Like Uber and other disruptive start-ups, we have commenced business with a view to re-shaping the way legal services are provided to clients.
Uber
Like Uber and other disruptive start-ups, we have commenced business with a view to re-shaping the way legal services are provided to clients.
I read an article late last year that the biggest mistake businesses can make is to call themselves the ‘Uber’ of their industry, but I disagree at least in so far as the comparison should be made.
Uber stands for something more than the quintessential start-up. In my mind, Uber saw a global industry that was archaic, inward focussed and not willing to change. A classic case of jumping on your competitors who have had it too good for too long.
Legal Industry
The legal industry has suffered from the following criticisms in recent times:
- reactive (and slow at it);
- expensive and out of touch with business needs;
- uncommercial;
- unwilling to put a stake in the ground and give firm advice;
- unable to retain good people.
Unfortunately, as an industry we have nowhere to hide. All of the above are correct. Many law firms have become obsessive about time sheets and billing to a point where it is the primary concern.
In our view, the invoice should follow the product or service and not the other way around.
Now I’m not suggesting that the legal industry is completely to blame for this conundrum. It is one of the most highly regulated cost sensitive industries in the world. Compare it with say your surgeon…when was the last time you lay on the operating table haggling over the price?
My point is, that it’s time for the industry to work together to improve the client experience.
Us
We commit to improving the delivery of legal services to our clients by undertaking the following simple steps:
- Doing what we say we will do (ALWAYS);
- Providing timely and proactive advice;
- Providing strategic insights outside of the box;
- Delivering billing methods which are consistent with the outcomes achieved.
I’m not sure if you call that disrupting an industry or not, it’s just what we are doing.
All the best for 2016
Nick Hitchens
DISCLAIMER: This post is the opinion of the author and in no way constitutes legal advice.