So it seems that the national brand Quality Solicitors is growing fast with the front page of yesterday’s Law Society Gazette reporting that QS has opened 100 new branches showing that it is likely to become a major market presence in the not too distant future.
I was interested to read this article by Quality Solicitors’ Craig Holt on @legalfutures’ (AKA Neil Rose’s) website in which the Chief Executive draws parallels with what Specsavers did for optometry. An interesting comparison between two professions moving from independently owned practices to national brands.
An appropriate comparison not least because to introduce such radical changes in a profession such as law takes real vision. Let’s face it, doing things differently is not something lawyers have traditionally been very comfortable with. This has always struck me as odd given that one of our key skills should surely be thinking outside the box.
What’s this got to do with individual lawyers? If you’re a solicitor or associate beavering away with your head down, why worry about the changing landscape of law? Where there’s work, there’s a career and people or businesses will always need lawyers whatever vehicle that service happens to be offered through.
All well and good, but with the Legal Services Act there comes an opportunity. For lawyers with an entrepreneurial streak who are not content with climbing the legal ladder regardless of which wall it happens to be leaning against, now is the time to look at what your career has in store. Put on your metaphorical specs and take a long hard look at what the future holds for you. Is there a way to carve your own path? There are plenty of lawyers out there who are already setting up niche practices, or going it alone in affiliations with virtual law firms. There has never been a better time to find a way of practicing law which is absolutely right for you.
Why risk falling amongst the herd of short-sighted lawyers who will be looking back in 10 years time thinking “Should have gone to Specsavers”? Grasp the nettle. Shape your own future – all you have to do is see it.
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I am not convinced that the business franchise model will work in legal practice for the simple reason that the partnership model is antithetical to it working. The majority of partners have still not worked out a way to disassociate ‘their’ brand from that of the firm, and think, wrongly in most cases, that unless they do the work then they or the firm will lose the work. This of course is premised from their perspective and not from the client’s perspective who wants a problem resolved, the majority of which do not require the analogous brain surgeon type approach but more of a commoditised, do it efficiently, predictably and cheaply. Having looked at the service standards for law firms they need to accept that clients will expect things to happen when they want it to – subject to the vagaries of third parties (HMLR etc) – but that should not abrogate the need for law firms to stand for something. If you say you are going to do something then you need to do it. As for seeing the world through different eyes, the unfortunate thing is that lawyers know early on what needs to do be done (to make things change) but by the time they are in a position to effect change, they are powerless to do so because of the accumulated baggage. I do hope though that there are enough renegades out there who are willing to lay down the gauntlet and say “I don’t care what others think” and just go for it.
Regards
Julian
There is a notion that the divergent thought required in most entrepreneurial models or innovation models are actively drilled out of lawyers through both their training and their work. This is often why the entrepreneurial/ innovation lawyer or rainmaker/ visionary is such a rare commodity – and that doesn’t need to be the case. Legal education and training for one would do well to start focusing more on how divergent and emergent thought are encouraged. I’m reminded of The Marshmallow Challenge which often shows lawyers as under performing in this area. http://marshmallowchallenge.com
I would hope when the SRA, Law Society, LSB et al have their debate about legal education, they don’t drive us forward looking into the rear view mirror. The skills of tomorrow have to be more divergent due to the patterns of complexity that are coming at us rapidly.
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