The Legal Marketplace

Anyone who sells anything, be it a product, a service or professional advice, operates in a ‘market’ and anyone taking their goods to market faces competition.

A bread stall, for example, is operating in a ‘marketplace’ including other bread sellers, general grocers, supermarkets, suppliers of bread alternatives and specialist bakers. Lots of providers offering similar goods or alternatives and competing for business.

Markets are also subject to change. They grow and expand. Stalls become shops, high streets, shopping centres, hypermarkets, turn into a mail order catalogue or go online. Others close down as demand for the products on offer shifts towards alternatives or rules and regulations change the way that the market is allowed to run.

Whether you’re a market trader or a provider of professional services, the same basic principles apply for anyone looking to make sure their business is competitive and sustainable.

• Stand out from the crowd

• Offer quality (of product or service), value or convenience (or all three)

• Be adaptable to change

Changing Times

Whilst there always has been (and always will be) constant changes to the Statute Books, it could be argued that, compared to other sectors, the actual market for the provision of legal services has changed relatively little. Until now.

The past decade in particular have seen many significant changes.

Law firms being able to advertise and the introduction of licensed conveyancers . The withdrawal of Legal Aid for many categories of work, and the introduction Conditional Fee Agreements. The Woolf Reforms, Access to Justice Act, referral fees and claims management companies - to name a few.

Most recently, the impact of the Clementi Review and subsequent Legal Services Bill will see traditional solicitors’ firms competing with new providers of legal services including retailers, high street banks, estate agents and insurance companies and the pooling of resources between professional service providers to form multi-disciplinary practices.

Tesco’s on-line ‘Legal Store’ offers all the services currently permitted. The RAC offers a Personal Injury claims service. The AA has stated its intention to be a supplier of legal services. Home Information Packs will be introduced in June 2007. Even DIY divorces, wills and letting agreements are readily available at stationers’ outlets and various websites.

Obviously, not all aspects of the legal profession will be affected by the implications of the Clementi Review and the Legal Services Bill. However, the commercial reality on the high street will be one of wider customer choice, and an expectation of high service standards when it comes to purchasing legal services.

Facing the future

Many lawyers, who initially joined the profession to practice law, are now realising that they need to include business management skills in their list of must-have’s in order to stay ahead of the game. The issue is clear for many high street and other solicitor’s firms:

How to compete with the marketing budgets, call centres and fully
interactive websites of major ‘big brand’ high street companies
and financial services providers when they start to provide legal services?

Your practice needs to be ready for the emergence of a significantly more competitive legal services environment. The application of a few sound marketing principles can make all the difference to your organisation’s ability to ‘be ready to the future’ and not ‘waiting for the future to turn up’.

For details of how The Fedora Consultancy can help you face the challenges arising within the changing legal services market, Click here or Contact us to discuss your firm’s situation.