The future’s bright

I was sent a pre-publication electronic copy of this book, which was launched at the Law Society at the end of April. The final version has gone through a number of revisions, including a change to chapter order.

Author Peter Noyce is a legal specialist partner at Menzies, a top-20 firm of accountants, finance and business advisers with offices across the south-east. However, he has not written all the chapters. Rather, he has invited (for example) president of the Law Society Robert Bourns to contribute a section on the future of legal services.

Within Noyce’s own chapters, there is also input from others – for example from Twentysixpr on reputation management. As such, it took a little time to get used to the format. It then dawned on me that reading this book was akin to attending a really good law management conference, and also getting to chat to some key players.

The work is detailed and thorough, competently covering areas such as mergers, retirement planning, finance, cybercrime and Brexit. Across its 20 or so sections, the content is emphatic enough and it could do without the frequent exclamation marks. These probably come from an apparent lightness of style which does make the book an accessible read, as well as a helpful one.

The author accepts that many of the topics covered are not new, but are brought together as a one-stop practical guide which can be dipped into. Good advice is certainly worth repeating. In his ‘Show Me the Money’ section, Noyce urges us to take every opportunity we can to raise a bill: ‘Remember to bill the client at the completion of a good job when client satisfaction is likely to be at its highest, not some weeks later when your performance has dwindled in their mind.’

The chapter on professional indemnity assurance is delivered by Colin S Taylor, FINEX Global News, Willis Towers Watson. It is a handy insight into an area that is all too often unclear, and includes good pointers on risk management.

Nigel Haddon and Richard Burcher, both of Burcher Jennings, tackle pricing – ‘the most important profitability lever’. They say that it is hard to think of many things further from client care than most law firms’ client care letters – ‘long, complex, full of jargon’ and written with our regulators in mind rather than our clients. They simplify what should form the written record sent to the client after the initial pricing conversation.

Breakaways from ‘Big Law’ – small, agile boutique law firms – are proving serious competition to larger players, says the president. These niche practices, developing their own business without the corporate structures and costs of a large firm, can be the market leaders in their fields.

This book really does offer some  very bright thinking, for both smaller and larger practices.

Tony Roe is principal of Tony Roe Divorce & Family Law Solicitors, Theale, Reading. He is also a member of the Law Society’s Family Section and Small Firms Division committees