Survival of the fittest? Assessing the evolution of the modern law firm

In the June issue of Managing Partner, Martin Street, managing director at Boyds Solicitors, examined the importance of law firm branding in developing the ethos and external perception of a law firm. In this article, Martin continues his analysis to consider how law firms must adapt their traditional hierarchy and management infrastructure if they are to remain profitable in the modern legal and business environment.

Nearly 150 years ago, Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species in which he explained that it is those that adapt best and exploit their surrounding environment that will survive and ultimately prosper. Others will, in time, become extinct. Although Darwin was referring mainly to genetic changes, the analogy can be applied to the changes in the legal profession over the past few decades, and as a result we can see that the legal profession is littered with parallel examples

In recent years the legal profession has become a highly competitive marketplace where image and reputation mean a great deal. As practices begin to recognise that they must evolve in order to survive, many firms have turned to the skills and disciplines of marketing to help them achieve real and effective change.

Many small and medium-sized general law firms have shifted their focus away from traditional private client work and now offer a complete range of professional services. Some law firms are also beginning to realise that the profession’s traditional hierarchy and management infrastructure can no longer support a profitable or practical service. Change is no longer a four-letter word, but an essential part of legal life.

As part of that evolutionary process, comprehensive re-branding programmes that address standards and style of service, corporate values, client contact and external perceptions can give a firm a whole new lease of life.

Re-branding is not simply a new logo - it is a whole series of initiatives that have a commercial focus with a beginning, middle and end that must reflect an internal commitment to change.

It is easy for solicitors to fall into the trap of believing that all of their problems can be solved and success guaranteed by creating a new external image. Undertaking cosmetic marketing initiatives may lead to short-term gain, but failure to address the underlying issues that give the substance and credibility to a distinctive image can result in long-term damage.

The need for change in the profession runs deep. The deregulation of some areas of the law, such as conveyancing, probate and even some forms of litigation, have allowed non-legal specialists to provide a competitive service, often pricing solicitors out of the market by being better supported and organised.

Both the commercial and individual consumer is more discerning, more aware of their options, has very specific needs and has greater choice than ever before.

Hiring a marketing director should offer a law firm a greater level of insight into its market and the vision and plans to exploit such an opportunity. This is likely to prove beneficial in improving the long-term fortunes of the organisation, but firms should be aware that creating a new identity means that change has to run through every facet of the organisation.

True re-branding can never be something that is simply bolted onto the side of a law firm. If this is likely to be the case, and your lawyers (and others) are unwilling to adapt to change, such activity is likely be expensive, frustrating and wasteful, with all parties losing faith in the process.

Branding should give clients and competitors alike an insight into the organisation. Altering a company’s brand often means challenging the existing ethos and associations with the company - a step that should not be taken lightly.

Simply creating a new logo made up of minimalist shapes and bright primary colours does not immediately mean that a firm is open, dynamic and at the forefront of 21^st century legal practice. Logos form an essential part of corporate branding and must say something about the firm. They provide clients with a brief snapshot of the firm’s ethos and personality and can even help to formulate client expectations. Designers may offer single blocks of primary colour and try to say that they represent ‘solidarity and forward thinking’, but will the client ultimately recognise this? Will changing the name of the practice from ‘Dibble and Atkins’ to the Latin name for enterprise actually help to encourage clients?

The answer to these questions depends entirely upon the services offered by the firm. A name change like the example above is likely to do a serious amount of damage to a firm that is grounded in providing private client services, with little interest in breaking into the corporate market, but such a name change may be beneficial to a multinational law firm, that requires a universal brand name across several different areas.

Changing to a logo that is not understood by your prospective market and alienates your existing (and presumably lucrative) core clients is a recipe for disaster.

Understanding branding is all about identifying a niche in the market, which allows one firm to offer a better service than its competitors. Branding is not simply about sending flyers through to prospective clients in the hope that they take notice of your leaflet.

External branding must reflect the internal infrastructure, personality of the firm, and the services offered. Failure to generate a uniform identity across the organisation sends out mixed and confusing messages to the client. Adopting one form of branding for a specific area of the company and different ones for other sectors means that the time and money spent upon changing perceptions of the firm are wasted, simply because the corporate identity of the firm is confused. Businesses may offer a wide range of different services, but it is highly unlikely to find a difference in the branding. Virgin, for example, offers products ranging from cosmetics and soft drinks to transatlantic flights, but the entire spectrum of products offered by the company are branded in broadly the same way.

The external re-branding of a law firm must also be reflected internally within the organisation. If the only thing that has changed is the company logo, and behind this remains the same traditional law firm embracing archaic practices and ideas, then this is also likely to damage confidence in the practice and ultimately its commercial effectiveness.

In today’s commercial environment, reorganisation goes hand-in-hand with developing a more business-like management approach. The internal infrastructure of the firm plays an equally important part in a company’s success as developing a branding strategy. When undertaking a re-branding programme, it is essential to place client needs and expectations at the centre of any change. Independent research must be commissioned, allowing the firm to review client needs objectively.

There are many ways in which research can be conducted. Quantitative research is usually often an effective first step. Such research allows a firm to define parameters and areas that may require further investigation. Once the research is completed, statistics can be developed easily, helping to ensure clarity and allowing key areas to be highlighted.

Quantitative research allows a firm to identify and highlight problem areas facing the firm, but because of the nature of this type of research, the client’s thoughts and opinions remain hidden. There is little scope within the format of a tick-box questionnaire to enable the clients to share their opinions. Using quantitative research allows a firm to establish the facts that need to be addressed. This can be supported by undertaking qualitative research.

Interviews with clients can help to find out specific issues that clients are facing, allowing them to share their thoughts and opinions about the firm. Qualitative interviews allow solicitors to help develop strong relationships with clients. Asking a client for their opinion about the practice can be a valuable resource and should not be underestimated. The interviews help to develop client-solicitor relationships as clients feel that the firm values their opinions.

While research helps to ensure that the practice is identifying client needs, the process can be misleading. It is vital that a third-party organisation is used to obtain views about the organisation as this gives the best chance that results are not false or at best misinterpreted. Solicitors may feel that they know exactly what is needed, but manipulating research to demonstrate this undermines the entire process. Commissioning an external specialist agency helps to ensure that results from the research can contribute effectively to any form of proposed branding activity, helping to identify objectives and helping to stay in touch with actual (not perceived) client needs.

The days of firms creating services that placed the needs of the solicitors first have long-gone. In order to compete successfully with the demands placed upon firms by the market, solicitors must question whether the services they provide are capable of providing a good service for their clients.

Changes currently being undertaken in the legal profession as a whole are reflective of a wider change in client expectations of professional services. Banks and accountants have all realised that the traditional nine-to-five opening hours are no longer sufficient to deal with client needs. Companies that have continued to stick to the nine-to-five working week are rapidly finding themselves being squeezed out of the market.

The legal profession is not the only professional service that has been forced to change its practices. Perhaps the most noticeable changes have occurred in the banking sector where, even just a few years ago, it was impossible to receive information about accounts any time outside normal office hours. Research conducted by banks revealed that customers required greater accessibility to their accounts. Today, the vast majority of banks are open on Saturdays and the dawn of internet banking has effectively opened up the sector for business 24 hours a day.

Banks looked at the services offered by retail companies and recognised the need for change. Today, it is law firms that can learn from the retail sector. Central to maintaining a successful client relationship lies the need to provide a high level of customer satisfaction as well as improving accessibility.

It is possible to arrange a mortgage at any time of the day, but at present, the lack of legal services or support available still means that property transactions take weeks rather than just a few hours or days. E-conveyancing has been widely talked about, but unless the legal profession can provide an adequate service and tailor its services to enable such transactions to take place over the internet, there is little possibility of the service becoming a reality.

Clients often need legal advice outside normal office hours. Many large firms are now staffed 24 hours a day. While this may not be necessary in smaller organisations, providing an out-of-hours contact number, allowing clients to contact the firm at any time is an important first step that should be adopted.

Accessibility to legal services must be improved if the law firms are to remain successful. As some firms begin to offer such services, the ones that decide to maintain the traditional inflexible opening hours are likely to disappear. The level of service offered by practices must also alter.

Traditionally, clients were allocated a specific solicitor that was used to service all of their legal needs, but given the wide-reaching and complicated nature of the law in general, it is more important to ensure that solicitors with specialist areas of expertise provide legal advice within that particular area. After all, there is little sense in allocating work to solicitors that does not fall directly into their own specialist area.

While all lawyers gain a basic grounding in the many different aspects of the law, there is a great deal of difference in the procedures surrounding IT/IP law, litigation and criminal work. A litigation lawyer may have a basic (and possibly out-of-date) understanding of criminal law, but are they really the best-qualified person in the firm to be giving legal advice in this area? Using the same solicitor to carry out every piece of legal work is today both impractical and unprofitable. Clients should question whether they really need a senior partner in the firm to draft their will, when a junior solicitor could service all their needs equally as well, but for a fraction of the price.

Sceptics may argue that passing one client from lawyer to lawyer is detrimental to customer service, but the complexity of the law simply means that solicitors cannot physically cope with providing a service that addresses every possible legal issue. If solicitors have an expertise in one particular area of the law they will provide a better service to the firm if their work is devoted entirely to addressing that particular area of the law. If clients want advice on another legal area, then it is sensible for them to see an expert within that area. Providing such a service ensures that the practice can continue to meet client needs.

Given that clients are likely to require services from more than one area of the practice, it is likely that firms will be forced to restructure, not only providing specific departments to cater for particular areas of the law, but to enable clients to benefit from solicitors that possess different areas of specialisation. An account-based system, where one lawyer is placed in charge of a particular account and then has several different solicitors working with him is one possible solution. This would enable the client to continue to develop strong relationships with specific lawyers, while ensuring that he receives the best possible legal advice. Client expectations are based upon the quality of service provided, value for money as well as recognising that the firm is putting the clients needs first.

Martin Street is the managing director at Boyds solicitors. He can be contacted at mstreet@boydslaw.com