LawTech and Compliance
I remember giving an interview back in 2011 ahead of ‘Tesco Law’ adoption and feeling encouraged that the legal sector was finally going to innovate. I recall at that time being accused of short-sightedness because my work was with early stage founders who didn’t fit into the ‘short term billable target’ category so desperately needed for partner financial returns but in truthfulness it was more than that.
As with all professional service providers the industry had become somewhat complacent in assuming they knew best about how to deliver legal advice and more importantly how to charge for it. Without question, a long overdue change was needed forcing lawyers to listen to the client and build a model of delivery and a fee structure that worked in the interests of all. Little did I know then the rate at which this progression would accelerate and how in less than a decade not only would non-regulated advisors be able to provide legal advice through the ABS regime, but that in some instances the facilitation and processing of end to end legal negotiations would become a lawyer-less fully automated transaction in its own right.
Since 2010 I’ve built products for two legal platforms, neither that support the work flow of lawyers.
particular.pro was the first and more recently, SeedLegals.
Well before SimplyDocs was founded or Rocket Lawyer hit the UK shores, MJ Rippon and I set about building the UK’s first online legal template service aimed at high growth businesses and entrepreneurs. I claim no credit for the idea. It was MJ who saw the opportunity realising early on that the repetitive one-to-one advice we were giving to clients wasn’t scalable (or profitable for that matter) and an online presence was the only way to deliver on a no cost, one-to-many basis. Although determined high risk by our insurers at the time, particular.pro was the easier of the two models to build. Knowing the products were legally compliant at the point of upload brought credibility to us and confidence to our users but it quickly became apparent that this wasn’t enough because a template solution brings with it significant flexibility issues and we couldn’t hide from the fact that our users still wanted lawyers; human lawyers.
particular.pro was ultimately merged into our sister law firm Particular Legal Limited (which exited in 2019) and even now, when I look at this space for sure, current platforms may be richer in content, but other than bolting on an ‘Ask A Lawyer’ feature there is very little model progression and that’s okay; it’s an off the shelf solution and for low level work it does the job sufficiently.
By building intelligent documents, SeedLegals has significantly moved the LawTech needle successfully removing the template reputation and in many ways changing user behaviour by putting the founder at the centre of the deal, not the lawyer. That doesn’t sound like much but it’s actually a major shift and a shift that needs to be carefully orchestrated because whilst it eradicates the traditional client/attorney relationship, nevertheless a relationship is still formed, expectations still need to be managed and by continuing to scale a user-centric service model inevitably the lines will become blurred, customer support may overreach and the user and the provider will both become exposed.
By way of illustration, when it comes to selling most technology solutions, most sales teams can get by with limited technical knowledge . The exciting demo of the bells and whistles is enough to turn the prospect into a paying customer regardless of the quality being offered.
But when it comes to selling a product which is meant to improve legal service, the technology and the platform within which it is housed is in itself not enough because knowing what you are selling means understanding an extremely complex legal activity; and activity which takes years, if not decades, to truly master.
And therein lies the difficulty.
Disruption within regulated industries is incredibly challenging. Unlike other startups it’s not revenues leading to profitability, customer acquisition, or buy in from other stakeholders which cause the sleepless nights; it’s how do you approach scaling and feeding the ever hungry growth engine whilst at all times respecting and adhering to the very foundation upon which the transaction is based upon? A foundation which has taken hundreds of years in the making, a foundation which could well warrant a less speedy rate of growth, and a foundation which in all its complicated glory protects the one stakeholder that really matters, the customer.
After extensive research and input from trusted partners around the world the resounding answer is the sacrifice in pace is more than offset by the competitive market advantage it brings. It’s not what leadership boards want to hear, it’s not what investors want to hear, but it’s the truth and it’s a big pill to swallow.
As I continue my post-SeedLegals journey I am more committed than ever to continue my research in this area so that I can publish a working model which will 1) help other founders implement solid governance, risk analysis and legal compliance within a high growth legal sector disruptor, 2) align more closely with the values and standards of the wider legal profession thus bringing with it confidence and 3) at all time protect the customer.
Feel free to get in touch if you would like to collaborate.
