Featured Firm of the Week - Hutharts Law Firm Gateshead

Read most LinkedIn discussions about law firm marketing and the majority of the people involved in the discussion are marketing consultants. They may have been lawyers once too but switched from the practice of law to dispensing marketing advice to law firms. If small law firms followed all of the advice given out by marketing consultants, there would be little time left for the practice of law.

Our HSL member firms benefited this week from the marketing strategy and insights of our Featured Firm. Gillian Huthart, principal of Hutharts Law Firm of Gateshead not only told us what she had tried that worked but also what she had tried that didn't work. Gillian proved that she is not closed to trying new ideas to bring work into her firm, but that she has an acute awareness of when a strategy has not worked and it is time to move on.

One of the themes of Gillian's marketing efforts is availability. If you want people to use your law firm you have to be there for them, whether that is attending networking events at unsocial hours, opening outside of office hours so that working clients (most of them) can see you or using any spare time to call your clients and contacts to find out how their business is going and remind them that you and your business still exists.

Gillian Huthart's insights elicited one of the longest discussion threads we have seen on HSL Workshare but you'll have to sign up (for FREE) to see it in detail. It was described by one user as "the thread of the week".

Gillian extended her marketing strategy later in the week to discuss the benefits of pro bono work. Aside from the obligation some lawyers feel to give back to the community and the inherent feel good factor of helping others, Gillian revealed that her pro bono efforts of helping set up  charities and guide them though legal issues has led to lucrative commercial work as a result.

A real example of getting back more than you put in. Exemplified further by the positive comments, new followers and even a work referral that Hutharts gained in the week that they were our featured firm.

Based in Gateshead but acting for clients from across the North east and further afield, Gillian and her team of freelance lawyers looking for a better work life balance, deal with all commercial, corporate, property, IP and IT legal issues.

Connect with Gillian and other like minded law firms at HSL Workshare. Or join us on 12 March in Central London for the HSL Strategy Day 

Featured firm of the Week - Flint Bishop LLP

Dr Darren Conway is a clinical negligence solicitor at Derbyshire law firm Flint Bishop. Darren told us on HSL Workshare that he had been a solicitor for 10 years, all of which time he has specialised in clinical negligence claimant work. Prior to a career in the law, Darren was a scientist and acedemic in the field of Genetics. His previous experience and background allows him to bring a different perspective to his work in a law firm. Darren informed us that working towards a Phd is in many ways akin to running a small business. There are time limits and financial considerations. Ultimately, responsibility for the success of the project rests solely with the person doing the work. Much like running a law firm department. 

Darren also highlighted the social, medical and scientific impact that clinical negligence legal work has on wider society. Often, the primary objective in bringing a claim is financial. There may be losses to recover and future medical and care costs to consider. However, as Darren pointed out, another factor, is helping to ensure that the negligence that occurred does not reoccur and that lessons are learnt. In Darren's experience, a claim that he worked on successfully achieved multi million pound damages for his client but also influenced the practice of ante natal testing. 

On a marketing note, Darren led debate about videos on your website, a subject that I think, will be hugely important in 2014, if you want clients to engage with you. 

Flint Bishop's week as Featured Firm allowed Darren to connect with more lawyers in firms around the country who now have awareness of his experience and skills and know to instruct him if they or their clients need a clinical negligence lawyer. 

Connect with Darren by joining HSL Workshare and joining the debate. 

A Picture Paints a Thousand Words

If Law is a people business why do so many law firm websites use images of models not real people? 
I asked this question on a Linked In discussion a while back. The responses I got then are still valid now. 

One reader suggested that perhaps the real lawyers were too ugly to have their pictures on their site and models, even if it so obvious that they are not actually the lawyers that the client will deal with, represent a far better face of the law firm. 

Another contributor suggested it might have something to do with cost. Hiring a photographer, retouching the photos in Photoshop if necessary and then uploading them to your site all costs money and time. 

One commentator also pointed out that firms using stock images of people, instead of authentic ones, also often use standard pictures of skyline, blue clouds and chess pieces to show clear thinking, strategic excellence and other "buzz". However, he was quickly brought to task as his own LinkedIn picture is the avatar provided by LinkedIn for those users who haven't uploaded a picture. 

The web and social media is where your client base, actual and potential, as well as your peers and colleagues go to research you and your law firm. With so many solicitors bemoaning the fact that law is not a commodity but a profession where people connect with people, I find it surprising that so many are willing to hide behind fake images. Not to mention the damage using standard pictures can do for SEO (but more on that another time). 

Even on HSL Workshare, our own bespoke networking site for solicitors in small law firms, those users with a real picture have more connections and more activity than those still using the avatar. So, if you want to paint a picture of what you are like to do business with, start by taking a picture. 

PI, PII and Apple Pie - What happened on HighStreetLawyer Workshare last week?

Last week was our busiest ever on HSL Workshare. This is largely thanks to Mark Kiteley, the managing partner of South Coast law firm Kiteleys. Kiteleys were our featured firm of the week and it was Mark's job to start discussions each day on subjects that mattered to him. Some of these topics helped promote Mark's firm to the other 40 or so law firms on HSL Workshare while others demonstrated Mark's ideas on how he runs his practice. Not all of Mark's ideas were agreed with but it certainly generated a strong debate.

Mark started the week by telling us how Kiteleys has grown into a 7 office law firm by acquisition and cautious expansion, now with offices in Bournemouth, Southampton, Boscombe, Canford Cliffs, Ferndown and Wimborne. As a firm that carries out a fair amount of Personal Injury law, Mark pointed out the importance of diversification into other areas including property. He also let us in on a secret about how partner meetings are discussed at Kiteleys.

Later in the week the thorny issue of professional indemnity insurance cropped up. If the Law Society's consultation suggests that unrated insurers should not be allowed in the market, what effect will this have on small law firms. In light of more than 130 firms recently closing due to the inability to get insurance, surely as wide a market as possible is the best solution provided there are no commercial barriers?




Mark ended the week with a word of encouragement to clear out the clutter and keep a clean inbox. Good advice surely but not always so easy in practice.

Thanks to Mark Kiteley and all the others who commented this week. Work referrals were also shared between members but if you want to know more and join in the debate, promoting your work to other like minded lawyers then join us on HSL Workshare by clinking here and registering yourself.

Guest Blogs from our member Firms This Week

Sheffield Wills and Probate Solicitors Lewis Francis Blackburn Bray have posted a blog recently about Wills and what to do if you cant find one

http://www.lfbbsolicitors.co.uk/help-i-cant-find-my-parents-will/

Trident Solicitors of Hull specialise in Motoring and Traffic Law. Read their opinion piece about the Motoring lawyer from Scotland caught driving at 105 MPH on a motorway.

http://www.tridentsolicitors.co.uk/wordpress/105mph-and-he-still-cant-get-away/

Innovation is anything, but business as usual

I wasn't at this week's Legal Futures conference which is a shame as Neil Rose and his team always put on a good event with good speakers. I usually get the chance to catch up with a group of people who care passionately about the future of legal services even if very few of them are practising as lawyers but advising law firms on what to do. 

Luckily the twitter feed produced almost a running commentary to the Conference, entitled "2020 Vision", an attempt at predicting the future landscape, so I felt like I was following the flow of the event. What follows is my summary of the event as I saw it unfold in tweets. 

The overriding feeling is that, with the exception of Quality Solicitors, most of the brands and networks that appeared at earlier events were not present. I include HighStreetLawyer in that summary. We stayed away as our target audience of small law firms tend not to attend such conferences and our business model of targeting consumers has changed. However, new businesses attempting to mimic the arguable success of Quality Solicitors were present. Alex MIlls, of Apprentice fame. claimed that branding is everything and legal services are no exception. From my twitter communications I understand that he has 20-30 firms paying £600 per month. The Dynamo Legal site is undergoing maintenance so I will watch that space with interest. My cynicism tells me that he is unlikely to find that many firms willing to part with over £7,000 per year. 

The tweets I read about Quality Solicitors confused me further. Their newly promoted President and Founder Craig Holt appeared to claim both that "consistency of delivery of service is key" and that "it is the individual personality of the local member firms" that consumers value. Can consistency and individuality be delivered at the same time? 

Overseas brands continue to look at the UK market as a place ripe for investment. The latest is Jacoby and Meyers the largest consumer law firm in the US. Although they are hoping to build on the success of Slater and Gordon, their own Managing Attorney, Gabe MIller, admits that "it's not a given that we are going to succeed". 

Interesting models for law firm ownership were discussed by firms such as iSolicitor, Schillings and SAS Daniels. They all seem to understand the problems faced by the legal profession but, unless I missed something  which is possible, not having been at the event, nothing seemed to be truly innovative. 

So, for the time being at least, I will make two promises to myself; The first is to continue to build a network of small law firms who can collaborate on issues of importance to them and share strategy, ideas, problems and leads and to make sure that I attend Legal Future's next event in person. Reading the tweets is all well and good but nothing can make up for being there in person. 

For another view on the day, from someone who was there read http://www.conscious.co.uk/site/about/davidsblog/blogpost/Legal_Futures_2020_vision_conference.html

Don’t spend your money joining a legal brand – Four other things small law firms must do instead

When we established HighStreetLawyer.com we set out to do two things. To create a recognizable consumer brand for legal services and create a network of small local high street solicitor firms. We thought, following the introduction of the Legal Services Act and the liberalisation of the profession that both of these approaches were needed. We were wrong! The consumers of legal services whether private individuals or businesses do not want or need a unified legal brand. Legal services do not need to be provided by household names. The world is not ready for big brand law. What consumers want is good quality advice and assistance delivered locally at transparent prices in a consistent manner with a focus on great customer service.

More small law firms are finding it difficult to get insurance which will result in them going out of business by the end of this year. Other firms are being forced to close due to bad financial planning. Many firms don’t know where their next piece of work is coming from so instead of spending time on marketing to get more work, they cut costs even further making it difficult to service any work if it does come in. Work received from referral companies, if firms even receive any leads, is considered by many firms as low quality and many don’t even bother to return the calls, creating a downward spiral of externally referred work. None of these problems facing small law firms are new. They have just been brought into sharp focus because of the Legal Services Act, liberalization of the market and the changes in regulation and the insurance market.

With big brand law currently dead in the water, small law firms should be focusing on four key areas, to make sure that they are competitive in their local market.

Marketing to existing and potential client base – News of law firm closures and difficulties are filtering through to consumers. You had better remind your clients that your firm is still alive and kicking. Send them a newsletter, connect with them on social media, invite private clients in for a coffee and a free will review or organise a breakfast briefing on employment changes for your business clients. If you are not continuously marketing to your client base, someone else will.

Make sure your training and development is up to date – We all have to do CPD but make sure that you spend your time doing something that is going to add value to your practice. Focus on two areas in the next 12 months that you are going to become an expert on and find a training programme that can help you to achieve it. If you can’t find one, HighStreetLawyer will develop one for you. It’s essential to stay ahead of the game and proving expertise through knowledge is key.

Get the best deal on your outgoings – Cutting costs can only go so far before you have no more costs to cut if you are going to deliver a good quality service. Unfortunately, small law firms have very little buying power when it comes to supplies that they need on a recurring basis, even though most firms are buying the same set of services from a fairly small group of suppliers. Collaboration through a buying club can help save you money. It can even save your client money if the costs are a disbursement that you normally pass on, making you more competitive.

Revise your business plan or if you don’t have one, start one – Banks and insurers used to recommend that their law firm clients have a business plan that deals with business continuity, risk management, succession planning, financial management, business development and sustainability. Now, they are insisting on it. You don’t need a MBA to produce a decent business plan that helps you to highlight the area that your business needs to focus on in the short and medium term and to set some goals for the longer term. As your firm evolves, make sure your plan is up to date and still reflects your realistic aspirations.

Without the need to spend time and resources creating a brand that no one currently needs, we are devoting our attention to helping small law firms develop their own brand through marketing, stay competitive through training and procurement and run a strong business by having a relevant business plan and strategy. Email gary@highstreetlawyer.com to find out more.