From wills to websites

As a co-founder of a start-up legal technology company, I am now enjoying a somewhat different life from my days in practice.

I was a probate solicitor in Yorkshire until 2010 when I gave up a steady job for the rollercoaster that is entrepreneurship in the competitive field of legal technology. I am delighted to say that my company, The Law Wizard, is doing well, and our solution for probate professionals, The Probate Wizard: White-Labelled, goes live this month.

The genesis

It started with an idea for a consumer-focused probate service; a system which made the procedural aspects of estate administration simple, intuitive, quick and online. The details came later but the idea has now come to fruition, in the form of The Probate Wizard.

Before anything could take shape there was a period of market research, soul-searching, and, most significantly, the great fortune of discovering that a trusted friend, Rob Blake, also harboured thoughts of leaving his well-paid job as a cloud systems developer. Like all good business ideas, it started in a pub, on the back of a napkin if I remember correctly.

As it turns out, quitting my job at a Leeds law firm and dropping – temporarily – to zero income, was one of the best decisions I ever made. (I gladly admit that I was destitute for a significant period: still ringing in my ears is the Yorkshire Post’s caption “Happy but poor” beneath a photo of me earlier this year!)

The past 18 months have been the most rewarding of my life, in ways you might not imagine. I have learnt a lot about business; enough for me to realise that I know very little. I am more sociable, relaxed and confident. I remain just as engaged and passionate about our product as I have ever been but, rather than the giddy idealist of a couple of years ago, my enthusiasm is rooted in reality and evidence.

Should I ever return to private practice, I would be a much better solicitor. For one, because I am more commercially aware (an anathema to some probate solicitors, my former self included). Second, because I am now a consumer of professional services, rather than a provider. Our accountant spends bags of time with us, free of charge, talking about football, the delights of real ale and (occasionally) business, and his firm now has a client for life. Contrast many solicitors who remain constrained by chargeable-hour targets which – if badly-handled – are frustrating. Up-front clarity is vital, as is a free initial consultation, but these are not yet the norm in the legal sector, unlike any other profession.

One or two solicitors have shown to us outstanding commercial awareness and understanding; those are the ones that have dealt with start-up companies before. Nevertheless, I wish every solicitor could have a couple of years out of practice. I suspect that most would return improved. The rest may not return at all!

The probate market

The Law Wizard focuses on probate, a unique marketplace. It is steady and reliable but fragmented, with the key players – not law firms, by and large – sharing a small percentage of the market’s overall value. The majority of work comes from many thousands of solicitors who each handle a relatively small case-load.

However, as elsewhere in the legal market, consolidation is underway. Household names, including Saga and the already well-established Co-op Legal Services, are on the move. We are speaking with significant organisations, either new to the market or established, keen to grab an early advantage, or smaller law firms intent on not falling behind.

If fragmentation is both a challenge and an opportunity, so is the inevitable regulation. Though estate administration and wills seem bound to become reserved legal activities, it is inconceivable that this would equate to a monopoly for solicitors. The world has moved on. In the probate sector, there are many fine providers and advisors who are not lawyers. Many have as many – or more – qualifications as their solicitor counterparts. Restricting probate and wills to solicitors would be a killer of competition and bad for the consumer.

Some solicitors do not see it that way, and have told me so. There remains a misconception that only lawyers are capable of producing high quality wills. The evidence, such as the Legal Services Consumer Panel report on will-writing services, 2011, finds to the contrary.

Those solicitors who continue to believe that they have a monopoly on virtue are, I suspect, most likely to fall behind, whether it be to traditional law firms, ABSs or other organisations. Within a few years, everyone will be on a regulatory playing-field – there will be nowhere to hide! (I’m embarrassed to say that, while I was a solicitor, I too believed that non-lawyer will-writers were, without exception, shoddy cowboys.)

Consumer needs

For The Law Wizard there is a crucial question: do consumers want to go online for legal services, and, if so, do they want to do so for probate?

It is a crucial question because our product, The Probate Wizard: White-Labelled, is consumer-facing. For our professional clients it is a marketing tool, attracting new clients through a range of fixed-price probate options. Ultimately, however, we – and our professional clients – answer to the end user: the consumer.

To find out, this summer we conducted a survey of over 500 consumers. A summary of the results, and a full report, can be downloaded for free from our website. The survey revealed a healthy demand for online legal services, for reasons of value and convenience. Interestingly, a significant majority also demanded some level of professional involvement or support, with limited interest in online services that are purely “DIY”. Good news for our white-labelled product.

The future

Bespoke legal work will always be around, but there is no question in my mind that online legal services will grow exponentially, just as they have done in the US, and as we are seeing in the UK with wills and divorce. We are at the foot of an upward curve.

Nevertheless, online legal services will only reach the heady heights of banking and shopping when we really and truly understand the demands and behaviour of the consumer. Taking old systems for solicitors and giving them a log-in page for clients is not enough. Systems built from the ground up for the consumer, coupled with user-testing, analysis, feedback and quick iteration, are vital.

The legal sector is an extraordinary new world of change and innovation. I can’t imagine anything more exciting than being in the mix.

Tom Hiskey is a co-founder and director of The Law Wizard. The Probate Wizard: White-Labelled launches to law firms and probate organisations this month, with waived setup fee and discounts for early adoption until 31 December.