In the 1993 legal drama “Philadelphia”, Tom Hanks asks Denzel Washington;
“What do you call a thousand lawyers chained together at the bottom of the ocean?”
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“A good start.”
For years, agents have been complaining about how lawyers run their businesses.
Accusations of inefficiency or the use of out-dated practices typically degenerate into slanging matches dominated with phrases such as “stop being patronising”, “we bear the risk” or “we can’t charge enough”.
I run a law firm (yes, I know I’ve disclosed this before, but heaven forbid I get accused again of a lack of transparency) so I understand this stuff is tricky, and lawyers can be excused for being defensive.
But.
In the same way we are given glimpses into the realities of people’s home lives through the wonder of Zoom, the current situation has revealed the dreadful string and sticking plaster operations of so many law firms.
The sheer number that cannot operate today highlights their owners’ shambolic approach to running a sustainable business.
Technology can never replace a good lawyer
Whenever I mention the importance of technology in conveyancing, I get angry condemnation along the lines of “technology will never replace a good solicitor”.
Obviously technology doesn’t make an incompetent case worker a brilliant problem solver, but if we learn anything from this experience, that to survive, things must change.
For those who think putting a quoting engine on their website means they have embraced technology, I suggest they re-read the tale of the “Emperor’s New Clothes.”
Most lawyers we are speaking to recently are sitting at home surrounded by piles of files, writing letters that they email to an office based worker to print out and put in the post.
It’s no wonder so many law firms are struggling.
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The last few weeks should have made it obvious to any law firm owner who thinks case management systems and paperless environments are luxuries they can’t afford, that maybe they in the wrong game.
Ongoing financial support for the Post Office
To keep the conveyancing wheels turning, every day I visit the local sorting office to pick up the seemingly never-ending piles of post that are waiting for us.
Being responsible for opening and scanning this post has opened my eyes to the shocking way that people use paper.
Despite the frantic efforts of many law firms to try and adapt to remote working, they are showing a remarkably effective resistance to change when it comes to writing letters.
Just last week alone, we scanned over 550 documents.
What makes it more shocking is the nature of the letters.
One confirmed they had “received our enquiries and are reviewing them”.
Another gave an answer to one enquiry we had raised.
The winner of Choice Letter of the Week was the one that took two pages to inform us that their client had pulled out of the deal.
The biggest irony, is that many of these letters helpfully include the wording “By post and email”.
Could this be the start of electronic signatures?
Ask a lawyer why the conveyancing process can’t be made more efficient, the typical response will be a pause, followed by a sigh.
That’s because, even the simple things are always more complicated than you can imagine.
Like why we need original client signatures on paperwork – what is wrong with an electronic version?
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The simple answer is, “no reason really, but we don’t want to be first company to be sued and not have a signature to rely on”.
Unfortunately, when it comes to transfer deeds these do need real signatures.
That’s why, when Land Registry announced last week that they were temporarily changing the rules, all those days being stuck at home were forgotten and our ice-cold lawyer hearts started to beat a little faster.
And then we looked into the detail and sure enough, the devil was found there alive and kicking.
The good news is clients can now scan or photograph signed deeds and return them to their lawyers electronically.
The bad news is that video calling can’t be used for witnessing their signature.
With social distancing, the main problem clients are having is finding an independent witness for their signatures, so this change doesn’t solve that issue.
The other potential problem is that many lawyers will not accept scanned signatures.
Given the intransigent approaches we have seen to how some are refusing to progress deals right now, I’m not sure how open they will be to such a radical idea.
Conclusion
It’s obvious that many law firms have drawn inspiration from the Wizard of Oz.
For years they’ve been hiding behind those green curtains spinning all those wheels and pulling all those levers and have got away with it.
The harsh reality of the current situation is that many of those firms will pay the price for their owners’ denial.
Given the Law Society’s recent forecast that over 5000 law firms will not survive this ordeal, Tom Hanks’ figure may just be the starting point.
Peter Ambrose is the owner and managing director of The Partnership specialising in the delivery of conveyancing service.
Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHAT
