How can we do this?
We use the latest practice management systems and technology to streamline our processes and ensure the most efficient cost effective service delivery possible. And our experience allows us to provide you with relevant, commercially astute advice that will allow you to focus on your business.
In order to understand how different we are you need to understand the inner workings of standard large and small firms.
In a large firm the bulk of the work is generally done by inexperienced junior lawyers whose work is reviewed by a senior lawyer/partner. The junior lawyer is pressured to bill as much time as possible. The senior lawyer/partner is generally very concerned about liability and negligence claims and will carefully review the junior lawyer’s work to ensure whatever is drafted does not risk (in any way) the firm’s professional insurance. Hence advice letters often appear as telephone book-like laundry lists of warnings and cautions without regarding to prioritising the risks. Some advices can be the same length than the document to be reviewed.
If clients wanted advices longer than the document to be reviewed they would have gone to law school and become lawyers themselves. What you want is a lawyer with enough experience and confidence in their own skill to tell you what the crucial risks are likely to be and what your options are to address them. Few law firms do this because junior lawyers just don’t have this experience.
Most small firms are often no better. For most, they are willing to accept a wide variety of work which means their experience is in any particular area such as franchising disputes or debt disputes or lease negotiations is actually quite shallow. They are often are led by a lawyer with a long history of having worked on their own and small firms have a habit of advertising that they do everything – which means they specialise in nothing. A small firm simply cannot do everything well.
How many law firms say what they don’t do? We do not do conveyancing. We do not do family law. We do not do criminal law. We do not do wills and estates. We do not do tax or superannuation law. We do franchising, licensing, distribution, commercial disputes, compliance (liaising with SLED, ASQA, the FWO and the ACCC) and online business including crypto. That’s it.
Finally unlike many firms we obsessively keep our costs down. In today’s world having extensive offices with wonderful views is a waste of money and resources. You pay for that in the price of the service. We operate very lean, with serviced offices and no support staff. When it comes to litigation, we have access to additional support, provided by a select number of highly skilled, experienced junior barristers whose fees are often much less than those a junior lawyer in a traditional law firm. This gives us the flexibility to keep our costs down and our fees as low as possible.
Because of our cost advantages and focus on a very limited number of practice areas, we have a referral relationship with one of the largest law firms in Australia. There are some clients and some work that they simply do not want. They will provide that work to us, knowing it will be done professionally and appropriately because our business model is better suited to those smaller clients.
How many small firms with highly qualified, experienced lawyers with excellent large firm experience focus on the legal needs of small businesses and retailers? The answer is very few. If any. Except us.
