Richard Ferguson
Director
Sensei UKE

Will businesses use the new style “Tesco Law” or will they stick with their trusted advisors?

I believe that there are 3 contributing factors that will play out and determine whether there will be a seed change or not.

1. Leadership – any change requires a leader (or leading organisation) to blaze a trail, set a precedent, show others the way – you pick the cliché!  It is, however true, until the first large organisation or high profile individual makes a public shift then the transition from traditional advisors to a new mass market approach may be slower than some would predict.

2. Law firms striking first – I think that the traditional law firms have still got a lot of control over the destiny of their customer base.  They can choose to act in one of two ways; hide their heads in the sand and pretend it is not going to happen.  Or tackle the opportunity (not issue) head on and start focussing on the “professional” service they deliver rather than the “profession” they are part of.

3. Managing expectations – at the moment the inertia is a result of unclear expectations about what the art of the possible is for customers choosing to switch their legal support.  They are not sure what they could or should expect.  I believe that whoever does the best job of actively managing our expectations will significantly influence whether this industry paradigm shift actually happens and to what extent it is successful.