Adapting Services to meet Customer needs.
This article was published in the first issue of Affiliate Magazine
Word on the street claims the usually stolid working style of solicitors maybe undergoing something of a shift as a fresh face on the scene is setting about challenging age-old practices… to better suit clients.
I can imagine that this last statement has left you in a state of confusion – law firms adapting their services to meet the needs of their customers? Surely not? But, it’s true. And the author of this evolution is Sameer Karim, a thirty-something graduate who left University less than 10 years ago yet is now senior partner and owner of the long-established Douglas Wemyss Solicitors (DWS) in Leicester. “Litigation and dispute resolution was, and still is, my law specialism but in the last 3 years I have discovered a greater passion – business.”
At the tender age of 29, Sameer became owner of DWS, a traditional lawyers working from dated offices in an unfashionable part of the city, but with an enviable reputation and tremendous potential. “Overnight, my career changed. No longer was I an employee turning up, doing my bit and then trotting off at the end of the day. I was a business owner with responsibilities to staff, as well as clients and also a whole lot of worries!” His first step was to relocate to a more prestigious address in Friar Lane – rubbing shoulders with the better-known names in the city’s law scene. “It was a difficult economic time and the outlook was uncertain, but I knew that to make any headway we had to be seen in the right places – the move was crucial in giving the business the kudos it deserved, and needed. But, as other industries and sectors struggled, in turn, we felt their pain. The property market was faultering, so less conveyancing work came in – I had to look again at the business model and find ways to make us ‘recession proof’.” Sameer created new departments, ones less dependant on external economic affairs and retrained existing staff in transferable skills. This became the default survival mode for DWS over 2008 and ’09. Sameer clung to his staff and streamlined the practice – with everyone taking on extra responsibilities, he says it was a ‘true team effort’.
But isn’t this just a tale of brave business in the face of adversity? Not entirely, as Sameer has not only remodelled the existing core of DWS, but has designed daring diversifications and ingenious add-ons. During 2010, as we witnessed the first chinks of light break the darkness of the downturn, DWS launched its ‘mobile legal services’ – with typical courage and conviction. Solicitors visiting clients at their homes or workplaces, at times to suit them but without added costs. Who’d have thought it? “This is not so much about solicitors; it’s more about business. We only have the one ‘product’ and that is constant. However, we do have flexibility on how we deliver that product and that’s where you need to be creative, so we are!”
For further information please call on (0116) 2999 199
This year has also offered opportunity and with his usual zeal, Sameer opened the first walk-in legal shop in Leicester – to make legal advice more easily accessible. “Many people are put off seeing a solicitor as they believe it will be too expensive or are alienated by what they perceive to be the formalities often associated with law firms. This legal shop addresses those concerns and makes it easy for anyone to walk in off the street – without an appointment and to see a qualified solicitor – without initial charge. It’s open 7 days a week until 6pm – how many other solicitors offer that level of service?”
Sameer went on to explain that this shop is in readiness for October when the profession sees the introduction of what is being called ‘tesco law’, whereby reforms will allow consumers to purchase such services as will writing or property conveyancing, as easily as they would as buying beans from a supermarket. “There’s no business sense in retaining the old superior attitude that is often pointlessly adopted by some solicitors. Come the autumn, we will all be thrust into a fiercely competitive arena and DWS is determined to be one of the leaders. The changes we are introducing are groundbreaking and we continue to look forward to doing the things others dare not!”
Sameer also proudly informs us that Douglas Wemyss Solicitors has recently been awarded the prestigious award ‘Law Firm of the Year 2011′ voted for by Leicestershire Law Society. Recognition for the firm and its desire to be different.
For further information please call on (0116) 2999 199
