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The age of coronavirus saw movement away from the top end of town in personal injury law, Bree Knoester says, and the same trend could occur in other practice areas, too.
Among the myriad professional lessons from 2020, former barrister and managing partner Bree Knoester (pictured) mused, was that clients crave personal connection.
Speaking recently on The Lawyers Weekly Show, Brave Legal founder and principal Ms Knoster said that clients’ desire for such connection, empathy and understanding may drive business away from larger firms and towards smaller ones – something she predicts for her own practice area, personal injury law.
“I think there will be a real move away from BigLaw in the personal injury space. Previously, people felt that they needed to see a lawyer in a big office with, perhaps, a marble foyer and lots of levels and lots of lawyers in suits. But that all got tipped out with COVID-19, and it became very clear that people value different things about lawyers,” she posited.
“They want an expert who’s accessible and who can explain their situation and come up with a solution in a compassionate way.”
This potential shift away from BigLaw, Ms Knoester hypothesised, may also be brought about by the fact that, almost overnight, lawyers were reduced to being heads on screens during lockdown – with many simply donning their activewear for meetings.
“As lawyers, we were – all of a sudden – quite raw, and it was our ability to communicate and be across the law in our area that determined how our clients judged us. It didn’t matter where we were located in the city or in the suburbs. So, I think it’s changed entirely,” she argued.
“[As such], it comes down to the fact that people are searching now for personal connection and a high level of expertise. They don’t want to necessarily drive into the city and go up to the 40th floor of a big building anymore, for reasons that relate to COVID-19.
“There is a real opportunity for boutique firms to really thrive, and really show their point of difference and show clients that they’re not going to get lost in 10 storeys of lawyers. That they’re going to deal with me, as a person, on the screen, and I will help them through this problem.
“The past two to three years has seen a lot more boutique personal injury firms popping up and people coming out of the big firms to set those up. When I think about other boutique firms in this space, they are run by former senior partners of BigLaw. There’s got to be something in that,” she reflected.
Ms Knoester said that she can only really speak to trends in personal injury law, however – based on her experience at a barrister at the Victorian Bar for eight years, as well as six years each as a partner at Holding Redlich and managing partner at Adviceline Injury Lawyers – her view is that the practice areas within national firms that have continued to thrive during the pandemic were those that took a real personal interest in their clients and could guide them in the ways they needed.
“Those characteristics that I think that are successful in personal injury will be successful in other areas of law too,” she submitted.
“Are you interested in your client? Are you a good communicator? Compassion might not be something that you associate with a mergers and acquisitions lawyer or someone in corporate law. But what it really means is understanding your client and speaking their language and helping them understand and make sure they understand and making them feel that you’re a safe pair of hands and that their problems are taken care of with you.
“Lawyers with those skills will continue to do well, irrespective of the area of law. Being a lawyer in a big team in a big firm, and hoping that that is enough to attract work and attract clients, is not going to be enough anymore. People want real visibility in all areas of law.”
The comments follow the launch of Brave Legal, Ms Knoster’s boutique personal injury practice, which – at the time – she said she launched in order to redefine personal injury law, ensuring health and wellbeing are synonymous with legal resolve.
To listen to the full conversation with Bree Knoester, click below:
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Jerome Doraisamy is the managing editor of Lawyers Weekly and HR Leader. He is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in New South Wales, and a board director of the Minds Count Foundation.
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Jerome Doraisamy
