I spent a fascinating afternoon at the Legal Video Network Summit in London recently, where I discovered several ways in which law firms could use services like videoconferencing to actively differentiate themselves from competition.

A similar event was being held simultaneously in Amsterdam and we were treated to a live video interview with Hans Bousie, a Dutch lawyer. Hans founded the biggest entertainment law firm in the Netherlands, and his office and personal appearance didn’t contradict that status. Deep red decor and a Hollywood style of no-nonsense talking put me in mind more of a scene from The Sopranos than a conventional law office, but Hans was as far from Tony as it gets: he represents, among others, Universal Music, Pearson Publishers and Julio Iglesias.

Hans was not content to think of videoconferencing as a ‘nice to have’ service that would impress his showbiz clients – he sees it as an opportunity to innovate his client interaction and his business model.

First, he pays for a number of his clients to have the videoconferencing service installed and managed, provided they use it only for consultations with him. This is already proving a hit, and clearly creates a loyalty factor that others would at least need to match to prise his clients away.

Second, he has renegotiated his hourly rates upwards for consultations conducted by video that would otherwise require travelling time for which his clients would normally pay. If, for example, his hourly rate of €300 were applied to a two-hour meeting with four hours return travel, the fee would usually be €1,800. His clients are happy to pay €500 an hour for a videoconference, and as they pay no travel costs their overall bill is reduced to €1,000. They save €800 euros and Hans increases his profitability by 67%.

This innovative thinking has also been applied to his business model. He will use videoconferencing to create a worldwide network of entertainment lawyers, so he will have a firm with an entertainment lawyer in each jurisdiction. It seems to me that he will be able to build this network using videoconferencing technology in a fraction of the time it would take him in 'physical' business terms.

I was also impressed by another display of innovation at a different level, on a live video link with Richard Guyatt, a partner at Bond Pearce. Bond Pearce is one of the founder members of the Legal Sector Alliance, of which there are some 135 member firms, including many of the biggest firms. The alliance is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and (consequentially) operating costs, improving corporate reputation and customer satisfaction, establishing positive stakeholder relationships, improved employee satisfaction and limiting damage to physical assets.

The whole concept is based on green ethics. Alliance members are able to demonstrate that conservation need not be the enemy of innovation and profitability. Bond Pearce demonstrated this with some videoconferencing numbers. Quite apart from better interaction with key clients and costs savings via video, using the technology to replace many physical meetings involving firm members from offices in Plymouth, Bristol, Southampton, London and Aberdeen has saved the firm 195,800 miles of inter-office travel (the opportunity costs of which one can only boggle at) and £30,000 in travel disbursements in just one year.

Innovation and conservation – they’re not mutually exclusive.