How might you reduce your legal costs without reducing quality? Well, if you currently instruct a number of firms for your different legal needs have you thought about centralising this? What does this mean? It means giving your legal work to one or two law firms rather than multiple law firms.
Why? Well, here’s why:
-
Save money
The overriding benefit is the reduction in legal costs, it simply makes business sense. Generally speaking, the more legal work you give to one external law firm, the more potential savings there are to be made.
Don’t forget there are valuable indirect savings of less internal business time spent by you instructing and dealing with various lawyers. Having one relationship as opposed to many means you have simplified the processes and you can talk through several issues with the same firm at one time all generates savings. The one law firm will also become more familiar with your business i.e. the products/services, the personalities and values etc. so there will be less additional questions and going backwards and forwards for information.
-
Efficiency
There are of course efficiencies from having one relationship and not having to deal with multiple lawyers and different firms unique ways of doing things. There will also be less meetings/conference calls as several issues can be dealt with at once and less paperwork/terms of business to be signed.
-
Manage risk
Centralising legal work means your legal risks are better managed. A single law firm with sight of all your issues can help you prioritise your legal issues preventing delays or the issues spiralling out of control. It is easier for you to keep a handle on the legal issues you have on the go and ensure they are being dealt with in a timely fashion and that quality of advice is being maintained. Inevitably, if you have numerous relationships this is difficult to achieve.
There is the odd occasion when a particular legal issue needs a lawyer in a highly specialist area to deliver specialist advice (i.e. for example, with litigation issues). An experienced lawyer will have the advantage of informing you of exactly when highly specialist advice is required.
-
Better relationship
You will have more interactions with a single law firm and as a result they will get to know the people in your business better which in turn results in advice which actually fits commercially. By this we mean, the company’s overall strategy and values and will take into account the business or industry challenges as appropriate. The options you are presented with in light of your issue will be more focused.
The lawyer(s) will know how you like to receive your advice and are more likely to build space for catch-up and reviews to check-in on how things are working for you (well we sure do this).
At Hartley Law we also ensure our clients are kept up-to-date with relevant key developments in the law so their business is prepared and ready for changes in advance. This is the advantage of knowing our client’s business in detail.
-
Sound, fluid advice
Just like business issues generally, legal issues are often fluid and connect together. It will be more likely (especially if you use us!) that the law firm with your centralised legal work can spot underlying issues and help to solve these underlying issues. For example, multiple legal issues may be arising due to a training need of your staff so the lawyer can point this out. This can reduce your long-term legal costs and help your business to operate more smoothly.
Lawyers who are really clued up on your business can advise how a legal issue may impact other areas of your business. Therefore, the advice is not given is isolation but the lawyer can look at the issue from different perspectives and also spot the non-legal consequences too.
At Hartley Law building relationships with our clients is key. We do not charge for initial consultations and/or for each and every phone call as getting to know our client and their business is key. We place more value on our overall relationship with you.
Want us to provide you with a centralised legal service? Need an external in-house lawyer? Chat to us at hello@hartleylaw.co.uk or 01276 536 410.
