become genuine local champions for the organisations who give them a start. This strategy also helps to meet CSR equality and diversity criteria, which are increasingly an aspect of tendering for public sector business.

And, of course, depending on the size of the organisation, training costs are drawn down from levy payments or from public funding, making the financial imperative very convincing too.

Noel Inge, Managing Director, CILEx Law School.

Sarah Roberts, Marketing Executive, Eclipse Legal Systems.

Issue 32

Modern Law 29

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The modern cloud

To Tweet or not to Tweet? Can e-branding & social media help your firm stand out in the digital age?

How can smaller and mid-sized firms keep up with the technological pace set by larger firms?

Why should law firms devote precious time and resources to the development of their e-brand?

oday’s legal professionals are under an increasing amount of pressure to adapt to evolving workplace and client demands, while effectively enabling the creation, sharing, governance and security of their organisation’s work product.

That pressure is felt by technology leaders and their teams, who are passionate about providing the highest level of services and effective tools, and it’s felt by firms of all sizes, from smaller boutique firms to larger firms with international reach.

or many smaller firms, there will always be excuses not to develop their e-brand: ‘We cannot spare the time/ resources’; ‘New websites are expensive - we can make do’; ‘Social media isn’t relevant to us.’

In recent years, the cloud has gained traction in the legal world to meet these needs; firms of all sizes opting to purchase solutions that are available as a cloud service rather than a traditional onpremises deployment.

Global Web Index’s Media Report 2017 shows that 16-24 year-olds spend seven hours each day viewing online media, and just three hours with broadcast and print media. Add the fact that millennials spend one in three minutes online on Social Media accounts, and it becomes clear that the future of successful branding lies with an effective online presence.

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Modern clouds are built on top of vast technology innovations of the past decade and take full advantage of great leaps in artificial intelligence (AI), scaling, resiliency and intelligent security.

Consider the following a quick checklist of some of the key characteristics of a modern cloud: 1) AI Enhanced – Solving practical problems for modern users Provides ‘smarter’ technology to analyse legal documents like contracts and leases, identify information, which is privileged or subject to compliance and automate document classification for easier search and governance.

2) Elastic Computing – Scaling without hindrance Elastic computing is the new dominant paradigm, allowing a modern cloud to keep their site performing highly.

3) Resiliency and Availability — Uninterrupted uptime A modern approach to the cloud recognises that components can and will fail, and the application is designed to automatically route itself around these inevitable component failures.

4) Intelligent Security — Advanced protection of sensitive data A modern cloud provides state of the art security to managing system and application security.

Another item to consider: if a cloud service doesn’t capitalise on the spectacular technological innovations of the past decade, it is not a modern cloud. A modern cloud can be used by businesses, small and large, to keep overhead down and profits up, and smaller firms can more than keep up with the technological pace set by larger firms.

Geoff Hornsby, General Manager, EMEA of iManage.

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These can seem persuasive when business is good, or cash-flow and resources are stretched. However, neglecting your firm’s e-brand could leave you trailing in the race for future business.

A great website can be your firm’s best advertising - portraying brand, promoting communication and putting information at the fingertips of potential clients. Equipping it with applications such as Google Analytics also provides insight into the demographics of users and gives feedback on how your content is performing.

Developing an effective website does require financial investment, and taking the cheapest option can result in a site which is outdated within a couple of years. Invest properly now and a website can remain integrated, scalable and adaptable to your firm’s e-branding needs for years to come.

That sounds great, but without means of driving traffic to the site, you will not reap the benefits. This is where social media is key going forwards. Being active on Twit-Link-Book will not directly bring in new business, but as an integrated part of your e-brand, it has the ability to drive significant traffic to your website, where you can sell the firm to best effect.

All the main social media channels will display a holding page for your company anyway, so why not take control of the way people view your firm online? You do not need to divert vast resources from elsewhere. Simply by linking social media feeds to your website, and posting articles from your website on social outlets, a small-scale but regular posting schedule will keep your firm uppermost in the minds of potential clients, and expand your online reach massively.

The up-front investment in online e-branding may seem onerous, but it generates real savings in print marketing costs and ensures the firm is ready to stand out in an ever-expanding digital marketplace. Firms are increasingly finding this investment worthwhile, and with bank lending remaining cautious, many firms turn to alternative funders such as VFS Legal to provide the cash flow required to invest in their digital future.

Mark Richardson, Technical Operations Manager, VFS Legal Funding.

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Modern Law 31

Do you want to improve profitability and benefit from new talent?

Legal apprenticeships allow you to develop bright school leavers into competent paralegal staff.

Our client organisations throughout England and Wales are taking advantage of this new source of talent.

To find out how to make legal apprenticeships work for your organisation, please contact Jenny Pelling on 01234 844326 or j.pelling@cilexlawschool.ac.uk.

CILEx Law School, College House, Manor Drive, Kempston, Bedford MK42 7AB www.cilexlawschool.ac.uk

EDITORIAL BOARD

Fixed fees for all Are fixed fees applicable across the consumer legal sector, and if not, where are the areas that traditional pricing models will always be utilised? ixed fees are nothing new. We can get our car serviced for a fixed fee, have a set three course meal for a fixed fee and even have surgery for a fixed fee on a private basis.

Whilst fixed fees have gained a regular spot in some area of legal practice, such as wills, probate and conveyancing, these have not found favour in contentious work or even larger transaction and commercial work, where one would think that cost certainty would be attractive.

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It is the imponderables of a case, project or instructions, combined with the evergreen tendency of lawyers undervaluing themselves and their work, that instinctively makes lawyer shy away from fixed fees. The hourly rate is easy, everyone is comfortable with it and it works when it is difficult to assess value at an early stage. It works regardless or case size or volume and, crucially for lawyers, it pushes all the risk onto the client.

But hang on, there is a better way! Hourly rates reward the slow and inefficient and fail frequently to recognise the productive and efficient. It drives bad behaviours, often when chargeable time targets are unrealistic, resulting in “time dumping”. It encourages excessive work and creates a conflict of interest, discourages client communications and seldom reflects the client’s perception of value. All this encourages client scrutiny and puts under the microscope the original scoping of the work and fee estimate.

Numerous surveys demonstrate that clients want transparency and certainty more than lowest price when buying legal services. It’s also about value. The business of determining a fair and reasonable fee was summarised as “an exercise in assessment, an exercise in balanced judgment, not an arithmetical calculation” in Property & Reversionary Investment Corporation v Secretary of State for the Environment [1975] 2 All ER 436.

Pricing legal services is a skill and is as much about confidence, in a profession where very few enjoy talking to clients about money. With the right induction, any lawyer can use fixed fees for almost any job. The determining factor is as much the client as the piece of work being undertaken, and accepting it is an exercise in collaboration. Whether it is a deathbed will or the purchase of a chain of commercial premises, a fixed fee can do the job!

Even in contentious work, with adequate scoping, inclusions and exclusions, (especially with four years costs budgeting under our belts in multi-track litigation) this should be workable. After all, LJ Jackson has now published his supplemental report introducing fixed fees in cases valued up to £100k. Surely clients will now expect some imagination on fixed fees on a solicitor and client basis, to reflect that imposed between the parties!

One step ahead How prepared are organisations for the ever-escalating cyber threat? e read negative headlines every day about companies that have suffered a serious data breach. Though it is not just the dent this makes in your reputation that you should be worried about. Soon there will also be crippling fines as a result of the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). From 25th May 2018, UK businesses that suffer a data breach face a potential fine of €20m or 4% of global annual turnover (whichever is greater).

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Despite widespread awareness around cyber security, there’s a reason why cyber-attacks are still so effective: hackers continue to stay one step ahead. Attackers continue to increase their level of sophistication, and there are now dozens of different ways that hackers can attempt to get their hands on your data.

Time for a transition

With ever-sophisticated cyber-attackers ready to pounce at every turn, the threat is immense. Late last month, while we were basking in some early summer sun, networks around the globe were busy trying to fend off the latest malware outbreak.

Dubbed Petya 2.0 or NotPetya, the ransomware affected victims including advertising conglomerate WPP, shipping goliath Maersk and the radiation monitoring systems in Chernobyl. Once inside a corporate network, it wormed its way from computer to computer, trashing the infected machines’ filesystems.

All businesses, no matter what size or sector, need to transition from an ‘if’ to a ‘when’ mind-set, which involves proper preparation and comprehensive planning for all potential scenarios. Reassuringly, we are already seeing a notable change, and businesses are now better prepared than they have been. A 2017 Government report found that almost three-quarters of UK businesses consider cyber security to be a very high priority, and three in five (58 per cent) have already sought information, advice or guidance from IT experts regarding the specific threats they face.

Don’t be afraid to ask

Never be afraid to ask for advice. The current cyber threat landscape can be an intimidating place, so many turn to specialist IT providers for guidance and advice on the specific types of attack they should be looking out for and how they can mitigate the associated risks. By working with the right IT provider, businesses can also benefit from an increased agility in responding to any attacks.

Gavin Russell, CEO, Wavex.

Richard Allen, Senior Consultant and Costs Lawyer, Burcher Jennings.

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Modern Law 33

EDITORIAL BOARD

Integrating third-party systems into your case management system

Occupational Life Insurance and the £1m Pensions Lifetime Allowance

ately integration has become somewhat of a buzzword for legal service suppliers when discussing a link between their services and the client’s existing software. The importance of integration is obvious, and when done well, the benefits are many and varied, but it has become clear that there is some confusion around what a proper integration looks like. In my years as a legal IT Director and visiting clients in my current role, it has become clear that integration is used as a loose term.

he reduction in the Pensions Lifetime Allowance to £1m has caused headaches for staff and partners at a number of law firms we work with. What is less well known is how a firm’s occupational death in service scheme payout can adversely impact the lifetime allowance calculation in the event of a premature demise.

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Many integrations offered are typically one-way solutions, whereby you click a link or button, and details such as matter, number and name are pulled through. However, this is often as far as the integration goes, leaving a gap where the information and disbursement should be sent back.

The primary issues of not having proper two-way integration is the leakage of disbursements, leading to revenue loss, and the possibility of information being missed or entered in error, in effect, making the integration more of a hindrance than a help.

We see integration differently. The concept that both systems talk to one another is vital. Integration should always involve two way communication. While InfoTrack can be used as a standalone website also, it has been an integrated system since its inception, and that means years of experience to ensure our clients receive the optimal integration experience.

Our integration draws information from your CMS to populate the relevant fields in InfoTrack. Your results, and all documents and disbursements are then tied back to the matter in your CMS. The sharing of information between the two systems eliminates keying errors and maintains consistency across all platforms, from your matter through to your accounting ledger.

So the next time a supplier mentions that their offering is integrated, ask yourself these three questions: 1. Does it send line items back to the ledger and update the matter history?

2. Does it prevent leakage from written off disbursements?

3. Is the change in time/productivity measurable?

The key to successful integration is linking together the various activities and systems required during a matter and making the transition between these as seamless as possible. A wise man once said they believed that the future lay in integrated software.

People don’t want to access multiple systems, rekeying logins, information, and manually entering disbursements. It is all well and good to have an integrated system, but unless it is actually saving significant time, eliminating missed disbursements and updating the matter history every time, where is the point?

Phil Whitehead, GM Alliances, InfoTrack.

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The payout on a group death in service scheme is typically either a multiple of salary (employees) or a level amount (partners).

Where this is structured as a ‘registered group life’ scheme, the payout of the sum assured counts towards the Lifetime Allowance calculation on death. In cases where the total sum of benefits ‘crystallised’ from pensions and such insurance policies exceed the standard £1m lifetime allowance; this might attach a 55% tax charge to what might otherwise not be taxed.

Who could be Impacted?

It could impact a range of partners or employees. Some, but by no means all, examples include individuals with: • Substantial flat rate of insurance cover • An earnings and salary multiple close to or in excess of £1m • Substantial pension savings • Permutations and combinations of the above Increasingly, more policies are structured as Excepted Group Life policies. The crucial difference is the insurance cover payout does not feature in the Pensions Lifetime Allowance calculation.

Points to Consider

Thankfully, Individual Protection 2016 or Fixed Protection 2016 pensions protection certificates remain available and can increase the Lifetime Allowance from £1m to a higher amount of up to £1.25m, provided certain criteria are met by the applicant.

Those potentially affected may wish to consider taking actions such as: 1. Contacting scheme administrators to understand how the insurance is structured 2. Reviewing the cover level where the amount is flexible 3. Assessing whether Lifetime Allowance pension protection needs to be implemented On death, if it is discovered this situation brings about an unintended tax charge, recent legislation introducing the Fixed and Individual Protection 2016 pension protection certificates also permits applications to be undertaken by executors of an individual’s estate on their death, potentially reducing or eliminating the tax charge faced by executors.

Independent advice should be sought. This nuance of the pensions legislation combined with the new, lower Pensions Lifetime Allowance has the propensity to catch many people out without action being taken.

Andrew McErlean, Chartered Financial Planner, Saunderson House.

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Modern Law 35

EDITORIAL BOARD

Fees and feedback

Not if, but when

How do you feel the legal sector is currently perceived by the public, and what can firms do to maintain a good reputation?

What steps can firms take in order to educate their employees about cyber threats?

ue to the legal complexities of everyday life, many individuals have tales of woe regarding the legal sector. Unfortunately, owing to historic and current scams, confidence in the financial sector is indistinguishable. There are, however, steps that can be taken to attempt to repair the sectors’ reputations.

i, it’s Peter, I’m stuck at the airport and the flight has been cancelled, to make matters worse, my wallet’s been stolen.

Is there a chance you can loan me €500 to sort out this mess? I’ll send you my bank details on reply. Thanks.” You know Peter, one of the commercial property partners? Except it’s not.

His email has been spoofed, and a scammer is trying to make money out of you using a confidence trick. Cyber threats appear in many forms, from emails and attachments containing viruses, to state sponsored attacks. These days it’s not a question of if, but when a firm is likely to be the target of a cyber-attack. The education process for a firm must be undertaken at all levels, and from the moment an employee is inducted into the organisation, to continuous awareness as new threats are discovered. It is not something to be done once, or left to the IT department alone.

It is not just about making sure the technology is up-to-date; the human factor must not be forgotten.

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A primary gripe from clients surrounds the ambiguous fee structures still applied in the legal sector. The trepidation of accumulating a considerable bill for ringing their solicitor can often mean clients remain unaware of how their case is progressing.

A transition to fixed-fee structures, as is the case in many IFA practices, allows the client/professional relationship to be built on a transparent understanding of how charges will be incurred.

Internal research regarding timescales for specific tasks allows for the accurate implementation of pricing models. Through this, clients should comprehend the pricing structure and gain confidence in your firm, which could lead to repeat work in the future.

Recent patterns dictate that professionally referred clients have a greater awareness of the level of fees charged by legal and financial sector firms and are, therefore, more willing to proceed with advice.

Conversely, clients identifying practices through online sources, or who are unfamiliar with legal or financial services, are less likely to proceed and choose to shop around; favouring price over quality of service. This is often due to a ‘shock’ when learning about the level of fees involved. To combat this, contact professional connections regularly to ensure they are informed about fee structures and services your firm provides. A firm-wide Professional Partner Programme, to keep a record of your connections, will ensure they are aware of any changes and the clients you are looking for. Whilst this is not direct client facing action, this will help build a strong reputation in the professional community.

Regarding online sources, attention must be paid to your firm’s online reputation, as particular reliance is now placed on internet based sources. The ability to post online is easy and, unfortunately, action is often taken in the heat of the moment following poor service. The majority of complainants are appeased by a genuine apology when fault arises; whilst human error cannot be entirely eradicated, you can ensure your reaction to error is without fault.

If necessary, address your complaints procedure; if possible, solve smaller issues before they become damaging online reviews, and this may reduce the amount of negative reviews that can often lead to a reduction in business.

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Organisations will have an information security policy, and part of that should be promoting awareness of cyber threats. This, in conjunction with their data breach policy, forms a key part of the business strategy. A key principle of the cyber threats policy should be on education; making employees aware of the most common cyber threats, and the most common attack vectors for them (it is not always a virus loaded email).

Once a policy is in place and the education process is undertaken, performing tests to see if the message is getting through should be considered.

I had a conversation with an IT director of a law firm some years back. He sent out an email to all the partners and senior members of the firm’s management team with a link in it, asking them to click on the link and follow the instructions. When the emails started rolling in to him with users account names and passwords, he knew that there was a problem.

Colin Fowle, Managing Director, Blue Car Technologies Limited.

Josh Richardson MLaw DipPFS, Financial Planner, Informed Financial Planning.

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Modern Law 37

EDITORIAL BOARD

The obstacles of a paperless future

Becoming social media savvy

number of law firms now purport to be largely paperless.

The technology is certainly available, with a wide range of very effective scanning and OCR solutions now within an affordable price range. Currently, there is still a requirement to retain original court papers and sensitive documents such as deeds and wills in paper format. However, one particular Linetime customer, for example, recently reported that this represents a mere 5% of the previous volume of paper being processed and stored by the firm.

Can law firms afford to not take advantage of social media, and how can social media be used by law firms as a tool for standing out?

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One barrier to the paperless aspirations of some firms can be the inadequate management of the electronic files. Unless your document management allows effective search and retrieval facilities, then the temptation will exist to retain original material.

The system should allow deep text searching within documents, including PDFs. Ideally, this should allow searches using Boolean logic and fuzzy matching.

Another obstacle tends to be staff participation. Old habits do indeed, die hard. A good combination of case and document management software can introduce other efficiencies that can incentify members of staff to “join in”. Once there is realisation of the advantages presented, by everything being easy to find and available at the touch of a button, then engagement can become self-propelled. However, it is likely that some colleagues may require additional “encouragement”.

The arrival of GDPR in 2018 should certainly affect the attitude of senior management in terms of resistance to a shift to paperless.

The penalties for non-compliance are set to be fairly draconian and will target the responsible individuals personally. Without going into detail about GDPR, it basically concerns the protection of data and the rights of the people to whom that data relates. With a non-indexed paper based system, management of that data will be very difficult and therefore costly. Documents that are held electronically are also much easier to protect and control.

Even the essential documents mentioned earlier have the potential to be held elsewhere. Scanned images can represent them locally whilst the original is held somewhere off site. So the paper still exists but expensive office space can be freed up. Obviously, to enable this the case management system must allow records to indicate storage locations and manage checking in and out procedures.

Digital signatures are also a must for consideration. Traditional wet signatures by their very nature will perpetuate the need for paper.

The digital method is now widely accepted as legitimate and firms should look to harness the efficiencies it provides.

Phil Snee, Development Director, Linetime Ltd.

ave law firms missed the boat when it comes to social media? While businesses in other sectors seem to be falling over themselves to extol the benefits of social media, those operating in more traditional sectors have been slower to use it for marketing and brand awareness.

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Legal firms, like other professional services organisations, are innately social. They depend heavily on social interactions with clients and colleagues to develop new business and to carry out their work. But this hasn’t translated to social media adoption.

There are multiple reasons for why this might be. We know that many legal practices have retained a lot of traditional working practice, which may lead some to believe that sticking with traditional marketing and communication channels will be of benefit. But with 70% of British adults being active on social media, can law firms afford to ignore this?

We work closely with law firms for conveyancing searches and services. We’ve seen first-hand the value of engaging with social media and believe there are three key reasons why law firms should be getting involved: 1. Your clients and potential clients are there already and open to communicating in this way.

2. They may well be talking about you and the services you offer.

3. Your competitors will use it, even if you don’t!

How can you start?

It’s easy to create social media profiles, but getting started, creating a plan and keeping up momentum can be difficult. We therefore suggest you focus on the following points: 1. Before searching for content to share, you need to figure out what your audience likes. Research what they’re saying, what they search for and follow best practice by looking at what other firms are doing. Then do the same, but add thought-leadership to create a conversation.

2. Make someone responsible for managing your profiles and posting updates.

3. Set an achievable target for how often you’ll post and create an editorial calendar so that posts can be written in advance and scheduled to allow you to focus on other things.

4. Remember that social media is meant to be social, so reply to questions and comments, and feel free to share great content from others that’s of interest to your audience.

5. Finally, at the end of each month, look at how successful your activity has been and use that insight to plan for the next month so you can stand out from the crowd.

Susan Fairbrass, Marketing Manager, Geodesys.

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Modern Law 39

EDITORIAL BOARD

How can law firms best action feedback?

What is the best practice for firms when faced with a complaint, and how can firms utilise positive feedback they receive? hen it comes to providing excellent customer care, listening to your clients’ feedback is a must. When your clients feel that they are truly heard and that their suggestions are actioned, they are far more likely to enter into a long-term relationship with your firm and recommend you to their social and professional networks.

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While you likely strive to give exemplary service at all times, there will always be times that you stumble and fail to meet your clients’ expectations. While your first instinct might be to sweep the complaint under the rug and chalk it up as a one time problem, this is a big mistake. Not only does Chapter 1 of the Solicitors’ Code of Conduct 2011 mandate that you must have a policy for dealing with complaints, but the best firms know that complaints can actually be a catalyst for success. How can you learn from your mistakes if you are unwilling to admit that they exist?

The best law firms know that when you receive a complaint, the most important thing you can do to rectify the situation is to listen to your client, avoid shifting the blame and accept responsibility for your lapse in service. Your client should be able to see that you are treating their complaint with the gravity it deserves and are taking steps to rectify the problem. This will inspire a renewed sense of trust, and it will be your best chance to salvage your relationship and reputation in this instance.

Thankfully, not all feedback is negative. When you receive positive feedback, you might fail to see this for the opportunity that it is. This is a major asset for any business, and you can leverage it into further success. While general feedback is always appreciated, ideally you want to learn more about the specifics that went well. This will help you expand upon and grow even stronger in these areas.

You should already be sending your clients feedback requests after every completed case, but it’s now time to assess your questions to ensure that you are digging deep enough. A mixture of ratingoriented questions and open ended questions will usually yield the richest results.

You should also consider inviting past clients to feedback sessions or roundtable discussions; people like to talk about their experiences, and this strategy can help you drill down into their opinions. By learning exactly what went right, you can even more effectively prevent things from going wrong.

Mahinan Pathmanathan, Director, Smart Legal.

The myth of multi-tasking and the price of paying attention or years we have been patting ourselves on the back thinking that we’d solved the modern dilemna of too much to do in too little time. We all blithely accepted that multitasking was the grail of time and self-management. We were wrong.

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We might think it’s a good idea to review a document whilst sitting on a conference call, but we too often miss the crucial point or get caught out when addressed by name on the line. Multitasking simply defers a problem or otherwise creates another. It may sound old-fashioned but really there’s just no substitute for prioritising, applying your mind to the matter at hand and then concentrating hard.

Our brains are remarkable but they do have limitations and these usually show up when we do too much at once – when we multi task. Humans suffer from a cognitive bandwidth restriction.

To understand just one person speaking, it takes up half our capacity. We’re surrounded by texts, emails and billions of people conversing, but in reality we can only understand two people speaking at the same time. Is it any surprise we don’t retain key meeting points or remember what we came upstairs for?

Information overload puts a strain on our decision making abilities.

Our brains are capable of making only a certain number of decisions per day and each one costs the same amount of mental energy; the brain simply doesn’t distinguish between the gravity of signing a loan agreement or which shoes to wear. Once our daily decision-making limit is reached, we struggle to make more, regardless of importance. Every thought and decision we make comes at a cost. The idiom “paying attention” is spot on – our attention is a limited resource and we should spend it wisely.

Conserving our precious attention resource is essential if we want to get the best out of our working day. When Barack Obama was asked about the pressures of assuming the role of US President, he said it was important to “focus your decision-making energy”.

He famously cut out non-essential daily decisions by getting up at the same time and wearing the same colour suit and shirt every day. Highly successful people recognise and deal with attention and decision-making limitations and we should take the time to learn their lessons. Kaplan Altior provide specialist time and management skills training for lawyers of all levels and are implementing elearning tools to increase convenience and further maximise learning time.

Let’s not berate ourselves for finding it difficult to process each day’s deluge of information - we’re only human after all. Instead of juggling, spinning plates and generally multi-tasking, we should prioritise time to learn how best to pay attention.

Alisa Gray, Business Development Director, Kaplan Altior.

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Issue 32

FEATURES

GDPR will bring good data to your practice Dominic Cullis, GDPR Academy, explains that, despite all the scaremongering, GDPR can be a positive benefit for your practice if you are properly prepared. he holding of personal data is regulated in England and Wales by the Data Protection Act 1998. This Act will be superseded by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) when its provisions take effect on 25th May 2018.

The principles of the GDPR are similar to those of the Data Protection Act 1998, however, the GDPR includes significant new obligations for organisations and grants individuals a range of new rights.

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GDPR will be a positive benefit for organisations that are serious about protecting their clients’ personal data. Early compliance with GDPR will position firms to pick up business where an incumbent supplier has failed to embrace the new regulations.

GDPR will be policed by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in the same way that the Data Protection Act has been. The ICO will no longer levy the annual £35 corporate charge but will instead be fully funded by the fines it imposes on businesses that fail to comply with GDPR. Fines will increase significantly under GDPR compared with those imposed by the ICO under the Data Protection Act. The maximum fine will be €20,000,000 or 4% of group annual turnover, compared with £500,000 currently.

There is an informative guide to GDPR available on the ICO website (ico.org.uk) to help explain the provisions of GDPR to enable firms to prepare. Training is an essential element for a business to be compliant with GDPR. Well-educated personnel are less likely to make mistakes and cause a breach of personal data. eLearning is an ideal way for practice managers to ensure all staff obtain the training they require in convenient bite size chunks.

The GDPR Academy is dedicated to providing up to date information about GDPR and the Data Protection Bill currently working its way through Parliament. GDPR Academy courses combine video, animations, infographics and downloadable technical documents combined with multiple-choice quizzes to ensure a topic has been successfully learned.

Law firms hold vast amounts of customer personal data with the nature of transactions, including data for conveyancing, family law and corporate transactions, so any law firm data breach will be taken very seriously by the ICO. Firms must protect themselves as diligently as possible and demonstrate that they have taken all possible steps to avoid a data breach.

Firms need to identify that all personal data that they hold in relation to staff, clients, prospects and suppliers is not only secure but that it has been compiled according the GDPR regulations and that it is managed accordingly. The past ways of gathering a prospect list won’t necessarily be compliant with the new regime.

Firms now need to demonstrate good procedure, compliance and express permission from the owners of the data.

42 Modern Law

A firm’s defences are only as strong as the weakest element, and a junior person clicking on a malware link can infect the whole firm’s system and leave it vulnerable to a cyber hack Law firms must demonstrate that they have a data protection policy, including a data protection breach policy, as a breach must be notified to the ICO within 72 hours of occurrence.

Cyber security is an integral part of protection against data breach, and law firms are at high risk of cyber-attack due to the very nature of their business, for example in the conveyancing frauds that we have seen recently, where emails have been spoofed to dupe purchasers to transfer funds into the accounts of criminals.

The Government Cyber Essentials programme is a good place to start to establish how well your practice is protected against cyber attacks https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/scheme/cyber-essentials.

Protection against cybercrime is as much based on the human element as it is on technological solutions. A firm’s defences are only as strong as the weakest element, and a junior person clicking on a malware link can infect the whole firm’s system and leave it vulnerable to a cyber hack. This is where training is of the utmost importance, and by taking eLearning courses a firm’s training can be continually monitored, thus affording the firm a measure of accountable protection against the consequences of any breach.

It is estimated that only 20% of UK businesses will be GDPR-ready at by the time the regulation comes into force. Good governance aids good practice and firms that are properly prepared for GDPR and best protected against cyber threats by demonstrating their compliance with policies, training and management will be able to use this governance to run their firms more smoothly and take advantage of the new regulations.

Dominic Cullis is CEO of GDPR Academy.

Issue 32

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FEATURES

REGIONAL FOCUS: Devon and Somerset Interview with Sue Aggett Modern Law extended its regional focus to Devon and Somerset and spoke to Sue Aggett, President of the Devon and Somerset Law Society, about the progress of the society and her plans for the next year.

Q A

What are the main challenges the Devon and Somerset Law Society faces at the moment, and how is it meeting these?

DASLS is a thriving local Law Society engaging in a broad range of activities, offering benefits and services to our members. Our membership levels are at an all-time high. However, we realise that we cannot be complacent and need to ensure that DASLS remains relevant and flexible in order to meet the needs of its members. Our income is derived primarily from membership subscriptions, training courses and recruitment agency services.

We are fortunate to have bucked the national trend of fewer employers paying subscription fees for their lawyer employees, and our training events have remained popular in the face of changes to the way in which annual professional development requirements are met. We are focusing on investing our resources in the services that genuinely appeal to our members and the organisations they work for. In addition to gaining feedback on specific issues, we continually seek feedback from our members to help determine their needs and priorities.

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What are your core aims during your tenure as President of the DASLS?

The importance of our ethics, professionalism, understanding and pragmatism cannot be underestimated. My year is focusing on: • Building on the enormous amount of work that has gone into promoting the skills and services of solicitors and the solicitor brand in Devon and Somerset.

• Generating greater understanding of our diverse roles across the profession and greater participation in our sub-committees and social events.

• Increasing membership of our in house colleagues to more closely reflect the national picture, which shows that in house solicitors make up approximately 22% of the profession.

• Build on our engagements with junior lawyers to ensure the continued growth and success of the Society.

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We live in changing times, which makes our profession’s reputation, its integrity, fairness and independence as crucial as ever

How have the needs of members changed over the last three years?

Our members’ needs are constantly evolving, but a particular challenge for the whole spectrum of practice is the recruitment and retention of staff. For example, one recent survey showed a reduction of 5% in the number of residential conveyancers in the previous twelve months alone, continuing a trend that began during the last property recession. As a consequence, whatever the reasons for this continuing decline in numbers is, conveyancers are struggling to keep on top of their workload with the inevitable stress that causes.

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Our members’ needs are constantly evolving, but a particular challenge for the whole spectrum of practice is the recruitment and retention of staff Cyber-crime and property fraud is a threat, particularly to those in residential conveyancing, together with the uncertainty whilst awaiting the outcome of appeals on a number of high profile court cases arising from this. Greater support to combat this threat is a high priority.

by regional officers who attend our committee meetings, our events and provide regular dialogue between us and the Law Society. A network of parliamentary liaison officers briefs local MPs on matters of importance to the Society, wherever possible co-ordinating with other local law societies.

In addition, there is the more general challenge from the provision of non-regulated services and the uncertainty around legislation following the decision to leave the European Union and the impact of that on this country’s economy.

• Provide a comprehensive programme of training – this continues to be a key service for members and is very well supported, with training being provided at numerous locations within Devon and Somerset and provision of in-house events for larger firms. Recent changes to the way in which our continuing professional development obligations are met has led to a review to ensure the training remains relevant.

On a more positive note, the recent ruling that Employment Tribunal fees are unlawful should be good news for lawyers who work in this area, with a positive impact on the ability of employees to better afford legal representation before Tribunals.

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How do you and the team at DASLS ensure the society maintains its relevance to the profession?

Our members are drawn from various backgrounds, and whilst the majority work in private practice, many, including myself, work in-house for public bodies and private companies. Membership of DASLS gives our members access to networking and social opportunities, discounted rates for our comprehensive range of education and training events as well as updates and meetings about professional matters affecting the day to day work of the practising lawyer. We also support those who work in management of legal practice through specialist training and local forums.

This is our third year for our Legal Awards Ceremony. The presentation of a DASLS Legal Award, independently judged by an esteemed panel of judges, is recognised as a significant achievement for firms and individuals alike. The roll of honour of past winners includes many highly respected organisations and individuals and as President, I am delighted that we will be able to recognise these achievements at our Dinner and Awards evening in March 2018.

We regularly engage with our members through electronic and hard copy newsletters and seek their feedback. In addition to our main committees, a number of sub-committees represent particular areas of practice including practice management, contentious, non-contentious, mediation, education and training, public relations, international relations, in-house lawyers and social.

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What are the aims of the DASLS’s 2015-2018 Strategic Plan?

How will it meet these?

DASLS aims to be the leading local law society in England and Wales. It encourages and supports innovation, integrity and leadership in the legal profession and provides a strong focus for lawyers in the region. Despite a challenging economic climate, our membership has gone from strength to strength and we now have in the region of 1400 members. Our core aims are to: • Actively engage with The Law Society, Solicitors’ Regulation Authority and government – we meet regularly with members of the presidential team of the Law Society and are supported

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• Provide a recruitment agency – this is run in partnership with Plymouth Law Society and run at a highly competitive rate for members.

• Provide mediation services – we are a member of the Civil Mediation Council and have recently been invited by the Court Service to run a Court based mediation scheme for small claims matters and suitable cases referred by the District Judge up to £50k.

• Provide social activities for members to network – provided through a range of events such as our Annual dinner and Awards evening, annual Somerset dinner, sporting and other competitive activities as part of the DASLS challenge cup and networking events with other professions.

• Communication – through a bi-monthly newsletter, fortnightly updates, our website and social media.

• International networking – DASLS is one of only two UK members of the FBE (Federation of European Bars) and has twinning arrangements with a number of European Bars enabling us to forge an international referral network.

• Practice management – through a practice management committee, training, benchmarking information and holding an annual Practice Management Conference and Compliance Conference.

• Committee and sub-committees The work of DASLS is supported from our offices in Exeter by a fantastic team of three hard working and dedicated full time staff, an Honorary Secretary and Honorary Treasurer.

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How important is the role of the Society in representing, supporting and promoting the needs of practitioners on a national level?

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Solicitors need strong representation at a local and national level and DASLS works hard through its networks to represent, support and promote our profession and all of our members.

We liaise with our members, members of the profession locally, nationally and internationally to meet these needs, sharing

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Part of DASLS’ mission is to support members by raising the profile of solicitors, particularly in Devon and Somerset, and show how the profession can improve lives and facilitate the hopes and ambitions of those they represent knowledge, expertise and best practice and importantly responding to consultations affecting our profession and other ongoing issues as they arise.

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How do you think solicitors are perceived by the public? Do law societies have a part to play in building relationships on this level?

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Part of DASLS’ mission is to support members by raising the profile of solicitors, particularly in Devon and Somerset, and show how the profession can improve lives and facilitate the hopes and ambitions of those they represent. As solicitors, we believe in The Rule of Law and that through the proper application and process of the law, citizens’ rights are protected, whether that is the ownership or transfer of property, the settlement of disputes or protection of individual liberty.

Our legal awards are delivered in partnership with DC Media and this provides huge media coverage in promoting the awards and the profession, providing the opportunity for current and potential clients to see publicity and opening up firms to new audiences.

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Do you feel that DASLS has a voice in wider conversations outside of Devon and Somerset?

Definitely, through a number of strong networks. DASLS is part of the Association of South Western Law Societies, which covers the South West Peninsula from Bristol to South Wales and Cornwall. We enjoy excellent relationships with many other local law societies and have recently formed The County Societies Group by six of the larger local law societies as a forum within which we can share knowledge, expertise and best practice.

The founding societies, who between them represent over 5000 lawyers across England and Wales, are Cheshire and North Wales, Devon and Somerset, Kent, Leicestershire, Newcastle and Surrey law societies.

We engage regularly with the National Law Society through their Executive, Council members and Presidential team, attend Parliamentary liaison meetings at Westminster, and through our wider networks.

We use all these forums appropriately to ensure that we respond to consultations and represent our members’ interests.

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What does the future look like for the legal profession in the region?

We live in changing times, which makes our profession’s reputation, its integrity, fairness and independence as crucial as ever. We all have an important role to play in maintaining legal certainty in light of our exit from the European Union and seeking to ensure that every individual has effective access to justice and safeguarding of their human rights.

Sue Aggett I qualified as a legal executive in 1985 and as a solicitor in 1987. My early career was in private practice, dealing with an interesting blend of criminal defense, matrimonial and wills and trusts work. Whilst the majority of my career has been spent as an in-house solicitor in local government, I have always been a strong believer in “one profession”. I am very proud to have spent my career in law, and I believe that having qualified in a more unconventional way, this has enabled me to see the profession, and the thread of professional integrity that runs through it, from a broader perspective. My links with our local law society have been integral to this and it never fails to surprise me how much cross over there is with my more strategic work in local government and the work of solicitors in supporting the wellbeing of our communities and economic growth. In 2011, I was elected the local government representative of DASLS, a role that I have thoroughly enjoyed and which, I hope, has made a positive contribution to our profession. I was delighted to have been elected at DASLS President in April 2017.

There is significant growth in the South West region. The development at Hinkley Point, the expansion of Exeter with a new City Centre project, The Science Park and the Garden Town promised at Junction 28 are just a few of the projects that are bringing increased prosperity to our region. DASLS Members are well placed to support delivery of the projects and serve the increased activity they will bring.

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FEATURES

Legal design thinking: Interview with Adam Billing Adam Billing, Treehouse Innovation, believes the concept of design thinking is one that will only become more prominent in the legal sector. Adam spoke to Modern Law about what legal design thinking means for a law firm, and how firms can implement this culture shift to catch up to their clients.

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What impact can design thinking have on the legal sector?

Design thinking is a term that means a lot of different things to different people, but fundamentally, it is an approach to innovation or problem solving. This starts with deeply understanding people and what matters most to them, and then employing a set of creative techniques, such as prototyping, experimentation, and visualisation, to more rapidly develop viable solutions that will really add value. It is equally applicable to client related and internally focused challenges.

If we had to reduce design thinking to its most fundamental elements, I think there are three areas that are most relevant for the legal sector: 1. Leading with empathy – not solutions. This involves stepping back from our default position as expert, and focusing on what the client actually values as opposed to just what they are asking for. This enables firms to identify emerging, and yet unarticulated needs, giving them a leg up on competitors.

2. Rapid prototyping and experimentation - as opposed to spending a lot of time and money developing solutions and only getting feedback when they are “ready”, design thinking encourages people to get feedback on rough concepts very early on to gain early learning that will ultimately shorten the time to successful implementation. This is something that would be extremely useful in the legal sector, which is historically slow moving and reluctant to change.

3. Diverse Collaboration – actively assembling cross-practice, cross-sector and cross-jurisdictional teams to tackle challenges where innovative solutions are required. This not only leads to better, more creative solutions in many cases, but it can also have the knock-on effect of improved alignment and crossselling potential.

If you went back five years ago, firms were not talking about design thinking; it wasn’t in their vocabulary. In the last eighteen months we have seen a real uptick in interest. A lot of that is because we are always talking about rapid change and market shift.

Culturally, however, it is a big transition. Many aspects of design thinking are at odds with traditional ways of working in the sector.

Design thinking is about opening up, assuming a beginner’s mindset as opposed to leading with expertise, which is out of the comfort zone for a lot of professionals.

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How can law firms implement legal design thinking?

It is a cultural mind-set shift. The solutions that will come out of the design thinking process or way of working won’t necessarily lead to a new client service or new pricing or delivery

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Clients are speaking this language already. Design thinking is already a part of their culture model. It is just as likely to be something internally focused or a new way of measuring performance among professionals.

With that in mind, it isn’t something that is used in isolation; it is used most effectively when integrated into the day-to-day. Making that integration happen can be tricky. Arguably, it can be harder for some law firms than for Google or Amazon, as law firms have a unique delivery-driven culture where time is tied directly to outcomes.

But the importance of having these deeper client relationships that are based on a real understanding of what a client is trying to achieve, not just what they are asking you to do, is where design

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If you went back five years ago, firms were not talking about design thinking; it wasn’t in their vocabulary. In the last eighteen months we have seen a real uptick in interest thinking plays the most relevant role and has the biggest potential for firms to really differentiate.

We have been doing work around client co-development, so firms will bring in some of their key clients to apply design thinking to real challenges in order to define new service offerings and new pricing models with the client. We work with several firms that have launched R&D councils, where they include people from across practices within the firm, as well as key clients. They are using some of the same methods to develop new service offerings, new responses to the challenges that the clients are facing, and they are doing it collaboratively.

One thing that we have seen across consultancies and law firms, when they do embark on these types of culture changes, is that there are consistently three key things in place: engaged leadership, broad awareness and focused projects. The firms that are trying to bring design thinking into their day-to-day, first and foremost need leaders that know what it is, understand how it works and know what behaviours need to be encouraged, modelled and rewarded, or people won’t take the risk to do something differently.

The whole firm needs a broad awareness of this, in order to feel like they are a part of it and not outside of it. A huge mistake that we see is when innovation becomes the property of one small group, and then the rest of the firm works like anti-bodies to effectively kill it. Getting those things moving at once seems to be the secret combination.

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What advantages will those firms that do adopt legal design thinking have over those that don’t?

If there is one thing that jumps out more than anything else, it is the ability to spot those emerging and unarticulated needs of the client, not just the things that clients are asking for, because if they are asking your firm then they are asking your competitors as well. It is all about working to deeply understand what matters to them, and then using those insights to frame opportunities that allow you to focus your innovation efforts on the things that they value the most. That then means that you are starting to deliver value beyond what the client was expecting or what they were asking for; that is the real key to differentiation.

the rapid pace of change, which is a very powerful move for attracting top talent.

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What new technologies can we expect to see in the legal sector in the next five years?

To be honest, I don’t have an answer for you. What is happening with AI is absolutely fascinating, but the end of the lawyer as we know it is quite a way off. I don’t think that’s quite the threat it has been stacked up to be. What we are likely to see is targeted applications of AI when they are tied to specific emerging client needs. Smart firms are going to be investing in smart and flexible technologies that enable them to respond to these very specific and much more specialised needs than they have been able to in the past. The real push is not going to come from what technology enables us to do, it is going to be coming from understanding specific needs and then tapping into the evergrowing technologies that are available to deliver those needs.

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What does the future look like for Treehouse Innovation?

We are in a unique position, because we have been working with law firms for the last decade, and we work with companies like Amazon, NBC Universal, PlayStation and Microsoft.

Our role is to take that experience and look at how this is being applied in those companies, and then use our understanding to adapt those approaches and make sure they are relevant to law firms.

You don’t need to change your job description as a lawyer. The firms that we see get the most traction out of this way of working are the ones that start integrating really simple things into their day-to-day.

Adam Billing is Founder and Managing Director of Treehouse Innovation.

Clients are speaking this language already. Design thinking is already a part of their culture. They have been through that change, and therefore it creates a common language for the lawyer and the client to have.

It is about empowering people with the ability to form insights, have ideas and bring those ideas into the firm. That kind of empowerment leads to radically improving engagement. Also, it is a reminder that this is a forward looking firm that recognises

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Alt.learning All paths to qualifying as a lawyer used to lead to the training contract.

Now legal education and qualifying is at a crossroads, and the new paths lead to satisfying terrain for organisations and employees. y increasing the flexibility by which they qualify their workforces, smart legal organisations can tailor learning for their employees. Firms should seize upon these bespoke opportunities – or risk taking their talent for granted.

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Widening the market

The idea of the mandatory recording of articled clerkships was cemented many years ago in the Attorneys and Solicitors Act 1728, which stated that no one could practice as a solicitor without generally spending five years as an articled clerk. Fast forward to three Acts between 1974 and 1990 stipulating the exact requirements to enter the profession, and the training contract was born.

However, a flurry of twenty-first century regulatory change opens the field. The Legal Services Act of 2007 makes possible the growth of non-lawyer or ‘paralegal owned’ law firms offering specialist legal services.

Looking ahead, the two-part Solicitor’s Qualifying Examination, to be introduced by the SRA in 2020 will further challenge the status of the traditional training contract. It could widen the range of legal work experience that counts towards qualification (e.g. law apprenticeship, a paralegal job, a work placement as part of a sandwich degree or volunteering in a student law clinic).

CILEx and CLC

CILEx and CLC play a big part of the evolution of legal markets and alternative legal education and qualification, and offer additional benefits to the employer. They achieve the following: • Supporting family friendly HR initiatives, ensuring paralegals and support staff who joined the organisation before starting a family, or have foregone full-time legal education as a result of starting a family, have the opportunity to develop valued legal and client-centred skills. They also support other diversity initiatives by developing those who could not have afforded to take the degree/GDL/LPC route.

• Becoming a CILEX lawyer can take as little as four years part time study with no prior legal qualifications needed.

• Becoming a CLC lawyer in Conveyancing or Probate can take as little as two years.

• LLB/LPC graduate staff can be fast tracked by the exemptions available from equivalent CILEx and CLC subjects and can mean completing the academic stages in months not years. Firms taking advantage of this are gaining qualified specialist lawyers in the areas they really need.

• Raising the level of learning across the organisation for the benefit of clients.

• Helping to retain staff and, in doing so, to build a stronger core team allowing law firm leaders to concentrate on being agile in the market.

Qualify anytime, anywhere – studying law the modern way eLearning technology, supported by specialist tutors, is a very nimble and liberating way of delivering legal learning. However, building relationships with students is needed, and this requires tailored approaches.

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After many years of relative stability, the legal education market is rapidly changing Interactivity is essential

Online learners fare best when they can make very specific and often real-time demands of expert legal tutors. Likewise, those teachers will need to check-in with their students to monitor individual understanding and ability. This means legal webinars need text and voice-based chat facilities. Prompt responses to students’ messages and feedback in online classes are essential to engage those learning, and communication styles should be informal.

Peer-to-peer interaction and Social Learning are vital too – and expected by learners. Students are drawn into the subject matter and support each other if they get the chance to connect and share thoughts, even during live webinars.

Students can set the pace

Give students a control panel for their lesson materials – and then they can read papers, use PowerPoint, watch videos, test themselves and replay lectures at will.

Use the medium effectively

Running training online allows many forms of media – portable e-books, slides, digital flash cards, video, quizzes, topic forums and tutor chat - to hook into all the possible ways that students learn.

The flexibility offered by digital learning accelerates the trend for employers to match educational training according to demographics. At school-leaver level, there’s the growth of apprenticeship routes. For existing paralegal and support staff, there are increasing numbers of routes through CILEx and CLC. This is happening at the same time as raised levels of professionalism in the CILEx and CLC routes, which now provide a university-level student academic experience.

This is part of a wider pattern of disruption within the arena of legal training. After many years of relative stability, the legal education market is rapidly changing.

The combination of regulatory change and technological innovation means that paralegals in law firms no longer need to take out time from work to attend colleges for classes or to struggle alone with a manual via a distance course. They can genuinely ’earn whilst they learn’. The years of experience they possess can be more finely honed for clients while staff gain the professional recognition they so richly deserve.

Eve Dullabh, Managing Director, Law Training Centre, accredited provider of CILEx, CLC, CMC and Axelos qualifications. Ltckent.co.uk

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Why the technology tail will always wag the legal dog?

Our resident Tech commentator Charles Christian writes… ne of the longest running themes in law reform is whether we should have generalist one-size-fits-all laws that can be applied to anything that comes along? Or, whether we should instead have carefully crafted legislation relating to specific issues?

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And when I say “longest running”, this has been a problem in English law since the days of the Tudors and Stewarts, when the authorities would issue “general warrants” that were so broad in nature they did not contain specifics as to why they were issued, what the arrest was being made for, nor even specifying the particular individuals to be arrested. They became so notorious in the 18th century (see the John Wilkes seditious libel case, although Lord Chief Justice Mansfield subsequently declared general warrants illegal) that the United States Constitution banned it in the Fourth Amendment.

Fast-forward 250 years and the problem of not having specific laws was neatly demonstrated in 1984 when the Prestel account of the Duke of Edinburgh was hacked (younger readers can Google this: in its day Prestel Viewdata was the valve-driven equivalent of the internet).

The hackers, Steve Gold and Robert Schifreen, were quickly identified and arrested (in fact, they made no attempt to hide; they were tech journalists who had already notified BT of Prestel’s insecurity, although BT refused to access this, believing it was safe behind a “1234” password). However, when it came to a criminal prosecution (they were initially convicted but this was reversed on appeal and the House of Lords subsequently upheld the appeal), the authorities realised their only option was to “bend” existing laws to try to make them fit an entirely new situation they were never designed for.

In the Prestel case, the prosecutors opted for Section 1 of the Forgery & Counterfeiting Act 1981 because the accused had used a password belonging to someone else. In other early hacking cases, prosecutors resorted to charges of “abstraction of electricity” under Section 13 of the Theft Act 1968, which was a measure intended to deal with people fiddling their electricity meters. It took the law five years to catch up with the concept of hacking after the Prince Philip hack, but finally the Computer Misuse Act 1990 came into force. Unfortunately it has been downhill since then, as far as the law is concerned, as the scope and pace of technology innovation is now permanently leaving legislators trailing far behind eating innovators’ dust.

Let’s just consider some of the concepts and legal issues the courts and legislators are having to get their collective heads around: • The regulation of new “virtual” online banks • Bitcoins and other forms of “cryptocurrency” • The “gig economy” and the emergence of a new class of worker who enjoys none of the employment protection rights of an employee but also none of the freedom and autonomy of the self-employed/freelance worker

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Like it or not, the pace of technology innovation is out of control and, if anything, getting faster and leaving the courts and legislators far behind • “Autonomous” self-driving cars – if my car runs you over, am I to blame because I’m asleep in the back seat or is it a glitch in the directional software that’s at fault?

• Cab-hailing apps such as Uber – how are they compatible with existing taxi licensing regimes?

• Room-sharing/letting apps such as AirBnB – how are they compatible with existing landlord and tenant laws?

• Civilian drones – invasion of privacy issues and endangering civil aviation Some of these issues have been in the news for a couple of years.

However, during August of this year alone (and the summer is traditionally a quiet month for law reform initiatives), we’ve had the UK government and/or the courts issuing proposals, guidance or discovering there are problems associated with: • The need to introduce licences to tackle attacks with laser pens • New guidelines for tackling online hate crime by individuals • New “cyber laws” to deal with social media organisations who use encryption to protect terrorists/criminals and/or do not adequately deal with complaints of online hate crimes and bullying • Ongoing privacy infringements by social media organisations tracking individuals’ online activities for commercial purposes And, on a global level, a call by various academics and industrialists for the United Nations to ban “autonomous lethal weapons”, otherwise know as AI (artificial intelligence) equipped “killer robots and drones”, before their deployment gets out of control. You’ll be cheered to learn the UK’s Ministry of Defence opposes any pre-emptive bans.

Final thoughts - like it or not, the pace of technology innovation is out of control and, if anything, getting faster and leaving the courts and legislators far behind. The one consolation for practicing lawyers is all this looks like being a steady source of litigation and defence work for many years to come.

Charles Christian is the Roving Editor of the Legal IT Insider newsletter and also blogs about Tech & Geek Stuff at www.urbanfantasist.com and on Twitter at @ChristianUncut

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The innovation imperative Dan Jansen, CEO, talks about the industry trends from legal tech trailblazer Nextlaw Labs. he global legal services market has grown to become a $600 billion industry. However, it has lagged behind virtually every other sector when it comes to leveraging technology to drive innovation. Law firms tend to be steeped in tradition, bound by precedent and resistant to change. Now, the pace of disruption has dramatically accelerated and the need for innovation, and even reinvention, has become critical.

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The 2008 global financial crisis heralded a profound power shift from law firms to clients and ignited a sustained period of disruption in the legal services market. Traditional firms now battle for market share amongst themselves as well as with alternative legal services providers and in-sourced legal services.

Law firms typically don’t have the infrastructure or R&D capital required to fuel innovation. With the massive spike of new legal tech companies and increasing venture capital flowing into them, emerging legal tech players have been gaining revenue, market share and mind share at the expense of incumbent law firms.

The legal industry is changing in response to the new market landscape, but it remains to be seen who can adapt quickly enough to survive. A startling 85% of chief legal officers do not believe that their outside counsel are serious about change, and if they don’t evolve, firms could be left behind.

The legal tech market’s response

The field of legal tech startups has jumped from just a handful a few years ago to over 1,400 today. Since 2012 there has been a 484% increase in the number of legal tech patents, with China owning the second largest share after the US. These numbers, along with over $1 billion of capital investment just last year and increasing VC interest, portend that a major movement is underway. Disruption is happening now and law firms are catching on.

Rather than adopt a wait-and-see approach and risk becoming a victim of this market disruption, global law firm Dentons jumped into the deep end and became the first firm to own, shape and drive this transformation. In 2015, after considering multiple models, Dentons settled on the formation of Nextlaw Labs as a ‘skunk works’.

Rather than create another department within the firm, it created an autonomous entity designed to drive innovation from the outside in, free of the constraints of a traditional law firm structure, an independence that allows Nextlaw Labs to remain nimble in the fastpaced world of the very technology startups it seeks to emulate and attract. Law firms around the world appear to be following suit with many setting up their own legal tech accelerators and incubators to stay on top of the industry’s accelerating rate of change.

A use case-driven approach

These dramatic market shifts are engendering more innovation opportunities. The need for focus and prioritisation has become all the more critical, as many of these young companies will fail. So how does a legal industry player innovate intelligently?

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Success comes from taking the bull by the horns with the initiative to anticipate and shape the disruption Much of the media coverage and hype around legal tech is focused on the underlying technologies that have the potential to transform the workplace, and understandably so. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain and other cutting-edge technologies are fascinating areas to explore, and a number of startups in our portfolio utilise these technologies. But rather than searching for the next great AI tool for lawyers, Nextlaw Labs instead concentrates on a use case-driven approach to transforming the business and practice of law.

It’s not enough to invest in technology for its own sake.

Technology has to solve real problems in a compelling way.

Reinvention will not happen by simply “automating” tasks and functions; it must lead to demonstrative added value. Too much emphasis on tech can actually lead to misconceptions about what it can and cannot do in practice. Nextlaw Labs has identified a preliminary series of legal use cases based on pain points in the industry, which we believe technology is uniquely positioned to solve.

Expert legal research: One of the promises of legal tech is to reduce the drudgery of repetitive, administrative and unbillable tasks. Legal research is a prime example: up to 30% of an associate’s billable time is spent on legal research that often cannot be passed through to clients, and has a tendency to be repetitive. Our first investment, ROSS Intelligence, is built on IBM’s cognitive Watson platform, enabling users to use natural language to search millions of documents per second and return highly relevant answers, citations and sources.

Smart contracts: Like legal research, contract review and management can be expensive and time-consuming, and therefore many contracts are never reviewed by lawyers. One of our portfolio companies, Beagle, has developed a tool that instantly scans contracts, highlights key information and enables realtime collaboration to streamline contract negotiations. Another portfolio company, Clause, uses the Internet of Things (IoT) and AI to seamlessly revise and update contracts when underlying variable values change (e.g., interest rates or weather conditions).

Expertise sourcing: Whether matching a subject matter expert to a client’s particular need or quickly assembling a team for a global client’s RFP, finding the right resource for specialised projects has been a longstanding challenge for professional services industries. Our most

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The pace of disruption has dramatically accelerated and the need for innovation, and even reinvention, has become critical recent investment, ProFinda, enables organisations to intelligently map talent across their entire organization. In the legal profession, this can reflect practice area, jurisdiction, and level of experience to instantly identify the best resource for any client matter.

reinvent the business and practice of law. A near-avalanche of new legal use cases and solutions in our pipeline have us excited about exploring further.

Quality and performance management: Law firm/client relationships are increasingly strained due to the disconnect between in-house priorities and the traditional law firm business model. The legal industry also lacks a standard for benchmarking quality of service delivery, and Qualmet aims right at the heart of these gaps. In partnership with a lead GC, Nextlaw Labs helped launch Qualmet’s business and offerings from the ground up, bringing a set of rigorous Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and quality metrics to an industry that has been resistant to such measurement, but whose clients are demanding it.

It’s important to remember that we are still very early in the legal tech disruptive cycle, and these nascent trends and solutions will evolve and grow over time. That said, the principle of ‘faster, better, and cheaper’ is as true in legal as in other industries.

Success comes from taking the bull by the horns with the initiative to anticipate and shape the disruption. While law firms have a finite capacity for absorbing change and buy-in may be difficult to obtain, certain triggers can help drive tech adoption, namely client demand and use case-driven solutions. Ultimately, adoption is more of a ‘change management’ task than anything else where ease of use and integration into existing legal workflows are critical.

Matter management and legal fee transparency: Lack of communication and transparency between law firms and clients often leads to strained relationships and fee disputes. Our portfolio addresses this challenge with Apperio, a startup that brings Web 2.0 functionality to the law firm/client relationship with a smart-analytics dashboard that enables real time transparency into legal fees and streamlines matter management and client communications to build stronger relationships.

Transaction and document management: The legal industry creates, analyses and interacts with massive amounts of information on multiple fronts. Intuitive online platforms like Doxly, for the often complex and cluttered deal process, and FileFacet, for virtual data rooms and improved processing of sensitive data during migration, ease the administrative burden and make collaborative work possible and painless.

“Reg Tech” and decision support: Lawyers face the constant challenge of staying current on evolving laws, complying with them in a timely manner and making fully informed decisions.

Tools like Libryo, which seamlessly update lawyers on the relevant laws in their jurisdictions, or Voltaire, which brings big data to the decisions that lawyers make every day, illustrate the potential for technology to enable better lawyering.

What should you do?

Current legal tech hype often seems geared to frighten lawyers into action with the sentiment of “robots coming to take your livelihood”. While there will be clear implications for the legal profession’s business model and industry structure, Nextlaw Labs believes these dire warnings are unfounded. Now is an amazing time to be a lawyer, and new opportunities are boundless.

Ultimately, technology can liberate attorneys from low-impact, uninspiring tasks and create space for what technology cannot do: human engagement, as well as critical, strategic and creative thinking. These higher-value services drive increased professional fulfillment and client satisfaction. Legal tech is also expanding career options for young lawyers to become entrepreneurs, investors, or even software developers. In this new world, lawyers who embrace technology and understand how to use it will have the advantage: ‘human plus machine’ is proving to be better than ‘human or machine’.

Dan Jansen is CEO of Nextlaw Labs.

On-demand legal services: In an on-demand economy, urgent needs for temporary staff arise quickly. The ability to scale up teams and hit the ground running are critical to client service in the 21st century, as well as reducing the friction of supply/demand management. Our investment in Hire an Esquire underscores our belief in this trend; the company offers a sophisticated online matchmaking platform that connects law firms and legal departments with a curated network of attorneys for freelance, contract, or local counsel projects.

These are just a few examples of our use case driven approach to innovation that illustrate how we identify, invest in and accelerate companies, technologies and professionals that will fundamentally

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FEATURES

Risks and reports Paul Addison, DevAssist, discusses the limitations of traditional search reports and how they need to evolve to meet the needs of today’s clients. uying a property is a significant investment for every purchaser, and in the majority of cases they are heavily reliant upon the expertise of the professionals they employ to ensure they make a sound decision. Generally, a purchaser will instruct a thorough investigation into the condition of the property and other impacting issues within the property boundary, but for those wishing to be better informed about potential development in the surrounding areas (either planned or in progress), it can be challenging to acquire this knowledge.

Conveyancing searches ordinarily research within the property’s boundary, as they are designed to. However, it is often the risks beyond the property boundary that pose a greater threat to future value and enjoyment of the property, such as roof-top or basement extensions and major residential or commercial developments, not covered in many regular conveyancing searches. Research shows that 95% of the population is concerned about development risks around or near their property, demonstrating the level of importance to purchasers, and data also further demonstrates a significant 10% of properties are affected.

With this level of concern and the level of potential impact, it is becoming increasingly important for solicitors to be able to support their clients to be in possession of all the facts prior to a final property purchase decision and contract exchange.

DevAssist have developed an innovative solution to this problem.

They produce reports that study the location using intelligence and data from various sources, providing the insight needed to expose the potential risks of development around a property.

Planning data combined with historic planning applications and information fed from the local SHLAA (Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment) is analysed by in-house experts to deliver a comprehensive report highlighting the risks of development being undertaken. Results are ranked from negligible to high, and a guide provided to explain the ratings. The reports can then be used by the solicitor together with the client to assess the level of risk and in some cases, decide whether or not to proceed with the purchase or negotiate further prior to exchange of contracts. For solicitors, it enables them to provide an enhanced service while at the same time protecting their firms against future liability claims from dissatisfied clients. We don’t have to look very far to recall the decision against Bird and Bird, which left them with a £2miilion PI claim and a failed appeal against the decision. In this case they mistakenly interpreted available planning data leading to their liability.

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Before DevAssist the best a buyer could do is to read planning data, which is fantastic, but only part of the full story. Equally, as Bird and

The better way to manage leads and onboard new clients

It is becoming increasingly important for solicitors to be able to support their clients to be in possession of all the facts prior to a final property purchase decision and contract exchange Bird found out, reading and interpreting that data has consequences.

It is both time intensive and difficult for a solicitor to interpret that data and they are ill qualified to do the same. That’s why, despite the same data being included in our reports, there is a fundamental difference; we read and interpret it. If we then find something of relevance we attach plans and evidence into the final report making it very visual for the end user. After studying the planning data we then look at policy and emerging sites. The vast majority of solicitors we meet don’t know that such information is out there. Unless you look at all the issues, planning data is only a part of the story.

A recent case study in Brighton highlighted the type of situation that affects buyers. Brighton and Hove City council approved a development of 125 homes on green space in Portslade, next to the Shoreham Bypass. On paper, the development looked like it could never have been approved to go ahead. The area had been allocated as an open space and a nature preservation area, yet was an area enclosed by housing on one side and a major road on the other. It showed sufficient potential to be developed and as such, qualified as a development risk. Just last month, it was announced that it will be developed by Crest Nicholson, despite huge objection from local residents.

City centre properties, due to the nature of their location, often have a greater risk of impact. Different risks are often found such as basements or roof-top extensions. Not that long ago the singer Duffy’s old house in Camden fell into its own basement. The consequences for the owner, and more importantly neighbours who shared party walls, were huge.

Paul Addison is Managing Director of DevAssist. To find out more about our CPD sessions and our development reports, please visit devassist. co.uk or contact us on 01342 890010.

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FEATURES

How effective is social media?

Paul Hajek, Clutton Cox Conveyancing Solicitors, examines the do’s and don’ts of social media within the legal industry, and how firms can best utilise its platforms. aw firms have been slow to grasp the benefits of social media.

The barriers are: no championing from the top, no confidence, worries over ROI and too faddy. Yet law is not a different business to which separate and discrete rules apply. Law is a people business; firms exist because of the people and clients that they serve.

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Social media allows us to listen and pay attention to what is important to clients. We can get closer to them in a meaningful way: first name terms, knowing likes and dislikes, demonstrably showing we care. It also fits in perfectly to a law firm’s overall marketing strategy.

My experience with social media

I was the first solicitor to blog on conveyancing in 2008. Blogging is now part of what is now known as Inbound and Content Marketing.

Inbound marketing was a term first coined by the founders of Hubspot, a digital marketing platform, which I use in my firm.

The definition has evolved over the years as it has become more sophisticated: Inbound marketing is an approach focused on attracting customers through content and interactions that are relevant and helpful — not interruptive. With inbound marketing, potential customers find you through channels like blogs, search engines, and social media.

Unlike outbound marketing, inbound marketing does not need to fight for potential customers’ attention. By creating content designed to address the problems and needs of your ideal customers, inbound marketing attracts qualified prospects and builds trust and credibility for your business.

Clients and prospects alike are looking for more depth and a more detailed understanding of legal processes; what they entail, what to look out for, any tips and advice before making buying decisions. Increasingly, clients and prospects use the Internet to ask around for social proof, to be better educated and to get information in advance of contacting and instructing a solicitor.

Clients and prospects ask questions – our mantra is clients ask, we answer. They read reviews, digest content (in the form of articles, SlideShares, video, infographics and blogs) and can start conversations with people they’ve never met via our chatbot, and they want to do this at a time when it suits them.

Our aim is to provide confident content that informs and educates and is easy to digest and share.

Great content requires five essential components, which are: 1. Useful, i.e. solves problems or gives useful generic guidance 2. Compelling and holds interest (avoid the turgid, bombastic and orotund language lawyers generally inhabit) 3. Catchy - time is precious, and clients and prospects will forego significant content for want of a title that grabs interest 4. “Sticky” - great content will engender an urge to find out more and stay glued to your website

Issue 32

Too many law firms bludgeon their way through Twitter with size 12 hobnail boots trying to ram home their message 5. Shareable - great legal content that is worthy of sharing will relax the clutches of the search engines and propel your content beyond clients, family, friends and acquaintances Our most read SlideShare, for example, contains advice on what to do when you exchange contracts, and before completion it is edging towards 100,000 views.

Do’s of social media

My essential four P’s for inbound marketing success are • Patience - contrary to what some of the “snake oil” digital marketing experts tell you, you won’t be an overnight sensation • Passion – you can’t fake it and you must be authentic • Perseverance – don’t get bowled out in 31.4 overs like the England cricket team a couple of winters ago • Pragmatism – go where your clients are and do one element of social media very well – you can’t be all things social to everyone Use social media as the kindling and bellows to ignite and fan your law firm content fire and the return on your investment will follow.

No-No’s of social media

I love Twitter, which I joined in 2009. Twitter is a distribution and listening medium: the world’s biggest cocktail party. It works best by pulling people to your content, not as a medium to shout about your services.

Too many law firms bludgeon their way through Twitter with size 12 hobnail boots trying to ram home their message.

The way forward

The Internet is a great enabler; being online is now as familiar as the high street. Smaller law firms have an opportunity to engage and stay engaged online with existing and potential clients. My firm has been able to compete successfully on a level playing field with the bigger law firms. In the future, smaller law firms without a viable internet strategy will find it increasingly difficult to survive and thrive.

Paul Hajek is a Solicitor and Managing Director at Clutton Cox Conveyancing Solicitors.

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Accounts

CASE STUDIES

Eclipse’s Proclaim Practice Management system maximises potential at international firm, DKLM Solicitors clipse Legal Systems is implementing its Law Society Endorsed Proclaim Practice Management Software solution at DKLM Solicitors, an established central London law firm.

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With a strong international focus, DKLM Solicitors’ expert legal team offers a Darren Gower complete range of services to both private and commercial clients. Formed in 2004, the firm has seen spectacular growth, doubling in size in the last five years, across both client base and areas of practice. The firm prides itself on the diversity of its clients, partners and staff, and attributes this to its continuous expansion.

The Proclaim Practice Management Software solution will be rolled out across the Conveyancing and Immigration departments, ensuring instant desktop access and a consistent approach to matter management from all users. Additionally, Proclaim’s integrated financial platform will enable a seamless approach to billing and practice management firm-wide.

To further drive client service and streamline efficiencies within the Conveyancing department, DKLM Solicitors is opting for Proclaim’s integrations with the Land Registry Business Gateway (LRBG) and LRBG Electronic Document Service. These integrations will automate a number of stages within the Conveyancing process, as well as provide fee earners with access to Land Registry services, including completion of eDRS applications and sending of accompanying documents, entirely through the Proclaim desktop.

Alan Dixon, Managing Partner at DKLM Solicitors, comments: “As a rapidly expanding firm with international reach, our core Practice Management system needs to be as efficient as possible in order to maximise our potential. Using Proclaim’s flexibility, we can seamlessly meet the increasing complexities of client cases, and streamline a number of our processes, freeing up our time to provide quality advice, and ultimately allowing us to further perfect our clients’ journey.”

For further information, please contact Darren Gower, Marketing Director at Eclipse Legal Systems, part of Capita plc, via darren.gower@eclipselegal. co.uk or call 01274 704100. Alternatively, visit www.eclipselegal.co.uk

Flood Risk: Know Your Options n December 2015, Storm Desmond and Eva hit the UK, flooding around 16,000 homes and costing in excess of £1bn. The storm bought record breaking rainfall with a month’s worth of rain in just 24 hours, making it the wettest December in a century and highlighting the importance of being aware of the ever-changing climate and flood risks.

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Today, there are now five million properties across the country, equivalent to one in six UK homes at risk of flooding from coastal, river and surface water. Therefore, it is crucial for conveyancing professionals to carry out an environmental report complete with reliable flood data and information about local flood defences, so clients are aware and able to take out the necessary protection measures.

The Local Government Association (LGA) also believes that the government should have more mandatory anti-flood measures in place, especially for new build homes, such as raised electrical sockets and sealed floors to reduce the damage that a flood would cause. Although there are noticeable step changes in the government’s approach to dealing with flood risk, if an environmental search flags a flood, Further Action, our Specialist Flood Risk Services in partnership with JBA – the leading flood consultancy, can help clients gain a great understanding of the risk of flooding to a property.

Geoff Offen, Managing Director, Future Climate Info (FCI).

Councils have also encouraged homeowners to check if their homes are in flood-prone areas and to sign up to flood warnings to help the public be more in the know. Defra’s (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) £2.5bn investment will also help to better protect 300,000 homes from flooding by 2021 as well as working more closely with local councils and utility companies to determine better solutions to local communities.

Issue 32

Modern Law 57

10 MINUTES WITH

James Jobling Q A

Did you expect the legal services sector to change so drastically when you started working in it?

I recall being struck by the uncertainty for a client of the cost of accessing legal services and the difficulty for the law firm in being able to give an accurate prediction of price. When you purchase anything, the first thing you ask is what it costs.

The Jackson review was a major step forward in looking at ways to address the issue of cost and whilst this is a continuing evolving space, I believe that the profession and its clients will benefit from embracing change.

What has been the key positive or negative impact of the liberalisation of legal services?

Q A

The key positive has been the innovation and competition between providers of legal services, which can only benefit the client. Certainly in the legal expenses arena, there has been a clear swing towards law firms and potential insureds making direct enquiries to insurers. This is an approach we welcome with open arms, as we have the opportunity to discuss the risk in greater detail, understand our clients’ demands and needs and offer our most competitive terms.

Q A

Who inspires you and why?

Our After the Event Insurance clients. Litigation is extremely stressful and can be very expensive. In many cases our clients are in David V Goliath situations, and their opponents are not

Sometimes the costs to litigate and the risk of losing actually outweigh the benefits of issuing proceedings. Yet our clients believe in their cases and are not going to be pushed into a corner

In many cases our clients are in David V Goliath situations, and their opponents are not taking them seriously as they don’t believe our client has the means to advance their claim taking them seriously as they don’t believe our client has the means to advance their claim. Parking the actual legal merits to one side, proportionality is actually the biggest hurdle for clients to overcome. Sometimes the costs to litigate and the risk of losing actually outweigh the benefits of issuing proceedings. Yet our clients believe in their cases and are not going to be pushed into a corner. I find that inspiring, as surely that is what access to justice is all about?

Have you had a mentor? If so, what was the most valuable piece of advice they gave you?

Q A

I’m very glad to say that I have had a mentor. He was originally an old adversary from my rugby days, who became a team mate and then a very good friend. And the advice was simple, although I still find myself struggling sometimes to follow it simply, to ‘listen’.

Q A

If you were not in your current position, what would you be doing?

Most likely another insurance role of some description.

Insurance is a strange industry. Nobody sets out in their career to be in it, and once they are in it, it is very hard to fall out of it. “It’s a funny old game”, to quote Jimmy Greaves, but one which I would highly recommend to anybody.

James Jobling is Business Development Manager at AmTrust Law.

SAVE THE DATE MODERN LAW CONVEYANCING CONFERENCE 2018 In Partnership with Bold Legal Group

Wednesday 2nd May 2018 London CONTACT Event enquiries | ellie.campbell@charltongrant.co.uk | 01765 600909 Sponsorship enquiries | kate@charltongrant.co.uk | 01765 600909

58 Modern Law

Issue 32

The better way to manage leads and onboard new clients Capturing new client details is vital if you are to maximise your marketing efforts and get files off to a clean start. Eclipse Capture enables you to do this faster, more efficiently, and more cost-effectively.

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Eclipse is the UK’s favourite legal software provider, with our Law Society Endorsed Proclaim solution in use by 25,000 people in 1,000 businesses. Our experience in providing software for law firms of all shapes and sizes means that we understand your problems and know how to solve them.

For a free demonstration

01274 704100

info@eclipselegal.co.uk eclipselegal.co.uk/capture