CoreLegal has brought together three leading speakers in their field to stage a half-day (3 hour CPD) seminar in London for law firms. The event is to discuss the highly topical question of ‘How To Grow Your Practice – By Organic Growth, Merger Or Acquisition?’…

Specialists Dave Mort, Jon Hepburn and Ray Fox will all be giving key presentations on the day, calling upon their practical experience in the fields of

• research in the legal services sector
• common-sense business development advice
• helping solicitors sell, merge or value their practices.

Attendees will be able to get the inside track and discuss the issues with fellow professionals.

Delegates can book online at http://www.lawfirmbusinessdevelopment.eventbrite.com

CoreLegal founder member and Director of IRN Research Dave Mort, says “Whilst no industry possesses a crystal ball to predict the future, there are real opportunities for innovative high street law firms looking to expand. This seminar will highlight those opportunities and will give useful, practical advice on how law firms can grow.”

The seminar follows on from last November’s sell-out event ‘Outcomes Focused Regulation – What It Is And How To Achieve It’.

This CoreLegal seminar is open to all law firms. Sessions will cover:

• Changing business models and working with others to keep the business growing
• Business development tips for law firms staying independent
• How to grow through merger or acquisition

The event also provides an excellent opportunity to network following the presentations.

Date: Friday 25th May 2012. Price: £60

Time: 2:00 – 5:00pm (arrive by 1:45pm please)

Venue: The Bloomsbury Suite, Hotel Russell, 1-8 Russell Square, London, WC1B 5BE  http://www.londonrussellhotel.co.uk

Tube: Russell Square (Piccadilly Line)

Delegates can book online at http://www.lawfirmbusinessdevelopment.eventbrite.com

For further information, please send an email to info@corelegal.net or call 020 3393 5305

Law firms need to be proactive – ‘High street’ brands will also be targeting your clients. Insurance companies don’t assume you’ll renew your premium – they get in touch.

Ongoing, permission-based communication with your clients is good practice, commercially a ‘no-brainer’ and essential for a law firm’s goodwill. The value of that goodwill is inextricably linked to the quality of the client database and your firm’s professional reputation.

But what if you haven’t got an up-to-date client database to be proud of – or haven’t got one at all? Here at Fedora we’re looking to help your firm with this vital task. Read on..

Get your client database compliant

We’re looking for a small number of law firms to work with on a ‘first come, first served’ case-study basis to test this new service – at a substantially discounted rate.

We’ve teamed up with some top-level service providers to offer  a ‘one-stop shop’ client database development service that enables law firms to outsource this essential task. The process has been carefully checked with the SRA’s Outcomes-focused regulation.

• Fedora will project manage the whole process, liaise with the relevant members of your team and get the job done simply and with the minimum of fuss. In short, if you have the data, we can help verify it.
• The service offered by Fedora aims to ease the administrative burden of creating, updating and maintaining a relevant client database.
• It also offers an outsourced, integrated facility for communicating with these clients to help generate additional business opportunities.
• The service is designed for private or commercial clients. The case study will help identify the most effective use of the service and communication channels eg. ‘phone, email, letter etc.

If you’d like to know more about how this service could help your law firm please call Jon Hepburn on 01743 366288

IRN Research, our partner research agency, is looking for participants to take part in a short confidential survey about their use of, and spending on, legal information services. The survey will only take a few minutes to complete and all responses will be treated in the strictest confidence. 

The results will form part of a report to be published in May 2012 titled “The UK Legal Information, Software, and Training Market”.

For every completed interview:

• IRN will donate £1 to the UNICEF charity
• Your name will be added to our draw to win a meal for 2 in a restaurant local to you (draw to take place at the end of April)
• We can also send you a FREE copy of the chapter of the report covering the legal information market

If you would like to take part in the survey please contact IRN researcher Annabel Colley at Annabelcolley@ntlworld.com leaving a telephone number or call Jon Hepburn at Fedora on 07721 402700.

None of your contact details will be used for any other purposes or passed to any third parties.

IRN Research is a full member of the Market Research Society (MRS) and abides by its Code of Conduct when undertaking research.

In many industry sectors, comparison and review websites are one of the main channels through which a business can connect with its customers. Who hasn’t checked out reviews of a film, book or washing machine before typing in our card details and proceeding to the checkout?

But this is all well and good for consumer purchases, lawyers may cry – it is completely different when it comes to legal services. Isn’t it?

Well, yes to a certain degree, in that purchasing FMCGs (fast moving consumer goods such as toiletries or food for example) or durable goods (e.g. washing machines) is quite closely linked to the reputation of that item – or the company that sells it. In other words, personal experience and the word of mouth of others plays a huge part in getting people to buy.

Where legal services differs is that, in the past, people have automatically assumed a level of competence and, indeed, a certain level of service from a solicitor – and have generally gravitated towards their local provider – the same way in which they would register with their local doctor, see their local optician or open a bank account with their local bank…

…However, over the past few years’ society’s attitude towards service providers has shifted massively

• Along with the development of the internet, the global market and social media, the world has become a smaller place, both physically and virtually. People are now no longer constrained by the ‘local’ label, even when it comes to professionals who provide a service.
• What they are now looking for is who can provide the best service and the best value, not only in terms of price but also through visible examples of a good reputation i.e. testimonials and recommendations.
• As service providers, law firms now need to make sure that their reputation clearly matches their service and that this is good enough to attract new business as well as retain long-standing business from existing clients. So, how can they communicate this quickly and cost-effectively?

The rise and reach of the internet

• There is a difference between trying to find the right legal advisor, the cheapest car insurance, a night in a hotel or a care home for an elderly relative – the information sought, importance of the service to name but two. But this is a task that has been made much easier thanks to comparison sites.
• They, like brand names, provide a short cut to help people make a decision and can be divided into price-based comparison and review-based comparison – both of which contribute to the development of a reputation.

Price comparison sites

• These are ubiquitous in car insurance and many other sectors and, along with fixed price legal advice websites, are becoming more popular in the legal services sectors. Law firms are often attracted to these sites by promises of new business but, unless your law firm is of a suitable size, structure and culture, competing on price alone can be a risky option.
• A client’s perceptions of value are much more than just the cost involved and if your workflow is dependent on referrals that could be outlawed or from a source that could become a competitor, it is time to think about reputation management.

Review sites

• When there is a lack of information on which to make an informed decision – particularly for an infrequent and often ‘distress’ purchase such as legal advice – recommendations, reviews and the reach of the internet have been a great help to the consumer.
• Indeed, the Government is encouraging the empowerment of consumers in many service sectors – there are proposals in a forthcoming White Paper on the future of social care proposing for care homes to be reviewed and rated – it would be fair to say that review sites will become an even more prominent feature on the consumer landscape.

The role of feedback differs according to what is being sold

• For a product such as a toy, book or car, there can be clear indications of whether or not the reviewer has been impressed with the product or the service received.
• When it comes to legal services the information imbalance between client and solicitor is often huge and the subject matter highly emotive. The client often has little interest in the process; their focus is on the service and outcome – and that will shape any feedback they may provide.
• However, the implications of a ‘bad’ restaurant experience or waiting longer than expected for a shed to be delivered are less serious than the implications of some incorrect legal advice – real or perceived – and so it is understandable that many law firms remain wary of the subjective nature of reviews.

The effect on each service provider’s reputation is potentially significant but must be put in context

• Consumers are now quite familiar with using review sites to help them decide on a wide range of purchases. But they are also getting wise to the issues encountered by sites such as TripAdvisor where the lack of a verification process has shown some reviews to be fraudulent and/or malicious.
• By their very nature, review sites will attract extremes of opinion but those sites that endeavour to make sure that reviews are genuine, will be the ones whose own reputation will rank highly in the site visitor’s consciousness.
• Comparison site visitors don’t tend to be alarmed by the occasional negative comment (some may even be suspicious if none exist) and generally take a broader view of the range of reviews published.

Taking this on board, some online retailers actively include all positive and negative reviews of their products and services on their own websites. It is worth noting that, under the new ABS rules; those big brands could soon be offering legal advice. Will they offer a ‘warts and all’ availability of client reviews for these services – and will you?

Given that getting client feedback is an SRA requirement for the new OFR, an appreciation of reputation management through reviews is important. The time has come for law firms to ‘think like a retailer’ with regard to their reputation and to consider the information that would help a potential client choose them over another provider.

The Legallybetter perspective

• Legallybetter has been in existence for three years. We are an independent and responsible review site and have always been careful to ensure our service offering is to the benefit of law firms. To date, we haven’t published very negative reviews (though we are currently reviewing this policy), as we want to give law firms the opportunity to rectify any problems they may have had with a client.
• We enable law firms to maximise the value of their reputation through the provision of a new client feedback service that is second to none and help empowered consumers be able to make an informed choice.
• We perceive a difference between the collective reputation of an entire law firm and that of an individual solicitor – they both have huge value and are both inextricably linked but also entirely independent of each other. To that end we offer individual solicitor profiles as well as a listing for the whole law firm including individual branch offices to enhance your local status.

We won’t sell you leads and won’t promise to get your law firm onto page 1 of Google. We provide actual client feedback for your firm to verify and act upon. We welcome a future where we are able to provide client feedback about all legal services providers.

We aim to improve the quality of your customer contact, business partnerships and effectiveness of your website, making it a hub for your communications.  Our e-newsletter creative package offer includes:

• Bespoke design template
• Test emails
• Sending service
• Copywriting assistance
• Additional web content

Special Price £225 per issue (usual price £250)

How we will work with you

• Agree themes, content and timetable for each issue
• Co-ordinate social media channels e.g. Twitter, blog
• Your company to provide email addresses for each issue
• Test e-mails sent prior to e-newsletter campaign
• Report available soon after each campaign has been sent
• Use of measurement tools such as Google Analytics and Google Alerts
• Log kept to show monthly progress – emails opened, click thrus etc

We maximise the value of PR releases, articles and other content and are very happy to work with any existing service providers you may already use.

Here at Fedora we also have great copywriting resources and save our clients time and money by creating timely, relevant online content.

To discuss your requirements please contact Jon Hepburn on 01743 366288.

We have many years collective experience producing copy that will bring a fresh approach to your communications, providing consistent tone of voice to reflect your corporate values. And we’re sure it’ll be more cost-effective and less time-consuming than utilising your own time or in-house resources.

Our copywriting rates start at £125 for half a day. We’ll take a brief from you in person, over the phone or via email. Typical turnaround is 72 hours, but a 24 hour service is available at extra cost.

We offer a rapid response, accuracy and incisiveness to help you reach your customers. Click here for experiences from satisfied clients or call us on 01743 366288 to find out more.

A typical telemarketing/research project conducted by iam teemarketing includes:

• Agreement of achievable KPIs.
• A guaranteed return on investment. (iam ROI currently stands at £4.98 for every £1 invested.)
• Free call recordings as required (typically appointments made or leads).
• Access to whomever is placing calls on your behalf for the entire time they’re representing you.
• Access to the web-based ‘phone line. This means you can hear how you’re being represented in real-time so, together with iam, you can perfect the approach accordingly.
• Free data verification as the project progresses.
• A detailed daily report showing calls placed, decision makers spoken with, appointments set/leads generated (if that’s the brief), literature requests & other positive calls completed.
• A daily update of the spreadsheet used/provided with comprehensive notes and amended data, where relevant.

For further information contact Chris Harding at iam telemarketing on 0333 332 0360.

The world of the web evolves quickly and it is vital to keep your website relevant and interesting in order to keep your profile prominent online. This doesn’t mean a huge investment in continually redesigning your site.

However, it does mean that you need to regularly update your content with material that will actively work for you. The proliferation of sites on WordPress and Droopal platforms – with easy to use content management systems (CMS) – have significantly helped that process.

Fedora can advise you on adding content to your site, whether you do it yourself or would like us to do it for you. Call Jon on 01743 366288 or email jon@fedoraconsultancy.co.uk for prices.

We particularly focus on bringing often dry, technical subject matter to life and ensuring the messages accurately reflect the corporate culture, values and ‘tone of voice’ of our clients.

See below three recent examples of e-newsletters produced for local clients.  They can play a major role in driving traffic to your website, blog or social media channels. Also see our special offer on the Fedora E-newsletter creative package.

Triangle HR Ltd, Shrewsbury, Shropshire

For Justine at Triangle HR we utilised existing corporate identity elements to develop a well received monthly e-newsletter. Triangle HR is a leading Shropshire-based HR consultancy. Fedora looks after all of their online marketing activity. We prepare the news and event content in conjunction with them, add it to the blog on their website, then design and send an e-newsletter on their behalf.

Email Jon Hepburn for examples of e-news prepared for Triangle HR that have achieved consistently high open rates and click-thrus.

TaxAssist Accountants, Shrewsbury, Shropshire

For Nigel at TaxAssist Shrewsbury we’ve developed the layout you see here, compiled the copy and send it out to a local client and contact list. The campaign provides a low cost way of staying in contact with their existing client base. We’ve achieved over 30% open rate and increase in click thru’s to Nigel’s blog.

The Old Rectory Hotel, Wem, N. Shropshire

Lastly there’s an example of a quarterly e-news sent to previous guests on behalf of The Old Rectory Hotel which again has a very positive effect on web traffic and bookings for events and accommodation. ‘Open rates’ and ‘click-thru’s’ have remained consistently high for this ongoing campaign.

This is a service we provide for a number of clients and many have found it to be particularly effective in driving traffic to their websites.