Early movers in Legal Services Act reforms reap big rewards

It seems that the early movers in the post-Legal Services Act shake-up of the UK legal system are having much greater success than many would have expected.

At the Legal Futures conference on Monday representatives of Stobart Group and MyHomeMove were amongst the speakers sharing their experiences of the post-LSA landscape.

I have long been a believer that the LSA would have a far greater impact on the legal services market than many lawyers wanted to believe, but I will be the first to admit that I was very sceptical that Stobart Group, a company known for its trucks rather than legal services, would succeed in attracting business to Stobart Barristers brand, launched in May of this year.   It seems I may have to eat humble pie, certainly if the benchmark of success is the number of barristers signed up to the scheme.  According to Trevor Howarth, group legal director of Stobart Group, more than 4,000 barristers have applied to be part of its direct access scheme, which enables potential clients to get some free initial advice direct from a QC.  That amounts to almost a staggering one third of all of the country’s 12,500 self-employed barristers.

MyHomeMove – whose conveyancing arm Premier Property Lawyers was the first ABS to be approved, also appear to be enjoying very healthy growth, with plans to treble the size of the business by 2016 and a recruitment process under way to recruit a further 400 case handlers.   The business, which has grown strongly to capture around a 3% share of the English conveyancing market, aims to have a 10% market share by 2016, whether directly or on a ‘white label’ basis for other firms.

These are early days for such businesses and the proof of the pudding will come when they demonstrate that they are able to deliver the quality and service that clients demand, time and time again.  However, the early signs of success should have many law firms sitting up and taking notice.  Whilst no-one is advocating that firms should be spooked into knee-jerk reactions, ignoring the competition can be a very dangerous mistake.