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The ‘Uberisation’ of lawyers is picking up pace
Professional services firms, such as legal entities, are now operating in a buyer’s market where digital technologies have fostered new customer expectations, according to a new Westpac report.
Jerome Doraisamy
The Smart Industry Report: Professional Services, recently released by Westpac, detailed that tech-savvy customers are seeking swift, seamless, personalised services, while also demanding greater transparency and value for money, and that “smart firms” are listening to such demands.
Speaking to the bank for the report, Legaler CEO Stevie Ghiassi said that expectations of transparency and service on-demand are leading to what he calls the ‘Uberisation’ of lawyers.
“Clients are happy to pay, as long as they know what they’re getting. It’s all about growing client value. With fixed fees, you can now compare lawyers through online reviews and digital profiles, and this shift is creating the opposite incentive of billable hours,” he explained.
“Because if a lawyer tells a client what they’re expecting to charge them, the onus is then on the law firm to improve efficiency – or they lose out and it comes out of their pocket. It’s completely switched the model around.”
The movement toward value-based pricing is now picking up a decisive pace in some law firms, Mr Ghiassi noted.
Elsewhere, the report mused that despite professional services having traditionally owned their end-to-end services, this looks set to change.
“Partnerships are already emerging between incumbents and start-ups to foster innovation and promote operational agility. Technology is also promoting greater collaboration with clients, resulting in faster, seamless and more valuable service,” Westpac wrote.
One way this is emerging, it said, is via the increasing trend for incumbents to partner with their disrupters shows how firms are striving to develop their competitive edge, “with law firms leading the way”.
“Law firm Gilbert + Tobin recently took an equity stake in Legal Vision and will work with the start-up on joint projects to develop legal applications for artificial intelligence in the partners’ respective markets [and] DLA Piper has teamed up with Lawyers on Demand to help develop DLA’s freelance lawyer platform,” the report said.
Jerome Doraisamy
Jerome Doraisamy is the editor of Lawyers Weekly. A former lawyer, he has worked at Momentum Media as a journalist on Lawyers Weekly since February 2018, and has served as editor since March 2022. He is also the host of all five shows under The Lawyers Weekly Podcast Network, and has overseen the brand's audio medium growth from 4,000 downloads per month to over 60,000 downloads per month, making The Lawyers Weekly Show the most popular industry-specific podcast in Australia. Jerome is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in NSW, and a board director of Minds Count.
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