CHANGE FROM A GENERAL COUNSEL POV

From cost cutting to the need for new in-house skills, GC’s remain under pressure.

• 80% of GC’s are under pressure to reduce external legal spend
• 25% of GC’s decreased their spend on law firms over the past 2 years
• 61% of GC’s rely on a cost containment strategy to reduce outside legal costs
• 60% of GC’s outsource highly specialized legal issues or unfamiliar matters
• 73% of CEOs expect in-house legal teams to demonstrate innovation in approach to legal services

COVID19

The unfortunate event of COVID-19 has acted as a catalyst and accelerant to the way individuals and businesses are now approaching work and employment.

• Traditional ways of working have been fundamentally changed, with 62% of US workforce and 30% of UK workforce working from home in April 2020
• The uptake of digital technology (collaboration, communication and productivity tools) has increased exponentially to enable the shift to remote work
• ~50% of workers surveyed by Gallup indicated that they would rather remain working from home post COVID-19
• McKinsey estimates that around 7.6 million jobs (24% of total workforce) are at risk in the UK as a result of the immediate impact of COVID-19 (unemployment and underemployment)
• The relevance and importance of the gig-economy is clearer than ever (currently powered by over 180 apps catering to more than 57 million workers in the US alone)

LEGAL TECH

As businesses are driven to cost cut, justify FTE, increase the speed of delivery and work smarter, technology led legal services will see significant growth

• A UK Law Society survey conducted in 2016 found that a staggering 71% of participants agrees that ‘innovation is critical to exploit opportunities and differentiate my firm’
  • However, the pace of investment in and use of technology in the UK sector is sluggish
• Recent studies have found substantial structural barriers to use and a disparity between the growth in the legal tech industry and use of such technology by the professionals it aims to serve
• The majority of potential operational efficiency gains and improved client service outcomes available through the use of technology are being left on the table.

INDUSTRY DISRUPTORS

NewLaw, BigFour and Alternate Legal Service Providers have changed the game, provided previously unavailable options and are driving change in the business of legal services.

• The leading driver of legal service provider selection lies in perceived expertise followed by relationship & service. A well structured Digital Law Firm with access to legal talent and legal productivity tools can satisfy these drivers at a fraction of the cost of OldLaw firms
• ~75% of all legal services revenue is concentrated in top 200 Law Firms, however NewLaw and ALSPs have recently made material inroads into market share, delivering greater perceived value in various segments of legal services and testing traditional bonds between OldLaw and their clients
• Responsiveness, turnaround and general customer service skills are determinative factors in buyer choice and loyalty and are generally not qualities associated with OldLaw and traditional legal service delivery models
• Clients will switch providers when service levels and perceived value declines or where greater value can be obtained at a similar price point by a credible new market entrant
• UK clients place a value premium on commerciality – a lawyers capacity demonstrate understanding of their business context and specific needs. As Legal Freedom lawyers work as an extension to our clients’ teams, they are naturally more commercially minded than lawyers able to sit ‘one step removed’

PRESSURE ON THE LEGACY MODEL

As work volume increases, budgets decrease (on a relative basis) and demand for efficiency intensifies, the traditional corporate legal service delivery model is proving unsustainable.

General Counsels must create and exploit efficiency, sweat budgets harder, deliver commercial advantages to their businesses while capturing the upside that technology presents to the business of law.

THE MARKET IS READY FOR A NEW BUSINESS MODEL

A law firm that operates for the benefit of its community of clients and service providers.

• Digital by design with purpose-specific technology embedded into its operating model
• Innovation in client service and community experience (for clients and lawyers) at its core
• No partnership structure enabling alignment of incentives and interests with a common goal
• Focused on the delivery of specialist areas of service where lawyers can provide tangible comparative advantage
• A lean operating model and simplified balance sheet enabling the firm to focus on its core mission of delivering value to clients and suppliers
• Participant lawyer have the opportunity to be equity owners in the business, through unique digital asset ESOP

MEETING THE CURRENT AND FUTURE NEEDS

As the expectations, needs and demands of clients and lawyers change, a window of opportunity is opening for a new ‘law firm’ model that more effectively and more directly delivers value to both sides of the market.

Freedom Law will provide the essential infrastructure needed to connect a rapidly growing virtual community of lawyers with clients,  combining specific legal skills and expertise with state-of-the-art Legal Tech (automation, machine learning and blockchain based productivity tools) where ‘lawyer and machine’ deliver exceptional value to clients.

Freedom Law will reject the cost, waste and organisational inefficiency of traditional law firms and will fundamentally change the underlying economics and incentives of the traditional law firm partnership model – resulting in better client outcomes, stronger relationships between clients and their lawyers and more autonomous and more lucrative career pathways for lawyers.