A tale of 2020
FEATURES
Josh Adcock investigates the challenges and growth in the sector over the last 10 years and hears messages of what’s to come
John Turner, COO at Ellisons Solicitors, recounts some important lessons from his firm’s merger with Gross & Co.
Brian Welsh, CEO at Insight Legal, on what it took to start up a legal technology company that’s transparent
KaurMaxwell founder Mandeep Kaur Virdee and practice manager Charlene Robinson say LexisNexis helped the firm get started
GET YOUR COPY NOWISSUE IN BRIEF
Wow, ‘tis that time of the year already! November was really go, go, go – excited to start settling into the festive season, wrapping up the chaos and fun of the year just gone, and plan to do it all again, but better, next year.
This issue, we’re absorbing all that we’ve seen happen in the legal sector over the years and digesting their lessons to produce some, hopefully helpful, insights about what’s to come. Join Josh Adcock on page 18 as he tells the tale of the ghosts of SME law firms past, present and future.
A TALE OF 2020
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the era of market expansion, it was the era of consolidation. The legal landscape has faced many challenges and opportunities over the last ten years or so, and now SME law firms stand at the precipice of a new decade. Josh Adcock asks what they have been up to.
MERGER MOTIONS
The most important piece of advice for a legal practice merging with another firm is to plan using the old adage: “Fail to plan, plan to fail.” It can be hard to put together an extensive strategy where every scenario has been thought out, as surprises will crop up unexpectedly. When they do occur, you’ll need to respond quickly, says Ellisons Solicitors COO John Turner.
CLOUD HORIZONS
Although there are many technologies that should, by 2020, be utterly ubiquitous among legal businesses, the cloud is one evergreen area of hesitancy for law firms. Or, maybe not – “In the last two years we’ve seen a real mindset change – the barriers to acceptance of cloud have now largely disappeared,” says Nick Hayne, head of professional services at Quiss.
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
KaurMaxwell started in early 2018 with the aim of getting the basics right, something many firms overlook, and providing a service with true value. To do that, founder and managing partner Mandeep Kaur Virdee says she wanted the firm to be as cost-effective as possible and to use technology to increase efficiency – and that technology come from LexisNexis.
