Nice doing business with you: A new form of legal service delivery in a competitive age

Lawyers Direct was launched in August 2002. The company manages over 50 highly experienced consultant lawyers available to law firms and in-house legal departments on an hourly basis and at very short notice. Managing Partner talks to the company’s managing director, James Knight, about the challenges faced by this unique business.

What motivated you to launch a business such as Lawyers Direct?

It was apparent that there was a huge demand in the legal industry from lawyers who wanted to work in a flexible manner and, while a few law firms and companies do accommodate this requirement, most do not. At the same time, we were aware that legal departments struggle at times of peak demand and small firms, in particular, often lack the know-how to carry out specialist instructions. Law firms and legal departments need to have access, at very short notice, to highly experienced, quality lawyers who are available on an hourly basis as and when required, and no more. Unfortunately, locum lawyers are not really the solution: they do not enjoy a great reputation for quality and they cannot be used all that strategically. What we have done is provide experienced lawyers with a means to aid legal departments at a time when the industry is changing. Every other industry in the country can call on extra resources in this way and the legal industry needs it more than most.

Are there any particular challenges to running a business such as yours as opposed to a traditional law firm?

We have to work especially hard on the logistics side of our business. In a conventional company, everyone is situated under one roof and pretty much sits in the same seat every day. Fortunately, modern communication structures are so good that they compensate for our lack of physicality. We also only take on lawyers who have decided that consultancy is really for them, so our churn rate is negligible.

How can you ensure quality of service when lawyers are working from various locations?

Outstanding quality is absolutely fundamental to our business. We only take on very experienced lawyers with an absolute minimum of five-years PQE. In reality, it is averaging around 12 years. We also look very closely at their working history. If they have trained and spent at least four years in one of the country’s top law firms then that is a good sign. By the time we have finished interviewing and taken up references, we have a good idea of how each individual will perform. We have a very detailed contract and, of course, we are continually receiving and monitoring client feedback. It is very easy for us to respond rapidly to any quality concerns, but thankfully there have not been any so far.

How have clients so far responded to your service?

We have been amazed that firms should take so readily to what is, in effect, a new concept within the legal industry. It allows them to match resource to demand without increasing the fixed cost and firms know that this means that they can take on work that might otherwise be turned away. Even firms that have not used us yet have said how reassuring it was to know that there was a pool of lawyers waiting in the wings ready to hit the ground running.

What practice areas do you cover?

We decided early on that it was better to specialise in defined areas rather than to try to do everything. We have five different practice areas, all within the non-contentious corporate and commercial field. These are corporate and commercial, energy, commercial property, employment, and intellectual property.

Lawyers Direct (UK) Ltd, 53 Davies Street, London W1K 5JH
Tel: 020 7152 6550 Fax: 020 7152 6551
Website: www.lawyers-direct.biz Email: enquiries@lawyers-direct.biz