Internet Newsletter for Lawyers |
|---|
If you embark on Delia's Mystery Tour Bright New Ideas for Websites, you will encounter many firms, of all sizes, which have ventured into selling legal services. However, all of them, except for one small firm in Ireland, are based in the UK.
Irish law firms have taken well to the web (see my survey of Irish websites at www.infoconsult.ie for more details) and quite a few of these have progressed from brochure style sites into those that offer free legal information, some of them excelling in their genre. Others have delved further, by providing online contact forms where details of legal queries may be entered online. But only one small firm, in Fermoy, Co Cork, (Prof. Brian A. Carroll's wills.ie) has adopted a strategy for selling legal services over the web.
Why are Irish firms trailing behind their UK counterparts in offering legal services over the web? While not all legal services can easily be adapted for the Internet, there are a few areas, such as conveyancing and wills, where clients' requirements can be relatively straightforward. A number of UK law firms do provide such services, with others selling basic agreements in the areas of landlord and tenant, employment, and even intellectual property agreements from their websites. Yet, in Ireland there are few such services. Why?
Ireland's population of 3.75 million (1999) is tiny in comparison to the 50 million or so citizens residing in the UK. Consequently, the market for legal services in Ireland is smaller. Internet use statistics for Ireland vary, but one recent survey undertaken by Ámarach consultants, estimates that there are approximately one million Internet users in Ireland, with one third of those using the Internet at work. Only one third of Internet users purchase products or services online with non-purchasers citing lack of interest, concerns over security and fear of using their credit cards online.
However, research has shown 40 per cent of Internet users (over a three month period) have used travel websites to purchase holidays online. Their main benefits would appear (according to research) to be that they offer consumers tangible benefits over traditional methods of buying holidays such as choice, value, price and convenience. I don't think it is beyond the bounds of reason to extend all or some of those value propositions to the provision of some legal services over the web. The younger sector of the Irish population, who use the Internet daily for business and leisure (such as buying holidays), are a potential and untapped market for services such as conveyancing and making wills.
Depending on the type of service and the level of sophistication involved, development and ongoing maintenance costs (both technical and human) will be incurred by any firm of solicitors who venture into this arena. Small firms who operate on tight margins may be deterred by the up front costs of developing online legal services as well as the associated support and maintenance costs. However, if you take the development of wills.ie as a case study, Professor Brian A. Carroll points out that the associated costs can be kept to a minimum. Wills.ie, his own brainchild, was developed at low costs with the assistance of a PhD student. The site is hosted and supported in-house with a simple database running at the back-end. Approximately 50 wills per week are made on the site and while most of these are free there has been considerable take-up of more complex wills that are available for generation at a fee. Professor Carroll feels that the project has been successful in terms of the expenditure made and its associated increases in productivity. He is confident that use of the service will continue to grow over the next year.
Many Irish solicitors would argue that the law is too complex a beast to translate to the web. A fair argument in many ways, but not entirely true, particularly in the context of more simple legal services which can be quite formulaic in their nature e.g. conveyancing and wills. Even developing areas of the law, such as information technology and intellectual property, have translated into online legal services. Briffa, a specialist IT & IP practice in the UK, has set up a shop on their website for the sale of standard agreements according to industry sector. While this does not replace the requirement for professional advice on more complex legal issues, there does seem to be a place for such services that can offer value, choice and convenience to clients.
And what of human interaction with clients? Do online services mark the erosion of the client/solicitor relationship? Again, I would suggest that not all legal services lend themselves well to the web. Some clients (and solicitors) prefer the personal touch and will want to maintain the relationship with their solicitors that may have been developed over generations. Associated with this is the mystique and venerated position of the law, which is still apparent in Irish culture. The over-use of legalese and the reticence of some members of the profession to put the law in plain English only serves to estrange the legal profession from the man on the Clapham Omnibus (or in the case of Ireland - the Bray Dart!). I think that there is a correlation with this phenomena and the dearth of web-based legal services in Ireland. The ready availability of web-based services at the click of a mouse removes this sacred veil with some solicitors fearful of such transparency.
The Irish legal market is tiny in comparison to that of the UK and its dynamics are different. Irish law firms have never been trailblazers, with the larger firms looking mainly to UK firms for guidance on matters such as information technology, practice management and websites. Even within the Irish legal community there is a tendency to wait for competitors to make the first move in a new area and to monitor their progress (and mistakes) before embarking on any innovations. Selling legal services is no different. A 'wait and see' attitude will prevail until one or two innovative firms have tried and tested such services. Only then, and perhaps in response to client demands, will we see more firms dip their toes into the water.
Apart from wills.ie, one other firm of solicitors is soon to launch an online service from its' website. In conjunction with a firm of website developers, Malcomson Law, based in Dublin and Carlow, is to provide an online conveyancing service for the purchase of houses in large developments. Prospective purchasers can view site and house plans for the development, select the house of their choice and enter their details. The system will provide secure login procedures and automatically generate documentation for the conveyance in hard or soft copy, which can then be presented to their own solicitors. Frank Lanigan, Managing Partner at Malcomson Law, cites the saving of employee time, paper, photocopying, a faster turn around time and faster contracting as the main benefits of the system. The system is available for users 24 hours a day for no fee. For the firms' clients (the builders) it will reduce or dispense with auctioneering costs.
The Irish Law Society has no firm guidelines or policy on website development or the provision of legal services over the web. Neither does it specifically prohibit the development of such services. Regulations on law firm advertising apply to solicitors websites and the yet to be commenced Solicitors (Amendment) Act, 2002 will also apply, with reference to 'electronic addresses' being included for the first time in such legislation. Yet, there is little guidance available to practitioners who wish to investigate the provision of legal services via the Internet, apart from the good work and seminars hosted by the Information Technology Committee of the Society. Contrast this to the position of the UK Law Society which (albeit with significantly greater resources and funding) provides a range of publications and guidelines for its members on websites and the provision of legal services over the web.
While the Irish are still lagging behind the UK in the provision of legal services over the web, the two innovations mentioned in this article do demonstrate a small shift in opinion. Provided that firms continue to apply the same high standards of legal advice to web-based services as they do in their traditional roles, and comply with any current or future Law Society regulations, there is no reason why any Irish law firm should not consider the web as a tool to provide their services.
Siobhan Heaney is a legal information management specialist with over thirteen years experience in the UK and Ireland. Infoconsult provides advice and services to law firms on websites, knowledge and document management systems - see http://www.infoconsult.ie.
Email info@infoconsult.ie
Back to Contents.