This week’s blogger is Alistair Vigier, the CEO of ClearWay Law, an Ontario family law firm.
Disclaimer: This blog discusses a product or service. We feel it’s important to showcase how the legal industry is evolving and developing solutions to improve Access to Justice. This blog is presented for the purpose of discussion only. The NSRLP does not recommend nor disapprove of these products or services, nor are we connected with these individuals or companies. If you are interested in these services or products you should contact the author directly. As with all legal services, the NSRLP strongly recommends researching before purchasing.
Old School Lawyers Will Soon Have Little Work
Law is changing, and it doesn’t matter if lawyers like it or not. Clio (a legal tech company in Vancouver) just raised $250M USD to help expand their business. According to Clio, 84% of lawyers say that raising their sales is important, and yet 77% of people that should use a lawyer don’t hire one.
Something in the legal industry is broken
Clients are getting tired of traditional law firms that focus on hitting billing targets. Clients are also annoyed about being ignored by the lawyers they hire. Law firms need to change and become client-satisfaction focused. At the same time, they must be open to using legal technology in their daily practice. Law firms also need to find a way to make it easier to retain a lawyer.
There is a lot to do.
I know that the legal industry is changing fast and will look very different in ten years, andI am doing my part in changing the legal industry. In January 2020, ClearWay Law is planning to become 100% internet-based. To date, there have been “download a legal template” technology companies, such as Legal Zoom and Law Depot. To my knowledge, we will be the first online law firm.
Law firms are similar to dentist offices
I believe the dental industry is like the legal industry in a lot of ways. A Canadian company called 123 Dentist just raised $425M. They have 70 offices in Canada. They provide office support, HR, marketing, procurement, and operations to their dentists.
The dentists focus on what they are good at: dentistry. This is what should happen in the legal industry. Lawyers need to stop worrying about marketing and operations, which they are not good at. Instead, they should focus on law. Law students don’t learn business and the reality is that a law firm is a sizeable business. Just like 123 Dentist, law firms that want to grow need to be well-capitalized to accelerate growth.
Online legal services are the future
Online law firms make sense for consumers and the self-represented because they make accessing limited legal services easier. Many people can afford self-represented coaching (limited retainer), which means they can use a lawyer as much or as little as they need. It’s also great because you don’t need to drive across town, pay for parking, and wait two weeks for an appointment with a lawyer.
An example of how you can work with an online law firm might be getting an separation agreement drafted. Most people don’t know what they need to do when drafting a domestic agreement, and downloading a template online seems dangerous when dealing with important matters such as your children or property. You don’t want to make a mistake.
You can pay an online law firm $1100 to draft the agreement and explain the next steps. For example, once you receive the draft agreement, you need to okay it to be sent to your spouse. Your spouse will need to receive independent legal advice, which means they need to go get their own lawyer to give them advice.
If you want to keep things cheap, you and your spouse won’t send the agreement back and forth. If negotiations are needed, you might do the negotiations yourself to save money. If you need a lawyer, they will charge you between $250-750/hour. Getting a lawyer to do part of the work is a good example of a limited scope retainer for the self-represented.
Legal outsourcing
Legal outsourcing is as far as most lawyers go with their innovation. I’ve dealt with several outsourcing companies and the experience can be a little challenging. It is often hard to find the serious cost savings while maintaining quality.
There is a significant market opportunity in Canada for law firms that can change “old school law”, thereby creating a unique opportunity for business success. Lawyers need to stop practicing finance, operations, marketing, and HR.
The path forward for the legal industry has the potential of being extremely positive, if old school lawyers can set their egos aside and step out of the way of innovation.
This article talked about innovations, online legal services and limited services agreements. As usual, they are all ideals to aspire to, but in today’s real world where the courts are predominately occupied by old school judges and lawyers, any change will be slower than a tortoise. Theses two classes of officers of the law are resisting change like crazy. They pride themselves appearing in court wearing their black robes and thumbing their noses at the informally dressed SRLs.
The moment the opposing side and the trial judge discover that an SRL had hired a lawyer to perform limited legal services, the SRL’s legal documents not the value-added document(s) that you had hoped for. It’s because the opposing lawyer and the judge see “you” and not the lawyer behind your perfectly crafted documents and as such, they discount the contents of your documents and they’ll turn a deaf against your coached oral arguments. You cannot get away from the justice system viewing you as an SRL as someone who NOT unable to afford a regular lawyer, but an SRL who “chooses” to be an SRL who wants to buck the system and clog up the court system with your frivolous claim.
Until the day when judges permit SRLs to automatically bring along a “McKenzie Friend”, i.e. a personal assistant to sit next to you, permit you to bring along car loads of family members and friends to sit in the visitors gallery, permit you to all court hearings videotaped and even televised to the outside world, etc., you as an SRL will continue to be marginalized by our so called “justice” system.
BC speaking aka Lorelei Rogers. Well done on progress! Money talks so I am sure the law firms that provide what the customer wants, in terms of affordability, will skyrocket. I just wish old school politicians would get on board in the same way. Waiting 4 years to vote them out is a long time. Good work!!
It’s true, things need to change.
I have no idea how a 100% online service would work for family law.
The Law Society of Ontario has specific rules about verifying the identity in person and if there is no face to face meeting, that person must see a commissioner of oaths before legal services can be provided. See appendix 2 of Law Society by-laws. Asking a person to email identity documents online doesn’t meet the verification requirement.
Financial statements and court documents also need to be commissioned. A document cannot be commissioned online or over the phone. (to do so would be professional misconduct). Court documents also need original signatures to be accepted for court filing. Scan and email doesn’t work for court filings. If you need someone to attend court on your behalf that person should be working close by.
If the Law Society identity verification requirement can someone be overcome, I don’t see a 100% model would work beyond very basic coaching and drafting separation agreements without sworn financial statements.
Innovation is great and I agree lawyers could do a better job with customer service (try managing 100+ clients at a time as many lawyers do) but legal innovators should actually have an idea how law is actually practiced.
“Canadian legal regulators do not allow non-lawyers to own Canadian law firms. … These rules are based on the personal relationship between a lawyer and a client. The provincial and territorial law societies that regulate the Canadian profession therefore hold lawyers to account on a personal basis.” Seems odd to see a non-lawyer open a family law firm and promote that to the public – and now the business website claims it is “no longer” a law firm. Very confusing to the public.
This post is well researched and so insightful. I really enjoyed reading it. Thanks for sharing.