Whether you are a start up, an SME or a large diversified organization, there comes a time when you need more hands on deck to attend to ‘the legal stuff’. This may be because the existing team is at its capacity or because those who used to tend to legal work have had their priorities shifted for them. Whatever the case, you need to find resources. Fast.
You may call a Big Law Firm and ask that their top junior Associate is seconded to your organisation, in the hope of (i) getting a solid pair of hands to help you; (ii) keeping your costs down; and (iii) maintaining a relationship with the Big Law Firm. While all of these appear to be reasonable reasons for putting in that call, you may want to stop and consider an alternative. NewLaw.
What is NewLaw?
NewLaw refers to law firms, legal consultancies and alternate legal service providers who are doing things differently, and see themselves as a flexible alternative, to ‘Big Law’.
NewLaw essentially looks to have a lean, low-overhead legal team that is targeted to the client’s specific requirements, which in turns allow greater work flexibility for the firm’s lawyers and results in lower costs for the client.
NewLaw are and think like lawyers + entrepreneurs, and this reflects in their approach to legal services.
NewLaw believes in adopting disruptive technology that allows greater efficiencies and remote or mobile working. This means, for example, investing in cloud-based software, and automating their client onboarding, document management, billing and marketing procedures.
Another key differentiator is that NewLaw provides pricing structures that are not related to billable hours spent and are, instead, determined by client requirements and input. This means ‘alternate fee arrangements’ are the norm instead of being ‘alternate’.
How does that help me?
The client wins all, with the NewLaw model.
You can expect:
- an efficient and high-quality service that competes with the service provided by BigLaw;
- flexible pricing models; and
- to be charged not on the basis of hours spent but on the basis of the value of services delivered.
So if you are ready to embrace change, if causing change is part of your business model or if you have simply become more cost-conscious, why not give NewLaw a try?
