“We want to be the great law firm of independent lawyers»
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We published the interview to the CEO of Lawyou Ignacio Martínez Fonseca in lexgoapp.com on December 17, 2019.
We want to be a great independent law firm.
A little more than two years ago the Lawyou law firm was launched, born from the association of 25 single-person law firms spread throughout the Spanish geography. «We are 46 partners, 170 collaborators, we manage more than 3,000 opportunities a year, and more than 1,000 new cases go through the firm,» explains its CEO, Ignacio Martínez
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Lawyou offers professional and technological support to single-person firms throughout Spain to offer their clients a more complete service, since the entry of each firm adds practice areas and more knowledge that each one can offer to their respective clients.
Lawyou offers professional and technological support to single-person firms throughout Spain to offer their clients a more complete service, since the entry of each firm adds practice areas and more knowledge that each one can offer to their respective clients.
In first person. Here’s how Lawyou came about:
«In mid-2014, Javier Segura Diaz de Espada, lawyer and president of Lawyou, asks us for help to develop a certain business model focused on an independent lawyer.»
«In the middle of 2014, Javier Segura Diaz de Espada, lawyer and president of Lawyou, asks us for help to develop a certain business model focused on an independent lawyer.
In 2015 we began to study the sector in Spain and the United States, and we saw clearly that there was an unstoppable change in a very atomized and conservative sector. Where the atom is the independent generalist lawyer who was facing an imminent change with a high lack of management dynamics necessary to favor its adaptation
And what were the changes we saw, firstly that the client is using new ways of contact, facilitated by technology, with the lawyer (client experience), and demands what, in other type of services, is already normal.
In short, more clarity, transparency, accessibility, … and guarantees. Yes, it sounds strange, but he demands a guarantee based on trust in his lawyer, not on the result.
And how does an independent lawyer whose day-to-day life is overloaded adapt to this? How do you respond differently to your clients? What steps do you take? How do you react?
And how do you respond?
Another important element is technology and its impact on productivity. In parallel, technology is facilitating the execution of all processes in a firm, increasing productivity and improving reliability. And this, exponentially, will reach law firms, even if they are still far away from the day-to-day.
How does an independent lawyer who has a busy day-to-day life adapt to this? How do I take advantage of new tools to improve my business? How do I get up to speed and decide what I need?
How do I decide what I need?
You also have to realize that the legal market is getting more complicated and it is becoming harder and harder to maintain a generalist vision that responds to your client in a global environment. The lawyer has already become aware that it is necessary to be a specialist in order to keep up to date, but how do I continue to respond to my clients who demand a more global response from me?
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In this scenario where the client demanding a new Experience, technology bringing improvements and new legal requirements the lawyer is trapped, with the need to adapt to change. How do you do it without it seeming like a losing battle?
Well, how do you do it without it seeming like a losing battle?
Well, we have just found a way to make it easier to increase the competitiveness of our lawyers, with the necessary tools and competencies, which can be achieved by joining forces in a trusting community. We have built the Lawyou competitiveness ladder, to give answers to our clients by differentiating ourselves in the how.
What has been the evolution of LAWYOU in these first two years of life?
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Well, as a friend of mine says, intense. Some data: we started operating in law firm management in April 2018, and after a year and a half we are 46 partners, 170 collaborators, we manage more than 3,000 opportunities per year, and more than 1,000 new matters go through the Firm.
These are numbers that show the potential of what we are building. If you add to this the fact that our Firm is a model open to independent lawyers, and that we present our clients with a model of how to do things differently, we have the strength and the means to continue to evolve and grow.
Abogados Lawyou Evento Madrid
What traits define the lawyer who is part of this network of law firms?
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It is independent and specialized. In love with his independence and his profession, who loves legal matters and provides a service to his clients as the first day.
He is professionally mature and sees the future clearly. And he understands that the world is more complex than the individual and that he needs different ones to respond to his clients.
What is your vision of business law and what role should Lawyou play in this environment?
What is your vision of business lawyering and what role should Lawyou play in this environment?
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Good question. The legal world is N universes that coexist. Marking the target client defines your approach, but Lawyou is much more. The evolution is not defined because adding up, we are going to multiply exponentially, and we can’t foresee that and we don’t want to. I see a future of N Lawyou without limitation.
We want to be the great firm of independent lawyers. Where we build the advantages of a big firm without the limitations of its disadvantages, because those who have been in big firms know that not everything is gold. Neither for them nor for the client
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What role does technology play in the development of a network of lawyers like this one?
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The same as in a large law firm. I’m not going to deny it, to call Lawyou a network is to underestimate what it brings to the specialized independent lawyer.
We are a law firm of law firms where each lawyer contributes to its sustenance and growth with his economic contribution, and with support and participation in its development, with the most valuable thing he has: his TIME. To develop Lawyou is to develop all lawyers, and to join this Community is to understand this.
Answering your question. Technology makes possible what a few years ago was impossible; Connect partners throughout Spain, or around the World; Share knowledge and issues, regardless of distance; Improve processes, making them faster and more reliable, and even, reinvent them;
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Access more quickly to new niches and customers. Add to be able to multiply as Iban reminds us. Technology has not yet discovered its
great potential
in the market.
great potential in the business model. One more step is missing.
Technological development, today, is being based on making the current better or trying to introduce new forms of relationship, far removed from the real life of an independent lawyer. We are convinced that there is still a lot to contribute.
We are convinced that there is still a lot to contribute.
Do you agree that the use of appropriate technology can reduce distances between large and smaller firms?
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It is a necessary but not sufficient condition I think size is a more important condition; size brings brand, money and com
resources.
Abogados evento San Sebastián 2019
competencies. The point is that in order to add up you have to overcome the current situation, and that in a medium-sized law firm requires a high view. And that, I believe, is a great difficulty for the medium-sized firm.
There is a need for a characteristic Community: that it overcomes its current state and has a focused and adaptable strategy.
Your firm has opened a financing round for its international expansion Where does this firm want to go in the coming years?
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We want to consolidate our growth in Spain, and start to establish ourselves in Latin America, focusing on Mexico and Chile, where we have already captured opportunities.
What does being advised by a law firm like Lawyou bring to client companies compared to other law firms?
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Well, our differentiation is based on the how, not on the what. Lawyou lawyers are professionals with more than 20 years of experience in and out of Court, who perfectly manage the what and who are up to date with the legislation and its trends.
Our strong point is the how. Our firm has the client at the center and how we treat the client, this is the difference. The clarity and transparency of a relationship of trust regulates the relationship with our clients.
The Lawyou Client, besides being covered in all the Areas, has guarantees that he receives in the Service: He knows what it costs him and what it is going to cost him, without shadows; He can participate in the Service.
You can also rely on more than one Lawyer, without changing the Firm and having the coverage of several lawyers; You can count on another opinion, totally independent, since our lawyers are not subordinated to the firm, nor to their interests; … We take care that it is so. He is our priority.
And we continue adding advantages for our Clients. Soon we will launch the Lawyou Club so that we will be our Client’s Reference Law Firm, where we will keep their files and where they will be able to access them, where they will have their legal file. A big step for them and that seeks to facilitate the life of our clients.
What is the future of this way of understanding law? The future lies in creating networks of single-person law firms specialized in specific jurisdictions?
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The future is where the present is, in the client. What is changing is the importance we lawyers give to the client. We do not believe in networks but in communities that generate a more important value proposition than each one separately. A different law firm.
We don’t understand exclusivity or limitations either, because the client doesn’t understand it. In our case putting barriers to the field we don’t see it as effective. It is better to attract the client because your service is different.
This is the interview that @luisjasanch conducted with me in LexGoapp.
Do not hesitate to contact us to learn more about Lawyou and how to adapt to changes in the industry in the form below.
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