It seems reality continues to encroach on the practice of law. Announced this week in the UK is “a bid to create the first solicitors franchise.” The idea is to create a standard platform of back-office systems and services and then franchise that out as a law firm platform to different locations and markets. The initial focus will be on “small private client law firms” which I read as more of a retail-law play.
IT people take note, “that key to the project’s success will be a software package ….” This suggests that technology has to be a key driver of efficient, standardized (read quality) legal services.
I am guessing the Legal Services Act is a driver or enabler of some sort for this idea, as it involves fee sharing on some level.
Good idea? Absolutely. This will drive competitively priced legal services in the market.
Will it fly in the US? Not yet, due to the fee sharing angle. But in my humble opinion, the US should be figuring the whole Legal Services Act idea out and replicating here. It’s either that or let the some other type of provider take over in the market.
I’m just sayin …