Emma Heuston is the founder of the Remote Expert, Australia’s first law firm specialising in remote work law. The Remote Expert helps startups and small and medium enterprise business to get their documents, agreements, processes and policies right.  

Emma has established her legal business as a micro practitice, operating solo and working in a very narrow area of law. Unlike most BigLaw firms, Emma doesn’t have a fancy city office or boardroom table. Instead, she operates her practice virtually from a regional location in far Northern New South Wales. 

Emma shares her advice for lawyers who are considering setting up practice on their own and her top tips for overcoming that dreaded imposter syndrome. 

Here are the highlights from our conversation: 

0:23 skip intro

1:56 Operating as a virtual business from far Northern NSW

3:51 A virtual business means no geographical barriers

6:58 What is a micro practitioner?

8:15 Resisting the temptation to take on work outside the niche

9:21 3 tiers of service

11:48 The spectrum of service level – DIY to full service

13:59 The grey area between legal advice and legal information

17:43 Don’t be in a rush to go out on your own

19:01 Finding confidence to embrace who you are

Links 

• Find out more at The Remote Expert’s website, Instagram, Twitter or Facebook 
• Subscribe to Doing Law Differently on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify   
• Connect with me on LinkedIn  
• Want to share how you’re Doing Law Differently? Get in touch here.   

The post The lean way to lawyer: virtual firm, narrow niche and micro practitioner (ep 10) appeared first on Lucy Dickens.

I met Zinta Harris at her book launch in late 2018 and I was struck by her caring nature that infiltrated every aspect of the night. One thing that stuck with me was how much thought Zinta had put into what she could do to help her clients feel comfortable and welcome during one of the most difficult times of their lives. Zinta gives each of her clients a little gift that has nothing to do with law, but that acts as a symbol to demonstrate that she cares about them as humans, not just about their legal issues.  

That gift is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of Zinta’s approach to law. 

Zinta is the owner of Resolve Estate Law, an estates law firm that specialises in brokering peaceful resolutions to family disputes over inheritance.  Zinta’s firm is the first in Australia to offer a specialist collaborative wills and estates service to provide grieving families an early stage dispute resolution option to keep their dispute out of court. 

Here’s a summary of the things we talk about: 

0:24 skip intro

2:16 Learn more about that special gift Zinta has for her clients

3:26 Encouraging client to think about what matters more than the legal issues

5:33 Law is portrayed as a harsh profession

6:06 What does it mean to offer holistic support to clients?

8:14 The client response to a big picture approach

10:44 Taking a collaborative approach to wills and estates

14:13 What a collaborative approach looks like from the client perspective

16:49 Training other professionals in collaborative practice

17:49 Collaborative practice isn’t just good for clients, it’s good for lawyers too

Links 

• Find out more about Zinta’s Collaborative Practice Training 
• Visit Resolve Estate Law website  
• Buy Zinta’s book, Rest in Peace  
• Resolve Estate Law on Facebook and Instagram 
• Connect with me on LinkedIn 
• Subscribe to Doing Law Differently on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify   
• Want to share how you’re Doing Law Differently? Get in touch here.   

The post A poster firm for customer experience, client-centricity and collaborative practice (ep 8) appeared first on Lucy Dickens.

Does your firm have its own manifesto? Helix Legal does, and if you’re interested in making law better, their 5 “New Breed Rules” are worth noting. 

Helix Legal was founded in 2016 by Janelle Kerrisk. Helix is a multidisciplinary practice, combining the power of the law with commercial insight and industry expertise to help position their clients for success. 

Janelle talks us through the New Breed Rules and explains how they infiltrate everything they do at Helix. We also sidetrack into a snapshot look at Janelle’s progression from BigLaw to NewLaw. 

On the podcast:  

2:08 A manifesto: New Breed Rules

2:23 Rule 1: Do not live and die by the billable hour

4:37 the balance between staying true to your values and adapting to client needs

4:42 Tracking the profitability of work without time billing

8:00 How, when and why Helix use retainers

9:29 Project planning to match the way their clients do business

11:20 Explaining variations to scope of work

13:36 Rule 2: Use technology to drive excellent client solutions

14:40 Using technology to provide a competitive advantage …

15:29 … but technology can also be used to enhance a lawyer’s experience of being a lawyer

16:35 Rule 3: Build business assets that benefit our clients

19:00 How Janelle organises time between business development and legal work

20:38 Lawyers have accepted that a certain amount of misery comes with the job, but it doesn’t have to be that way

26:23 Lawyers be great business people, run a profitable practice and still be happy

27:23 Rule 4: Use the best talent for the client’s Project

30:14 Rule 5: Forget the corner office and embrace real collaboration

31:41 Co-working spaces in the modern age

33:33 Unless you’re clear on your strategy, it is easy to be pushed back into the box of the norm

35:01 Be brave!

Links 

• Subscribe to Doing Law Differently on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify   
• Connect with me on LinkedIn  
• Find Helix Legal on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn 
• Find Janelle on Instagram and LinkedIn 
• Want to share how you’re Doing Law Differently? Get in touch here.   

The post New Breed Rules: The new operational rule book for law firms (ep 7) appeared first on Lucy Dickens.

Business first, law second. That’s the approach that Michelle Bomberger takes with her clients and also her law firm, Equinox Business Law Group.   

Equinox become an extension of their clients’ management team at a fixed monthly cost. They develop a true understanding of their clients’ business goals and appetite for balancing risk and reward – recognising that this is much broader than just the legal issues, involving personal, emotional and financial dimensions. 

On the podcast:

0:24 skip intro

2:14 Equinox is a metaphor for Equinox law way they do business

3:29 What it means to be a business person first and a lawyer second

5:21 Measuring productivity when we take billable hours off the table

7:36 How to get lawyers thinking about project management

9:57 Equinox becoming an extension of their clients’ management teams

12:50 Building a depth of knowledge about their clients

14:46 Clients have business issues, not just legal issues

16:15 Managing workload on a fixed fee retainer

19:23 The challenge of educating new people about a new way of thinking, working and engaging legal advisors

20:38 Managing risk when focusing on solutions

22:36 Asking for and responding to client feedback

24:47 Understanding the engine of your business – what are the drivers of profitability and success

Links 

The post A new approach: business first, law second (ep 6) appeared first on Lucy Dickens.

Nicole Auerbach has disrupted the legal industry not just once, but twice!  She is the co-founder of two of the US’ most forward-thinking firms: Valorem Law Group and ElevateNext Law. Both firms have a clear mission – Valorem, to bring alternative fees to the market and ElevateNext to sit alongside the global law company, Elevate Services, so that customers can find everything they need in one place. 

Once again – so much to talk about! We cover what it was like back in 2008 when Nicole and Patrick Lamb leapt into the unknown that was Valorem Law, alternative fee arrangements then and now, and exactly what is ElevateNext? 

Nicole enjoys trying to predict the future of law and then getting there first. She and Patrick get serious kudos for not only recognising that law companies are taking a huge portion of work from law firms (predicted to be a $25 billion industry) but then also working out how to take a piece of that pie. 

Here’s a summary of the things we talk about: 

0:32 About Nicole

2:52 Leaping into the void that was Valorem Law Group

5:26 Drawing inspiration from no-win, no-fee to drive efficiencies

6:31 Fixed fee: an art more than a science

9:36 Alternative fees as a response to the changing market

10:32 ElevateNext – the first of its kind

11:53 The idea – how to add value to law companies

13:34 Handling the practice of law

14:50 Aligning with ElevateServices

16:14 Unbundling anything that isn’t the traditional practice of law

19:21 The moonshot

21:41 Most lawyers are oblivious to the amount or type of work being done by law companies, but clients aren’t!

24:30 Why are traditional lawyers missing this huge change

25:27 That fantastic copy on ElevateNext Law

27:49 Is there one more!?

Links 

• Check out the wonderful copy on ElevateNext Law and Valorem Law 
• Follow Nicole on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn 
• More information about the 2019 ALPMA summit  
• Subscribe to Doing Law Differently on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify   
• Connect with me on LinkedIn  
• Want to share how you’re Doing Law Differently? Get in touch here.   

The post The rebel with a cause. Meet the legal industry’s two-time disruptor – Nicole Auerbach (ep 5) appeared first on Lucy Dickens.

Katherine Thomas describes herself as “a sucker for lawyers and law firms”, having dedicated her career to working with them.  Katherine chose the legal business rather than the legal practice path and knows a thing or two about what it takes to thrive as a progressive law firm. She is the CEO of Free Range Lawyers, a business which matches lawyers who work remotely with law firms looking to flex their legal resource.  

Join Katherine and I as we talk about: 

1:19 you don’t need a legal practising certificate to shake up the legal profession!

1:49 NewLaw vs TradLaw approach to people

4:41 how Free Range Lawyers works

5:39 taking a more humane approach to address issues of wellbeing and mental health

7:10 what a Free Range Lawyer looks like in practice

8:40 why remote?

9:20 benefits of taking geography out of the equation

10:24 a focus on skills and outputs rather than inputs

12:10 the future of work and growing interest in portfolio careers

14:41 how flexible workers can help a business to grow – size vs scale

16:13 scale – being able to move up and down in response to demand in the market

18:17 contract and freelance lawyers force a business to face up to its processes and create efficiencies

19:37 Katherine’s perspective on challenge – any challenge is also an opportunity

20:04 addressing the change from seller’s market to buyer’s market

22:40 just get started with small changes. Take the first step

23:51 how to get in touch with Katherine and Free Range Lawyers

Links 

The post No battery hens here! Why going Free Range works for lawyers and firms (ep 4) appeared first on Lucy Dickens.

Aptum Legal helps clients resolve their disputes more effectively through project-based fixed pricing; systematically assessing legal and commercial risk and effectively managing a path to resolution. 

Director Nigel Evans has spent more than 11 years as a barrister, honing the skill of identifying, early, the issues that are critical to resolving a dispute. Nigel brings a desire to make meaningful change to the client experience and the way lawyers practise. 

Nigel and I talk about: 

1:44 we can’t create a better experience for clients unless we make a better experience for lawyers

4:09 trying to create a culture where people are challenging the way things are done

5:01 how Aptum live up to the culture code

5:35 creativity can be found in standardised processes

7:26 creating a team environment with no strict hierarchy

8:31 managing and measuring performance based on outputs and creativity, not time

9:40 a failing of OldLaw is the inability to analyse risk

11:34 how Aptum addresses it’s 5 objectives / founding principles

13:02 where technology comes in

15:37 innovation is just about meeting client objectives in new ways

16:41 what Aptum’s clients make of their new approach

18:37 what is “aligned pricing”

21:04 fixed price billing for litigation matters

24:45 running your own business and building a start-up is hard work!

26:26 Nigel’s parting advice – talk to people, be open and share what you’re experimenting with

Links 

The post Changing the face of litigation from the inside out (ep 3) appeared first on Lucy Dickens.

Alex Solo is the co-founder of sprintlaw, an innovative law/tech firm for startups and SMEs. sprintlaw are transforming the way business legals are delivered by embracing technology, efficiency and simplicity.  

Operating online, custom-built automation workflows, employing legal consultants (law grads) and using lean startup and agile methodologies are just some of the things that make sprintlaw different.

Here’s a summary of the things Alex and I talk about: 

1:46 why sprintlaw is an online firm – and what does this even mean?

4:05 how do clients get started with an online firm

4:59 upfront payment of legal fees

5:26 staff (consultants) are not all lawyers

6:52 custom built automation technology

9:10 what tools are you using to build these workflow automations?

10:41 technology has enabled flexible working

11:46 how sprintlaw’s founders used lean startup and agile methodologies

15:31 stop planning, just go and do

16:06 what it means to be simple and easy

18:25 Alex’s top advice for doing law differently

Links 

• Find sprintlaw at their website, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram  
• Subscribe to Doing Law Differently on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify   
• Connect with me on LinkedIn 
• Want to share how you’re Doing Law Differently? Get in touch here. 

The post Transforming business legals with technology, efficiency and simplicity (ep 2) appeared first on Lucy Dickens.

This is Doing Law Differently! 

A short first episode to introduce you to the what, why and how of the podcast. 

Here’s a summary of the things I talk about: 

0:55 Start with why

1:25 Reasons why the current legal services model needs to change

2:31 How to implement change in a practical, not theoretical sense

2:42 What does innovation look like on the inside?

3:06 NewLaw defined

3:43 The first and last definition!

4:31 Focus on 2-3 key differences

5:16 Who is Lucy Dickens anyway!?

7:25 Want to share how you’re doing law differently?

Links 

• Simon Sinek’s TED Talk – How Great Leaders Inspire Action 
• Connect with me on LinkedIn 
• Listen to The Juggle Podcast  
• Subscribe to Doing Law Differently on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify  
• Want to share how you’re Doing Law Differently? Get in touch here.  

The post Doing Law Differently – What, Why and How (ep1) appeared first on Lucy Dickens.

Discover how the world’s most progressive law firms and legal service providers are doing law differently.  

There’s no denying that we’re in an age of disruption in the legal profession. The old, established way of practising law is being questioned and rejected by both lawyers and clients.  To thrive in today’s market, firms need to deliver legal services in innovative ways, creating true value for their clients.  

Doing Law Differently explores how the world’s most progressive law firms and legal service providers are thinking outside the box and challenging the status quo.  From alternative fee arrangements, online solutions and new technology to innovative business models and unique service delivery methods, find out what NewLaw looks like from the inside.  

It’s easy to talk about why we should change, but the implementation is the hard bit. Doing Law Differently taps into the valuable knowledge of those who are walking the talk of NewLaw, focusing on the “what” and “how” of change and sharing tried and tested takeaways from those at the coalface.

Host, Lucy Dickens, is a lawyer based in Perth, Australia. She brings together people, processes and technology to design and deliver innovative legal solutions. Join Lucy in her interviews with forward-thinking leaders who share how they’re doing law differently. 

The post [PROMO] Doing Law Differently appeared first on Lucy Dickens.