Feature

posted 18 Apr 2001 in Volume 4 Issue 1

To e or not to e…what is the future of smaller law firms?

In March Martindale-Hubbell publishers of the Butterworths Law Directory launched ‘Lawyer HomePages@LawyerLocator.co.uk’; its new web sitedesign and marketing service specifically developed to allow smaller law firms to net the benefits of the e-revolution. Yolanda Dolling product development director at Martindale-Hubbell outlines the challenges facing the UK's 10 000 small to mid-sized practices.

Small forests have been felled to publish articles on the e-revolution in legal services liberally illustrated by the online ‘bells & whistles’ that larger law firms are offering their corporate clients. Behind every report hangs a virtual question crucial to some 10 000 small UK practices - where do they fit into this new legal market place?

In relation to smaller firms analysts' comments have not been too helpful and are mainly confined to the challenges of the e-revolution: a concept that most practitioners are already more than aware. The usual conclusions made are that small firms are likely to be left behind because they lack the resources to secure the calibre of qualified support they need to launch themselves into this new netscape claim their segment of the market and keep up with the pace of developments.

Taking a step back practitioners must ask how much of this technology is relevant or viable and indeed in the first instance can they benefit at all from a web presence?

The view from the web

It is predicted that within two years online services will account for 20 per cent of high street work. So total denial is not an option and small firms cannot afford to stand still or be excluded. There are currently 22 million [1] home and work-based web users. Of these in February alone over 13.5 million [2] users spent over 6 hours surfing for information from home. As figures for home use grow month on month web access via digital TV where adoption is fast overtaking computers will add impetus. Furthermore it is predicted that third parties outside the legal profession with brand names or customer relationships will increasingly move in to claim any vacuums in the legal information territory. As a first step to fight off the competition small firms need to be immediately visible on the web. 'Being there' is simply not enough and the cost of effective promotion to drive traffic to sites should not be underestimated.

More than a brochure

Whilst few smaller firms doubt that a web site is now a pertinent marketing tool investing in a site that is purely brochure-ware may no longer be an adequate or wise first move.

When the Law Society participated in MORI's Omnibus Research Study in 1999 it looked at the areas of high street practice that are the traditional domain of smaller firms to determine the legal information the public would be most interested to find on the web correlating this with their potential as serious prospects by asking which of those questioned had recently used a solicitor. Conveyancing wills and divorce were the areas of law that figured highest in this correlation. It is no coincidence that in the last six months these are precisely the areas of practice that have been most publicised in the consumer press with regard to progressing although in rare cases concluding legal issues over the internet.

Offered the opportunity the public is ready to go beyond window-shopping to open a dialogue with a law firm over the web. However at present smaller law firms are more likely to be found standing in the wings as this dialogue develops between consumers prospective clients and other third parties such as government organisations and internet publishers.

To e or not to e?

Attractive as the notion may be of lawyers earning while they sleep the professional indemnity (PI) and liability minefields associated with 'virtual ' law practice or selling commoditised legal products over the web are a recipe for caution. Nevertheless there is a 'third way' - the web-enabled approach to progressing matters such as the delivery of quotations formalising instructions securing basic case and client information and permitting clients to settle their bills over the web. Pertinent to most areas of practice this is a valuable move towards the immediacy of response to which the public - actively encouraged by the Government and other sectors focussing on consumer service - is becoming increasingly accustomed. It also has the advantage of drawing in the web window-shopper who might otherwise find crossing a law office threshold a daunting prospect and moving them towards a commitment to instruct a particular practice.

The immediacy of the web and internet is raising the stakes in the area of client care. Once conditioned to the immediate response afforded by the web sites of other services and industries instant gratification will increasingly become the clients' service benchmark. Already famed for poor communication the issue of complaints will take on a new dimension if lawyers are now to be judged by the customer service and client relationship management standards of sectors with a strong ethos of customer care. Where lawyers may have difficulty in even finding the time to adapt to this 'client is king' world their web sites can make a significant move in this direction.

The last frontier

The subsequent phase of web-enabled applications which may also be key to satisfying clients' expectations is permitting them access to their casework via a secure area of the web site - an extranet. Already a prerequisite of much commercial work and backed by the current government intentions to speed up property purchases transparency in conveyancing is just a step away with service providers gearing up to link buyers and sellers with their solicitors and estate agents on a transaction-by-transaction basis.

Those smaller firms who have not yet established a web site must from an array of interactive web-based applications now determine those features and functions that are or may very rapidly become relevant to the future development of their practices. Those applications that will help safeguard long-term or new client relationships and offer a real return on investment.

Many of the brave firms that launched their sites early on have been disillusioned. The pace of technology has overtaken their brochure-ware and unless they can dedicate the necessary time and funds to marketing their sites their success in reaching new clients is consigned to fate.

Here is yet another call on hard-pressed fee earners' time for learning planning maintenance and competitive marketing in an arena that now extends beyond the legal profession.

Competitive advantage - if not survival - will lie with smaller firms that can define and implement their e-strategy or be helped to identify and claim their niche on and over the web.

Levelling the playing-field

In March 2001 Martindale-Hubbell publishers of the Butterworths Law Directory launched

Lawyer HomePages@LawyerLocator.co.uk its new website design and marketing service that has been specifically developed to attend the needs of the small firm sector. To minimise the investment of resources and fee earners' time needed to establish and maintain an effective web presence and develop their practices online.

From the outset the service aims to help smaller practices to define their overall e-strategy guiding them through the development of content that reflects this planning and encouraging interaction with new and existing clients. The sites are e-commerce enabled to permit firms to take payment online and include simple mechanisms for clients to complete questionnaires or issue instructions. Once launched the sites are housed on the search engine at Martindale-Hubbell's new legal portal www.LawyerLocator.co.uk that is supported by a marketing campaign dedicated to driving traffic from businesses and consumers to Lawyer HomePages. Being found online through a channel that specialises in information about law firms offers small practices more effective internet placement and takes the pain out of marketing. In the long-term the service offers ongoing support as technology develops that may represent new ways of adding value to a firm’s business.

A leading player in the legal directory business since 1868 Martindale-Hubbell brought to the UK project a significant corporate pool of successful sector-specific internet marketing experience along with a tool set for developing law firm web sites. Sharing these resources were vital to the company's ability to meet the 'affordable' price challenge and varying levels of support and advice that are the particular need of the smaller law firm.

Similar concepts have previously proved successful for Martindale-Hubbell in the US and this UK initiative stems from a marriage of the company's internet experience and legal resources in the US with their UK assets - the Butterworths Law Directory and other company affiliations. Martindale-Hubbell is a sister company to Butterworths Tolley and a member of the Lexis-Nexis Group the legal division of Reed Elsevier plc.

Since 1995 the company has developed two major award-winning US-based legal portals which now attract close to three million searches a month. The website www.martindale.com is where the legal profession accesses comprehensive information on over one million lawyers worldwide. At www.lawyers.com US consumers and small businesses can easily search the vast database of American law firms to check out the lawyers and legal experience they need. Significantly in the United States Martindale-Hubbell has also designed some 17 000 web sites for smaller law firms that are found by potential clients on lawyers.com.

Defining a sensible launch-pad

To define responsive all-inclusive service packages Martindale-Hubbell recognised the need to get 'behind the desks of smaller law firms' and understand the varying issues facing firms ranging from sole practitioners to twenty-five fee earners spanning the spectrum of practice areas and geographic locations across the UK. In effect to determine those functions and features that would represent immediate value for small law firms and their clients permitting them room for growth but without over-selling them on technology.

Of the research conducted the most illuminating was a series of in-depth focus groups to discuss the first-hand experiences and attitudes to web-based IT of groups of practitioners representing the full range of small- to mid-sized practices.

Current attitudes of smaller firms

Some already had web sites. Others that did not were planning to do so imminently. Very few were e-commerce enabled or using online business tools although use of e-mail to correspond with clients was extensive. They all recognised that a brochure site had some value but that they needed to move towards more transactional sites if they wanted to set themselves apart from the local competition. Cost and lack of time combined with the difficulty of identifying and preparing suitable content were viewed as the prime difficulties.

Very few of the practices seemed able to articulate a comprehensive strategic plan for their use of the internet. Again lack of time and resource undoubtedly contributed to this position.

The concern for smaller firms was that they would increase their costs without generating any additional revenues. Not to mention the fact that time spent on developing a web site is time spent away from traditional fee earning activities.

Pressure from clients for greater transparency in the conduct of transactions was viewed as a prime driver in upgrading current sites. For those with web sites still in planning stages it was also a significant initial design consideration.

In some areas of practice such as electronic conveyancing permitting clients greater access to their casework was already viewed as inevitable and indeed potentially helpful to all parties involved. However it was a development viewed with trepidation. Once clients are offered direct access to their files there will be no going back and every client will expect to see daily progress. In small practices it was envisaged that the way forward might be tighter concentration on one area of specialisation offered to a wider market.

In general the participating practices were not yet completely comfortable with the broad concept of e-commerce in legal services and it was universally accepted that the real service value comes from the personal attention of the solicitor. In the ambit of the small firm there was agreement that certain areas of the law lend themselves more easily to e-commerce than others.

It was agreed that the internet could be utilised to progress conveyancing matters and standard contracts or petitions engendered by questionnaires. It was also acknowledged that there is still great scope for non-contentious areas of private client and small business work to be expanded on the internet.

Systematically maintaining personalised contact with clients beyond a specific brief is a hard task for the working solicitor although showing this individual interest was deemed to be worth gold. Access to pertinent content for news-feeds and e-mail newsletters would be a valuable resource for the small firm particularly as a means of touching base with less active clients.

Practices recognised that a web site was a necessary commitment and that once launched it could not remain static. However the working solicitor does not have time to spend on content nor do the smaller practices have the design or IT expertise to keep up with the advances in technology that clients now expect. Few felt able to market the web sites effectively enough to produce new clients and revenue streams.

At present technology is challenging traditional work methods but bringing little measurable benefit and smaller law firms need help in making technology work for them. A comprehensive service to set-up assist in the provision of relevant quality content and market and maintain the web sites at an affordable price would be a valuable option.

One size does not suit all

The needs and resources of a sole practitioner compared with a firm with twenty-five fee earners - possibly even in different towns - vary greatly. Although fixed all-inclusive pricing was viewed as vital for a service that had hitherto been viewed as an open chequebook it would neither have been fair nor realistic to propose one price across the board. Firms also vary in their 'in-house' IT expertise and indeed in their willingness to outsource or need for guidance. The solution was to develop a three-tier pricing structure according to number of practitioners and within each tier two options on levels of consultancy support based on hours. Charging is based on a modest one time set-up cost and a monthly maintenance subscription. It was always the aim that 'affordable' would mean that prices for a sole practitioner would start as low as £10 a week.

The current service and the future

From the favourable reactions from both solicitors and the press Martindale-Hubbell has achieved its initial objective. For a segment of the law firm market that has been neglected by other major legal service providers Lawyer HomePages currently represent a sensible approach to launching a web site and entering the e-legal marketplace. Martindale-Hubbell plans to partner the smaller law firms through their period of transition introducing a range of additional new features that is likely to include the availability of standard forms online newsfeeds and client-focused special areas of interest on the LawyerLocator. In addition to extensive marketing activities focused on driving traffic from businesses and consumers to www.lawyerlocator.co.uk Martindale-Hubbell will also be introducing an alliance and syndication programme that will place LawyerLocator.co.uk on those influential sites where users are likely to need lawyers. This powerful combination of driving traffic and catching searches from the most frequently used sites will increase the visibility of Lawyer HomePages to a focused audience in a way previously unaffordable for smaller law firms.

Yolanda Dolling is the product development director at Martindale Hubbell and can be contacted via email at lawyerhomepages@lawyerlocator.co.uk or on 020 7868 4885. The Martindale Hubbell web-site can be found at www.LawyerLocator.co.uk.

[1] Source: Nielsen NetRatings February 2001

[2] Source: Jupiter MMXI March 2001