Why we are not phased by the idea of big supermarket chains entering the legal market

Constantly I hear my fellow family lawyers worried about their future and their family practices. Many practices rely on legal aid and as we all know the government plan to remove legal aid funding for many areas of family law from May next year.

All businesses need to adapt to survive. The legal services market is changing and this is why my role at Winston Solicitors is very different to the traditional solicitor role I have held in the past.

Social media is here to stay. How much did Mark Zuckerberg receive when Facebook went public on the stock market? We need to embrace the same. Before joining Winston Solicitors I saw the advantages of social media and how you can interact with fellow professionals, increase awareness of your services and keep abreast of new changes. I never really had time to read my law gazette when it landed on my desk but I now regularly read tweets and attachments regarding new changes or cases.

At Winston Solicitors we embrace social media. We have several on-line legal services websites. We compete for local and national clients. I no longer have the seven clients in my diary each day that I had at the legal aid practice. For which many were free half four appointments which could easily turn into an hour. I respond to our on-line enquiries. I send them a detailed factsheet so that they understand the implications of their separation with regard to divorce, financial matters and children. We give them this information for free! It shows potential clients that we are thorough, knowledgeable and most importantly we will help them help themselves if that is what they want to do.

We offer many fixed fees and a competitive hourly rate. I sell our firm. I am a family solicitor in a firm of solicitors not a call centre. They are getting the exact same service that they would on the high street but at reduced rates or fixed fees. To understand a client’s needs and offer value for money you need an experienced lawyer. We have a wealth of experience over the years and there is not a lot we haven’t seen, heard or had experience of over our working life and we are able to share this wealth of knowledge with our clients. We are specialists in family law.

We are different to the on-line competition in that we can offer complete confidentiality to our clients. A personal approach is guaranteed and there will be a family solicitor on the end of the phone or by email or twitter to answer queries.