A disruptive force in the legal profession
A new online legal market place, MyAdvice.Legal developed by Mai Chen, managing partner of Chen Palmer Partners, which launched in midOctober is off to a good start, says Chen.
The platform aims to assist all types of client from not-for-profits and major corporates, through to mums and dads to access lawyers with specialist expertise in more than 30 areas of the law.
Chen tells Management that there are now more than 30 law firms and additionally also individual solicitors registered on the site and almost 200 clients registered. It’s seeing good volumes of instructions and bidding from lawyers.
“The instructions include wills and estates, matrimonial and family and property issues but there have also been commercial and corporate and IP and public law and criminal law issues.”
She says they have continued to expand the flowcharts and icons that clients can click on to help them explain to lawyers what their problems are.
“This week, we have added Government relations advice, given the policy and law reform needs of clients with the new Government.”
Clients can register on the website for free, and provide a description of their legal problem. Lawyers may then submit a description of the legal services they propose to address the client’s problem, the timeframe, and an estimate of legal fees and other cost. These “bids” are then considered by the client who chooses which one to accept.
The strapline for MyAdvice.Legal is Best Lawyer, Best Practice, Best Price. "I wanted to make it easier for clients to have easy and quick access to the best lawyers for the job… The fact that lawyers will be bidding for instructions gives confidence that clients will be getting advice at a reasonable cost,” Chen said in a media release at the time of launch.
All lawyers who register with the site have to sign up to 10 customer promises, including providing the first hour of legal consultation for free. Chen has personally registered on the site as have the intermediate and senior associates, special counsels, principals and partners at Chen Palmer Partners, “so I am also disrupting myself and my firm”.
She believes value billing will become more prevalent and artificial intelligence will be essential to keep the price of advice more consistent with client expectations. “I also think lawyers will have to focus on their core specialties and not stray into legal areas they are not truly expert in. Setting up a flexible, client driven marketplace will even the playing field. I think the whole concept of the traditional law firm will have to change." See myadvice.legal.