Throughout the pandemic, the encouragement has been to stay at home; this has meant that we haven’t seen people in the way we would have done before. Colleagues, clients, prospects and other business contacts. Whilst some may feel that this has had no impact on their professional relationships, many know they have focused just on what is ‘necessary’ to get the job done. Others feel that it just hasn’t been the same. Indeed you can’t engage with someone as effectively online or on the phone. A lot of body language communication is lost.

At best, many have focused only on the key people around them. Those who help them do their job and the clients they need to deliver for. As we hopefully exit the worst of the pandemic, now is the time to reassess. Which relationships do you and your team need to focus on?

In a service business, it is the people and relationships that make all the difference. Services are often highly comparable between companies.

In this article, I want to focus on external relationship building. So, whether you are reading this with yourself or your team in mind, read on.

 Just the word ‘networking’ sends shivers down many people’s spines and indeed very few people genuinely love it. However, it is essential that client facing individuals are confident and skilled enough to get to know people in the marketplace. This is predominantly done at events, both in person and online. Once people start going to some events, they hear about others. These are often unadvertised and if they build the right relationships, they are more likely to get invited to those which are often the real gems.

Throughout the pandemic of course it has been entirely online. It’s interesting to think about what has happened in this time. Have online events worked equally as well? Have they been avoided? Did you and others at work focus on deepening relationships with those you knew already? Or, did you really do no external network building at all?

A reminder of why you your team needs to network – top 5 reasons

1. As I said, in a service business, it is the people that differentiate the business or firm, therefore they need to be visible to the market. The more people you have known and able to build relationships with potential clients and referrers, the better.
2. Never mind new business, often individuals get invited to events by clients, they need to have the skills to navigate those well and get to know more people within the client.
3. It builds confidence interacting with others and getting used to speaking about the business they work for and their role in it – this confidence will roll over to benefit other areas of their work.
4. It is not good for a business to rely on just a few people to build the reputation of the company or firm, what happens when they leave/retire? Also, if it is just the more senior people then the market doesn’t get to see the diversity of people who work for the organisation.
5. The individuals will learn more about the market place they are in, related/peripheral ones and those they serve if they go out and engage with people which can shape their work and help them service clients better.

How to get you and your team motivated to get (re)started

• Rather than make it just another task to do, make sure all are aware of the benefits – for them personally, as well as the organisation. This article from Forbes explains the personal benefits really well.
• Get experienced networkers in the team to share the type of events they attend and their positive experiences, including tangible clients it has led to the company or firm having.
• Make sure everyone is clear on what your company or firm offers, not just in their area but beyond, so they equipped. A lot of what puts people off networking is the fear of not knowing what to say.
• To this end, remind them networking is simply about engaging with other humans and the conversation should start on that basis.
• Encourage even junior people to network; the younger the skill is built, the easier it will be. It is better to increase people’s confidence before they have specific business development responsibility.
• Suggest they start slowly and find what suits them including type of event, format and time of day.
• Make sure they are equipped with networking skills – considering the impact they have on others, how to build rapport and what to do after a networking event. This will help them network positively and give them confidence too.

Networking shouldn’t be seen as a ‘dark art’ that only a few can master.

Which members of your team could most benefit? Which ones can you support to start developing their network? This longer article on networking at events may be helpful too.

I offer workshops and one-to-one development work in this area, as well as many other ‘non-technical’ skill areas, so if you are interested in expert help do contact me for a conversation. There is also more information on this page.

Networking is one of my nine (often neglected) skills. I see these as pivotal to a team having to make sure a company or firm has competitive edge. You can download the free guide with a page on each here. If you are from a law firm, there is a specific version of the same guide here.

To think further about your individual career, click here to request my Nine Skills needed for career success.

About the author

Joanna Gaudoin, Inside Out Image (https://insideoutimage.co.uk/) specialises in helping ambitious professionals and their organisations in professional and financial services improve performance and achieve their goals.

She does this by helping them master and strategically use the business skills of Personal Impact and Relationship Management. These skills are necessary for professional success.

Before establishing Inside Out Image, Joanna worked in marketing and consultancy in large corporates. She understands the business world and its challenges. She now helps organisations and individuals understand how to succeed in it.

No matter where you work, things have changed in the last 18 months.

We are all rethinking the way things were done before. Perhaps not doing certain things that we now realise took up time or didn’t add any value to our business. We are possibly continuing to do some things but now doing them in a different way because it works better. I can’t think of any profession that hasn’t had to flex in the last year!

Events and face to face meetings come back onto my agenda. I have now been considering what have we really missed out on. As well as, what do we need to get back to.

There were some truly great attempts at events from home however some things as well organised and attempted as they were, are just better face to face.

We are approaching our first face to face awards event in September.

Cashroom are delighted that we have received nominations for two of The Scottish Legal Awards. Support Team of the Year and the Legal Technology Award. Pre-covid my opinion of these events was that they were a bit of a jolly. You spent time travelling there and back to the event out of the working day and then basically had a night out with your colleagues or possibly some client entertaining. Not a hardship however I probably never truly thought about the real benefit of these events and this year I think they mean just that bit more.

Some professions have clearly had a tougher time than others but that aside, it’s been rough. With your work colleagues you have virtually been inside their home, probably seen various room in the house, met some family members and maybe even tried to help with lockdown and home-schooling tips over teams.

We have all been pretty stressed out at different times, maybe we were a bit shorter with people than we would normally be. Maybe we couldn’t support each other like we normal do as the mental load of home life was just too much. Maybe we all even resented each other a little bit feeling like others had it just that bit easier than what you were dealing with. Awards aside, the prospect of getting around one big table with the people you work with and raising a glass to say thank you for being there for each other and that you made it is something to be excited and proud about!

The award nominations however are crucial here as it is a thoroughly well-deserved pat on the back.

Despite the hardships, the stress and the world going crazy we did a good job, in-fact we did a great job! We rallied, we problem solved, we came together as a team and supported the industry more than ever before. Our technology helped us do this securely and efficiently. Ultimately though, the people at Cashroom just ‘got stuck in’ and stayed that way and persevered for a year. The team at Cashroom didn’t just ‘do their job’, everyone truly went above and beyond. The property market went mad and we had our busiest two months ever! Cashroom transferred 1.2 billion pounds of client money in March and 1.6 billion pounds of client money in June. Despite this being at the end of a crazy year we absolutely smashed it. Securely, efficiently, and compliantly!

Awards aside, now is the time to step back and blow your own trumpet. You made it and your team rallied. You survived a period in history that people will look back and talk about. It might have been a bit messy but you have come out the other side. No matter if Cashroom win an award at any of the events this year. We are going to go out together and raise a glass to not just surviving – we thrived!

Individuals and businesses need to adapt to the pandemic-related changes and for some ambitious entrepreneurs within the legal system, this means leaving their legal firms and branching out to begin solo ventures, which can be daunting. When it comes to Cloud-based legal IT Solutions for start-up legal firms, the message from the team at Sussex-based Microsoft Partner, Extech Cloud, is “You are not alone”.

Extech Cloud has legal IT knowledge and experience

Despite the fact the legal industry is ahead in some areas, when it comes to IT systems and IT support, we have found it’s often lagging behind. This could be due to consultants and previous IT companies opting for what’s easier, instead of what’s best for the law firm. Or simply a lack of the necessary IT knowledge and expertise.

Extech Cloud provides tailored and SRA compliant legal IT services for law firms. We have completed hundreds of cloud transformation projects, including providing IT Cloud Support for legal firms. The Extech Cloud team is always on-hand to provide legal industry businesses with everything they need. We work closely with clients to help them take steps towards a new way of working, through cloud transformation.

Extech Cloud supports start-up businesses with IT solutions

We also understand what it’s like to start up a business on your own. Not only do we provide Cloud IT solutions to many start-up businesses, but Managing Director of Extech Cloud, Andrew Hookway, initially ran a large corporate firm for 10 years, before deciding to go his own way and creating Extech Cloud.

How can Extech Cloud support your start-up legal firm’s IT system?

Do you need to transfer all work to the cloud? Do you need to find new and innovative solutions for working remotely? We possess the IT knowledge and expertise required to run a successful start-up legal business. Extech Cloud provides customers with all necessary services under one roof. It can help new businesses get up and running in no time.

Concerns such as setting up with the right equipment, cabling options, or a more significant threat such as cybersecurity are inevitable when running your own business. However, the team at Extech Cloud are experts in helping the legal sector to adopt new technologies. They keep ahead of competition.

Can Extech Cloud help large law firms with more complex IT infrastructure?

Although the team at Extech Cloud works with start-ups and small businesses, we have also completed digital transformations for much larger legal firms such as Hunters Law LLP. The large legal firm contacted Extech Cloud looking for a solution to upgrade its servers and overall infrastructure, when they were informed it was not possible by another IT company.

The team of experts at Extech Cloud has spent years working on, and refining, the journey to the cloud. This makes it a simple and smooth transition for businesses, like Hunters Law. It also helps smaller start-up legal firms, to work effectively at anytime, anywhere. To date, the team has completed hundreds of cloud transformation projects, saving customers thousands of pounds, improving their overall performance, and making their staff happier as a result.

Contact Extech Cloud for IT Support today

We don’t just work with legal firms; we have helped companies in a range of industry sectors with Cloud IT solutions. If you’re thinking about transitioning your business to the cloud and you need some support, talk to an Extech Cloud specialist and transform your business for the better. You can call 01444 443200, email info@extech.co.uk or fill out our contact form for a call back.

Has there ever been a time more fraught with difficulty for your friendly neighbourhood lawyer?

KAPOW! Connectivity and technology issues.

As the pandemic struck, firms had to adapt speedily to have people working remotely from each other, and from their clients. Many were not ready to do anything other than send people home with a laptop. The risk inherent in this approach was massive- there was cyber threat due to the lack of secure tech being utilised. There were issues around monitoring and supervision. There were few procedures in place to enable collaboration between colleagues, and between fee earners and the finance function of the firm.

BLAM! Resourcing issues.

People were furloughed. People were isolating. Clients went quiet. Then suddenly clients started demanding more services than ever. The conveyancing world reacted to the Stamp Duty holiday and firms were swamped with work. People continued to be off ill occasionally, and the work kept pouring in. The original Stamp Duty holiday was extended, which meant a huge spike of activity in March, and the respite that had been expected after that original deadline never landed. There was huge risk of burnout. There were problems resourcing the spikes of activity from both a fee earner and finance function perspective.

WHAMMY! Cyber Fraud.

Aside from the tech risks from cyber criminals, there were also significant increases in Cyber crime activity. Those dastardly delinquents were seeing the chaos of Covid as an opportunity. The pace at which lawyers were having to work. The pressure from clients wanting to complete before deadlines. The number of financial transactions, and the sheer scale of the funds moving around- all of these had the Cyber villains salivating.

ZING! Client satisfaction challenges.

There were the initial challenges around communication- telephony models were not optimal, and clients and prospective clients struggled to contact their lawyer. Then there were problems of efficiency- when it comes down to it, Mr and Mrs Bloggs want to

move house and they don’t expect it to take six months. They don’t care that there are search backlogs. They want the keys to the new house! On the day of completion, they don’t expect to be sat on the driveway of their new dream home, waiting till five pm for the keys because the firm cannot process the money transactions swiftly enough.

All of these things are risks.

All of them create financial risks, security risks, resourcing risks, reputational risks, negligence risks.

And in the background for all these challenges which are stressful in themselves, there is the impact each will have on the price of the firm’s safety net- their PII policy. In an already hard market, firms need to have a credible answer on these issues. You need to give the insurer and brokers the compelling story that will enable them to achieve the best possible renewal terms for you. That review will look at the way the firm has been performing in all these areas, and they’ll also be interested in changes the firm has made to address any flaws.

Firms should be looking to mitigate risk by, for example, ensuring their internal and external communications are secure; create processes for the safe (but speedy) transfer of client monies; and flag to their PI insurer the steps they are taking to reduce their risk profile.

Or… (and I’m baised!) they could send out the Cashroom Signal! We moved over £1.6bn of client money through our secure portal payment process for our client law firms during June, helping them deal with an unprecedented spike of activity and keep their own clients happy in the process.

Our team were true superheroes and we are looking forward to helping the market answer the challenges to come.

Check out Lockton Solicitors for more information.

WHAT NEXT FOR THE LEGAL SECTOR AND ITS ADVISERS

By Andrew Gregory, Leonard Curtis Legal

The Natwest Legal Report has just been published – an eighth deep dive into the sector – painting a 12 month picture of struggle and challenge for practice owners, but its mood is one of cautious optimism.

Reflecting in detail on the experiences of 40 law firms,  its headline findings revealed a 50% take up of CBILs and Bounce Back loans and almost all firms taking advantage of the Government’s furlough scheme.

It touched on difficulties faced by high street firms and sectoral pressures – the explosion in the domestic property market and impact on the corporate M&A sector – but it concluded that most law firms are in reasonably good shape.

Government support, of course, can mask wider funding issues that have been exacerbated by Covid. The general trend of larger banks moving away from the sector could make life difficult for law firms in the longer term. Especially those in financial distress.

Practice owners are now looking at the secondary lending market. While there are a number of vibrant emerging funders in alternative spaces, they do tend to be more expensive and asset-based. More often than not, these require the security of a personal guarantee.

There are two other very important factors which will impact the longer-term health of the sector. One is wage inflation and the other is the cost of professional indemnity insurance.

Wage inflation is a challenge

The pandemic has certainly made people think hard about their careers in the sector. We are seeing senior professionals in firms saying no to offers of partnership,  demands coming in round flexible working and others just wanting a lot more money as the well-skilled become rarer to find.

There is a real push on getting more people into the profession, but good candidates are scarce. This is prompting surprising offers – especially from US firms – for newly-qualified lawyers of up to £150k. This is giving even the London-based Magic Circle firms a run for their money. We are seeing this trend in Manchester too, which adds pressure to delivering profit.

Serious hardening of the PI insurance market

The increasing cost of professional indemnity insurance premiums (PI)  is also keeping practice owners awake at night. Most law firms renew this annually in either March or October. Last October there was an average 30% increase in premiums, which is a serious hardening of the market that could take weak firms down.

A lot are now scratching around to get their PI in place. There must be minimum cover of £3million for the majority of firms. The PI market has also seen a significant reduction on those insurers who are offering ‘top up’ cover to cover claims in excess of £3m.

So while law firms have tackled the specific challenges of Covid, there is plenty to keep practice owners focused on in the future and they need to keep their accountant advisers close as they navigate the immediate post-Covid landscape and look further ahead.

Value of help at an early stage

 Here at Leonard Curtis Legal, we place real focus on rescue and recovery rather than insolvency, so we’d like to think that these sort of challenges won’t take beleaguered firms down.

Fortunately, more and more partners in law firms are now starting to ask their professional advisers for help and at an early stage. And if they’re not yet, we hope they soon will be.

Accountants tend to be their first port of call, but often the assistance required in these unprecedented times is specialist and non-core, requiring a wider multi-disciplinary approach that’s best able to support all areas of the business.

By approaching us, law firm partners and their accountants gain invaluable access to a much wider range of specialist solutions including; corporate restructuring, personal debt advice, equity and debt finance raising for SMEs, cashflow optimisation, property solutions and legal services. This puts all clients in the very safest of hands.

Our legal sector specialist expertise

We’re specialists in the legal services sector which, in the past 20 years, has seen significant growth. However, it’s also seen change and for some, many challenges have presented risks for the business. In some cases, these risks have also extended to the individuals behind these firms.

But we understand the fast-paced changes to the regulatory environment. As an owner-managed business ourselves – Leonard Curtis Business Solutions Group employs over 240 people across 18 regional offices. So, we have the same challenges. But we also have the expertise to navigate – and support our clients – through what can sometimes be tough times, and out the other side.

Having directors who have previously held senior management positions within large law firms is a real attraction for our clients, as it means we have a thorough understanding of how companies – whatever their scale and scope – operate and the pressures they face. As a result, our client portfolio includes law firms, solicitors, barristers, advisors to the sector, banks, specialist funders to and investors in the sector.

How we work

Upon appointment and case review, we provide Group-wide advice on the financial overview, WIP, debtors and client engagements.  Also, we undertake reviews on the structure of the firm. LLP, company, sole practitioner and ABS, for example – all require a tailored approach.

We also enjoy strong relationships with key stakeholders, banks, litigation funders and other lenders. This means we have access to the most appropriate solutions for each firm. We most certainly don’t adopt a ‘one size fits all’ approach here.

And we don’t just work with established firms experiencing any level of financial distress. We also provide consultancy advice for start-ups, through to medium to large law firms. We have strong credentials in securing investment for new entrants into the market, as well as researching – and then integrating – law firm mergers and acquisitions.

For further information, contact Andrew Gregory on Andrew.Gregory@leonardcurtislegal.co.uk or visit https://www.leonardcurtislegal.co.uk/.

Last week I attended the Scottish Open. First things first, it was absolutely wonderful to be back out at a sporting event and to be perfectly honest with the restricted numbers it meant viewing was better than it would have previously been – the sun was shining and to be out walking The Renaissance Club for a day was a delight!

With me was my husband and son – now we wouldn’t be at such an event if we were not golf fans. My five-year-old LOVES everything golf. Playing, watching, talking golf and he had the time of his life. As you may expect from a child, he has his ‘favourites’, Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood. They were both playing and so we dutifully followed the groups both of these men were playing with so my son could watch his heroes.

As I stood watching I started thinking – wasn’t it amazing that this was their job?

If you are remotely into golf you can’t help but feel a bit of awe that these men get to go around the most beautiful spots in the world (golf lover or not you cannot undermine the scenery and beauty of some courses) and play the game for a living. I am of course romanticising it here as no doubt it has its challenges but for simplicity just go with me.

I was wondering how I would feel if I had thousands of spectators watching me while I worked and although this would be extremely dull for anyone to watch I wondered how I would cope. These professionals appeared to zone into their game and have absolutely no awareness of what was going on – in-fact a fan walked right onto a tee and took a golf club out of Rory McIlroys bag and managed to take a few practice shots before anyone did anything, every team member up there was in the zone. If you missed that the story it’s here.

But I got to see cracks, a few chips in the armour if you will and these were the golden moments of the day.

Anyone with children knows they aren’t naturally quiet beings, in fact they are the opposite! Thankfully my son knows on the golf course to be quiet and behave appropriately. However, watching his heroes there were a couple of moments he couldn’t quite resist.

Tommy Fleetwood had just hit a drive and was charging down the fairway completely focused on his next shot and a little shout came out of the quiet ‘Come on Tommy, you can do it’ from my son. Tommy looked up, smiled and gave him a thumbs up – recognition for my boy and his day was made. It was a fleeting moment in Tommy’s ‘working day’ but he took that moment to appreciate and acknowledge the remark. He was busy and playing for the winner’s share of $1,333,330 however he took that moment to say thank you.

Throughout the day my son was thrown balls from many of the professionals and given a smile or a wave. Just a moment for these men at the end of their working day. A quick thank you for his support and for being there. This was the end of the golf course and some of these men now knew they had zero chance of even getting a cut of the prize money. They were probably tired and frustrated at the end of their day however they still said thank you to fans.

So why did this strike me as something to write about?

It was that feelings provoked by the gratitude from my son. He proudly announced it was the best day ever. You couldn’t remove the smile from his face if you tried. Players acknowledging him and saying thank you meant he loved the game a little bit more. He was even more passionate about golf. He came home and wanted to go straight out on the course to practice.

As adults we no longer receive reminders from our parents or adults to watch our P’s and Q’s. But is it something we forget along the way? Do we just expect colleagues and clients to deliver stuff to us without even muttering a simple thank-you? Or if someone has really gone above and beyond, do you take the moment to appreciate it more than just a quick thank you in an email?

Last month we processed over 1.6 billion pounds of client payments – the stamp duty deadline resulted in an extremely busy time for the market.

Our teams did their job and processed these securely and accurately and numerous clients came back, unprompted, with some really nice thank you messages. We have shared these EVERYWHERE. Internally on our Portal homepage for all staff to see and publicly for the market to see. Again, I am harping on about it here because hearing and seeing someone say thank you is so important.

We all say thank you in day-to-day life but once in a while – take that moment. Lift your hat and throw someone a golf ball if you will. You might end up motivating someone so much they go away and practice their putting.

Emma O’Day

*And just incase you think a 5 year old is too young to golf, here he is in action

This month we opened our offices up to staff, but with no compulsion that they return. Essentially our policy is “work where you want to”. Even with reduced capacity due to social distancing, we have only seen around 20% occupancy, with most staff choosing to stay at home.

It’s too soon to tell but I suspect that, while we may see a slight uplift in this number, we will never go back to full occupancy.

As a business, we are reasonably relaxed about that. One of our office leases expired last August, and we didn’t renew it. We are not “over officed”. But that’s just us.

But what’s the wider impact of this “new working normal”? Well, over the last year or so I’ve written a few posts about how this will impact commercial property, and I just can’t get past how fundamental the change might be.

Short term, it seems “OK” – our clients are reporting that commercial property work remains “buoyant”. Rents are being paid, and investments are made. But I wonder if that hides longer term issues.

Businesses are paying rent because many tenants are in long term leases that they can’t break. Government aid has been generous. A moratorium on evictions has been extended, and a lot of the investment is in upgrading old offices to make them more attractive… to encourage staff back. Nobody knows yet if that will be successful.

What is the longer-term outlook?

In May this year only one third of Europe’s offices had occupancy rates over 10%! The ratings agency Moddy’s reckon that in the US, one fifth of the country’s offices will be empty by 2022. The IMF links that directly to valuations, with a 5% drop in occupancy resulting in a 15% drop in valuation. They are projecting rent to fall by 7.5% in the US this year.

That doesn’t sound like a great investment to me.

I wonder if the problem is that the effects of the “new working normal” are being hidden? Property lease are long term, government support has been generous, and debt is cheap and widely available.

So, while we’re not seeing the effects of the “new working normal” yet, is it just a matter of time?

Looking further ahead, the value of investment trusts that invest in office space are apparently still 13% below their level in 2020. Are we beginning to see the end of Commercial Property as an investment class?

But what do I know, I was a litigation lawyer! Any commercial property lawyers care to chip in?

You will by now be used to Blogs from me on topics as wide-ranging as wellbeing, to financial compliance, to leadership styles, to risk management.

But, this is the first one you will have read on this particular topic… my departure from Cashroom!

After eight years (that have flown by) at the business, the time has come for me to progress my career elsewhere. I will shortly be joining Amiqus to head up the Business Development team there. However, I depart on really good terms, with very fond memories and many close friends. So, I anticipate that I will have a close working relationship with Cashroom going forward. I therefore thought that I would take this opportunity to reflect on my time at the business, and just how far we have come.

I joined The Cashroom in August 2013, as the first person in a Business Development or Sales role. The business had 28 law firms as clients, all located within Scotland. Catherine O’Day and David Calder (Chairwoman and Managing Director respectively at the time), took a chance on me. I had been a solicitor in private practice for the best part of 10 years. I have had lots of contacts, but very little by way of marketing or sales experience. For that opportunity, I will be forever grateful to them both. I was looking to step out of legal practice, and David and Catherine gave me that chance, and I jumped at it! My time at The Cashroom has been all I hoped, and a whole lot more. It has allowed me to develop many skills, meet new people, and provided a role that I genuinely enjoyed.

Going back to the start though…

I was tasked at the outset with growing the business in Scotland, and trying to break into the English and Welsh market too. I’d like to think that I have been successful in delivering on those, as over the first couple of years we took on many new Scottish clients, and the first dozen or so English clients, to the point that it made sense to employ another member in the team to focus on English and Welsh growth. Growth has continued apace over the last few years, north and south of the border. As at the time of writing this, we now have around 220 clients, across the length of the country. It has been quite a journey.

Thinking back, we also provided just three services when I started – Legal Cashiering, Payroll, and Management Accounts. Today, we still offer these core services, but in addition have a large client base that use additional services we have developed, such as Statutory Accounts and

Tax compliance, Credit Control, and various project/consultancy services. The team delivering the services has also grown substantially in my time from around 15 people when I joined. Today’s head count is over 100 across two offices!

It’s true that you don’t notice the incremental day to day changes and progress. When you look back, you notice that rather a lot has happened!

Some of the above, I think, shows just how far we have come in the last eight years. I’m sure the work, ideas and initiatives that are currently underway will ensure that the business will continue to go on and achieve even greater things in the future.

It has been a pleasure to be a small cog in the wheels that have made things happen over the years. I sincerely wish everyone at Cashroom, their clients and contacts, all the very best for the future. I will certainly follow developments at the business with interest. As I said at the outset, I’m sure there will be many opportunities to collaborate. So, hopefully this is not a goodbye, but rather a “speak soon“.

Gregor

The last few weeks have been a blur. That’s not just because of my ageing, failing eyesight, but more due to a month or two of hectic webinar and judging activity.

The judging was for the Today’s Conveyancer inaugural awards.

Firstly, the webinars were numerous. This included Law South’s discovery days, Atlas Cloud’s webinar on managing remote working, Legal Eye’s ‘Securing the financial future of your firm’, and Menzies ‘Management Information and Strategic Planning.’

The reason for mentioning all of them is that something struck me as a theme which ran through all of these discussions, and the review of the submissions for the awards.

That theme related to the power of integration of technology.

To give an example, Coadjute won the Today’s Conveyancer award for Innovation. Their model connects the property software platforms used by estate agents, conveyancers, mortgage brokers and lenders. Their submission was the epitome of the them- they have looked at the end to end process, and realised that there is a flow of information that can be harnessed and guided through different platforms, hugely improving efficiency and creating a vastly improved experience for the firms using it.

In the same category were other submissions along similar lines. Both law firms and tech providers who were knitting tech solutions together to a greater or lesser extent…

…but all the time realising that there was a core principle at play – SIMPLICITY.

It may sound counter intuitive to think that utilising several tech products within one process is a simplification. However, like a duck swimming on the water, a system which provides a straightforward interface for the user but has leading edge, complex technology behind it is an extremely attractive proposition.

The webinars confirmed this. There was much discussion around the flow of accurate data. The importance of that data for making business decisions. The power of communication with clients, as far as customer service is concerned. Also, the benefits that can bring for online reviews.

At The Cashroom, our in-house tech development team have been working on creating system integrations with a number of Practice Management Systems. We will be launching four such integrations in the next month, with more to follow.

The principle behind our endeavours in that direction are the same as I mentioned earlier – SIMPLICITY.

We support any firm on any Practice Management System, using our secure portal to communicate with our clients. By integrating with systems we can improve the flow of data and reduce any need for re-keying. As a result, this will greatly reduce the risk profile of the process. We are also integrated with banking platforms, making our payment process slicker and more secure than ever.

I’m pleased to say that our tech development path is very much in line with the theme I saw in my hectic few weeks. We want to create simple ways for our clients to work with us and their technology. This will give them access to the very best Legal Accounting as a Service.

The legal sector is evolving. Technology is evolving with it. Are you embracing evolution? Remember Darwin’s theory- it’s always the survival of the fittest!

We were delighted to sponsor the Law Society of Scotland Annual Conference again in 2021. This year, for obvious reasons, the event was held virtually, and appears to have been a great success. The sessions we attended were very well attended by solicitors from far and wide. Perhaps many of those same people wouldn’t have been able to justify the time away from their office and travel expense to attend a “live“ event, but that’s a topic for another day!

One of the sessions I found particularly interesting was the Risk Management session chaired by Matthew Thomson of Lockton.

I found it interesting to hear that in the last five years the number of intimations against the Master Policy (the Professional Indemnity Insurance policy for the Scottish profession collectively) has fallen from around 900 claims to about half of that. There have also been far less high value claims (classed as those valued at over £1 million). It is also worth noting, in contrast, that claims against property professionals, accountants and other professional services providers are currently rising. Solicitors are (positively) bucking the trend!

It is hoped that one of the reasons for this drop in claims against solicitors is a greater emphasis from law firms on risk management. I also think that the use of technology and improved systems and processes, will also have contributed.

The question was raised during the session as to whether fraud has increased during the pandemic?

The answer from the panel was that it has undoubtedly been on the rise, with the use of email posing the greatest risk. This struck a particular chord with me in that one of the biggest developments at Cashroom in recent years has been building our Cashroom Portal technology. At its core it is the means of communication between us and our clients, specifically to get away from the insecurities of email. The portal is a secure and encrypted means of communication. With two factor authentication built in, it ensures the greatest level of practical security is applied, thereby minimising fraud risk.

As we now provide services to just shy of 10% of Scottish law firms, we would like to believe that we contribute in some way to the reduced risk overall.

The other risk that was highlighted by the panel was that cross-checking and verifying things like bank details being more difficult to do when staff are working remotely. Again, this is something that our Cashroom Portal and its’ integrated open banking technology helps to minimise significantly. In fact, in our experience, many in-house Cashiers and finance staff do not even follow a process of checking or verifying bank details, often they are simply authorised to set up and make payments themselves. This process, and its’ inherent single point of failure, compromises security.

Again, use of Cashroom services ensures that there is no such single point of failure, and all details are cross-checked and verified, minimising the possibility of human error.

The closing remark from the panel was that often errors made, and claims arising from them, lag behind the event by quite some time. It may be that there are in fact an increased number of claims against the master policy through the pandemic, but we will have to wait and see. We, as a business working in this space, are confident that the profession is constantly gaining awareness on fraud and risk issues, but as ever, cyber criminals and fraudsters are always looking to the next opportunity, and they thrive on change. So, if you are planning to bring your staff back into the office in the near future, beware that any change such as this provides uncertainty, changes of process, change of log in details etc etc.

So please be alert to any unusual activities, telephone calls or emails sent to you or your staff, and re-deliver your cyber, fraud and anti-money laundering training to all staff as a priority.

By doing so, and working together as a profession, solicitors have an opportunity to learn from each other, share information, and create tighter security that discourages fraudsters and criminals.

Take a minute and think, what do you want to get out of the next month? Year? 10 years?

Is it to progress your career?  start a family? Go on luxurious holidays? build a home?

Regardless of the answer, if you ask yourself ‘why’ a few times you will probably come to the answer ‘to be Happy’.

Fame, money, respect, status are secondary in some ways to the reason we want them… Happiness.

Happiness has been described as the ultimate currency. Every pursuit in life, however grand or conservative always comes back to the slightly naive and simple, playground goal of wanting to be happy.  Happiness is an emotion, and, like all emotions, can change on a whim depending on what’s going on in our lives. The Cambridge dictionary defines ‘Happy’ as ‘feelings, showing or causing pleasure or satisfaction’ but what does being happy mean to you?  We so commonly buy into assumptions of what emotions are, we so rarely stop and unpick these labels for ourselves.

We can often see it in binary terms as either, we are happy or unhappy. However, a far more empowering and helpful way of looking at it is seeing happiness along a continuum. Every choice we make being able to move ourselves up or down the ‘Farral Williams’ Chart from weeping in our pillows to dancing in the street.

Are you happy?

It’s a hard question to answer. So many of us strive for this golden chalice but we don’t even know if we have a taste of it or not.

So I want to share a few tips on how we can start to own this elusive, slippery concept called happiness and ensure we are having a piece of the pie every day.

• Think details and rituals: Rather than pinning all your happiness on the yachts, penthouses, and Caribbean islands. Focus on the details, the specifics of the day-to-day that could make you a little happier. Once you know the little things that would add to your happiness then start to ritualise them! This may not sound too spontaneous or fun but, routinely building in activities every day that make you happy, are key to your overall well-being. Ten minutes of reading before work. A cup of tea in your garden. Do an art class once a week. It might not set the world alight, but adding 1% more happiness a day soon has an accumulative effect, more specifically 365 % within a year.
• Pleasure and meaning: For ultimate happiness, we need to think about juggling short-term fun with a long-term focus. Instant gratification is great but too much and it can feel a bit hedonistic and off-putting, a bit like too much ice cream. Having a meaning for the future is also important to spur you on. However, if the focus becomes solely on 10 years down the line, whilst living a life like Scrooge, then that sounds pretty dull too. We need to balance these two components, the present pleasure, and meaningful future, check in with your goals and time use, are you getting a balance?
• Be present: ‘Life is what happens when you are busy making plans’ as John Lennon famously said. How true is that? Life isn’t lived tomorrow, or only on the weekends, it doesn’t switch on at 5 pm Friday then disappear Monday morning to hibernate… It’s right now. In the words of the wise Kung Fu Panda “, Yesterday was history, tomorrow is a mystery, all we have is this present”. The only time we have the potential to be present is in this exact moment as you read these words. So it makes sense the more we tune into this ‘now’ the more available happiness is to us. We can do this regularly with something called Mindfulness training, which conditions our brain to be more present in each moment, rather than caught up in thoughts about the past or the future. So if you are serious about putting happiness firmly on your agenda then prioritising mindfulness may be a wise move.
• Appreciate we are not designed to be happy: News flash, human beings are not designed to be happy we are designed to survive. Think about it, it didn’t matter when we were cavemen and women if we had a big grin on our faces. It mattered that we were paranoid, hypervigilant, and scared because these qualities would keep us constantly on the lookout for dangers and ultimately alive. Unfortunately, these habits have resulted in the current culture of ruminating, anxious and depressed folk. Another way of putting it is that our brains are wired Velcro for negative, Teflon for positive. We simply don’t need to cling on to positive thoughts for our survival, so we let them go!

This doesn’t mean we can’t be happy, it just means we have to work a little harder to achieve it.

So we can be a little kinder to ourselves when we aren’t skipping down the street dancing like Fred Astaire.

• Cultivating an attitude of gratitude: And for those of you that think this all sounds like too much work it may be reassuring to know that a feeling of happiness can be cultivated by simply shifting our awareness and becoming more grateful. More thankful for the little things in a day that we may not notice as we rush around being a great ‘human being’ as opposed to ‘human doing’. Taking regular breaks to be thankful and ‘sweat the small stuff’ has pretty impressive results, taking pauses for gratitude in our day not only improves our wellbeing and happiness but adds an astounding 7 years to our life.

So ultimately, as lucrative as our happiness may sound, it could only be one choice, two rejigs of our thinking, or three moments of gratitude away. Recognising that we are responsible for our happiness and that it is accessible right now puts us in the driving seat to own and ultimately change it.

What change can you make in the next 24 hours to shift you 1% forward?

This article is based on the work by Tal Ben-Sharar, Sonja lyubomirsky, Jon Kabat-Zinn, and my own life experience. It accompanies the workshop as part of the Manchester Law Society, Wellbeing series. You can watch my on demand webinar “ Let go of happy, it’s all about happIER” at www.itsmental.co.uk

Anna is a wellbeing coach, bringing 20 years of experience and a background in Occupational Therapy to support individuals learn the skills to tools to support psychological wellbeing, mental health and long-term happiness. We are proud at It’s Mental to have her on our Panel of Experts. You can find out more about Anna go to https://www.itsmental.co.uk/Anna-croucher

Automating the conveyancing process – a couple of years ago this thought would have made many lawyers drop their jaw and possibly even angered them. How can you automate what has taken years of expensive and difficult training to learn? What an insult to their expert skills and knowledge! Oh no – not anymore.

I attended The Law Society of Scotland’s conference last week and the work being done within the industry and from Registers of Scotland is not only refreshing but is being welcomed. It is exciting and is being seen as a positive change. Instead of coming out of lockdown and reverting back to old ways, the industry is accelerating and pushing further ahead with innovation than ever before.

Why the change in mindset?

Maybe we aren’t scared of technology anymore? We all use it in our everyday life with little problem. Instead of looking at technology development like it is taking our jobs from us and demeaning our skills, our attitude has changed and we can now see that in fact what it does is enable us to do more of what we love and do it better.

Registers of Scotland are working on providing a digital submission solution for advance notices. In fact they were actively encouraging and calling out for firms to test this with them at the conference and said they really are accelerating this process now with a dedicated development team – how refreshing is that! Lawyers for some reason get a bad reputation about being behind in technology and not embracing it but this is definitely not what I saw at the conference and I don’t see it in my day to day job. Yes, there were lots of questions especially around e-signatures but change brings pain and we have all worked through pain in business – it is almost always worth it!

I predict in another couple of years the conveyancing process as we know it will be completely transformed and lawyers and clients will both be delighted with the progress made and how the conveyancing process looks – it will be quicker, there will be less risk of human error and lawyers will have time to offer expert advice without being bogged down with admin work.

Back to my point on lawyers being seen to fear technology. I mentioned Registers of Scotland but I see every day, UK wide, that lawyers are embracing tech. Cashroom has over 200 law firms in the UK using outsourced legal accounting services – these are not firms that fear technology.

Our experts log in and use many practice management systems depending on what the client uses – these systems and the firms that use them do not fear technology.

Our online portal ensures efficient and risk reduced processes whilst reducing compliance worries from the law firm, enabling our legal cashiers and accountants to focus on the expert detail that they know best. The advanced technology Cashroom has enables our experts to do their best job as well as maximising the efficiency in our services – that is exactly what Registers will achieve with their work. If you ask me lawyers aren’t scared of technology – they are embracing it and will reap the benefits!

Emma O’Day

January 2021 was my 10 year anniversary as a Director of Cashroom. I became a non-exec director in 2011, and Managing Director in 2012.

But my involvement with Cashroom goes back further than that. In 2005 I set up a law firm, MBM Commercial, with 3 others, and was Managing Partner for 7 years. Catherine O’Day acted as MBM’s outsourced Finance Director and supervised our cash room. We often discussed Catherine creating a business that would outsource MBM’s entire finance function. In 2008 Catherine took the plunge and Cashroom was “born” with MBM as its very first client.

So, although technically not the founder, I was “in with the bricks”.

It’s been a “wild ride”! When I joined in 2011 we had 3 employees, 6 Scottish clients, and turned over around £100,000! We now employ over 90 people and deliver services to over 200 clients across the UK. In 2021, we should turn over almost £3.5m.

Behind those numbers, the business has changed dramatically. We’ve moved from being an outsourced cashiering service, to a technology driven business process outsourcer. We’ve developed our own technology platform that runs the business. It deals with secure client communication, task management, and increasingly integrates directly with other systems, dramatically increasing efficiency. We are far more “data driven”. Management by “intuition”, is no longer viable (if it every was!), and we need more detailed specialist skill in different areas of the business. Over the next 10 years I’m sure the business will change even more.

When I was at MBM, I acted for a client who was MD of a large utility business. Something he said always stuck in my mind. When hiring, he always hired people better and cleverer than he was. It came back to me at my first Cashroom board meeting (there were 2 of us!). I realised that, if I was to build the company I wanted to build, I needed to do just that. I couldn’t do it by myself.

So, over the last 10 years, I’ve strived to hire people better than me at doing the various things I did as MD in the early days. Recently I’ve felt I was pretty much there, and the way our senior team stepped up to deal with 2020, convinced me of it.

So, in February 2021, I stepped down as MD, and became Chairman. I’m still involved in the day-to-day management of the business (focusing on clients and client relationships), but our “new” CEO, Chris O’Day will take the business forward into its next growth phase.

Chris joined us in 2014 after qualifying as a CA at Deloitte. He started as an accountant in our accounts team, moved to Head of Accounts, then Head of Client Services, before becoming our FD. He knows our business inside out and has a clear vision of where he wants to take the business over the next 10 years.

I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved at Cashroom, and at the risk of sounding “fatherly”, incredibly proud of Chris and the team. I know that the next 10 years will be even more exciting.

I can’t wait to see how things go!

David Calder, Chairman

Who enjoyed the Masters this month? I always think the Masters signals the start of spring, a turn in the weather (for the better), and gives a general sense of optimism about what lies ahead. And goodness, we can all do with that this year can’t we?!

For any golf fan, there’s just something different about the Masters and Augusta National Golf Club. It’s a place of great tradition, always immaculately presented, with a deep history, and conjures up many iconic images of great golfing moments from years gone by. Who can forget the dramatic collapse of Greg Norman in 1996? Not me  – Norman was my favourite player growing up, pre-Tiger, and I was a devastated 14 year old that night! And what about Tiger’s amazing win the following year by a record margin (12 shots), which almost overnight shifted golf from the sports pages onto the front pages, and literally changed the sport and earning capacity of professional players forever. His ‘comeback’ win in 2019 wasn’t too bad either!

I think we all enjoyed the tournament this year, back in its usual slot in April, with some exciting golf over the four days, and Hideki Matsuyama a deserving winner on Sunday evening. His performance over the course of the tournament got me thinking about how important it is in sport, business and life in general, to play to your strengths, and be true to yourself. In other words, as somebody once said ‘be you, everyone else is already taken’.

What I mean by this in the context of Matsuyama, is that he is not the longest hitter (which some would say is a pre-requisite to win at Augusta), he wasn’t top of the stats for greens hit in regulation, or putting (which again, many would think is a requirement to win at Augusta), but nonetheless he’s the one heading home to Japan with the green jacket, and a lifetime exemption to play at the Masters. Oh, and he will also make a few quid from it (with the $2,070,000 winners cheque for starters).

Matsuyama didn’t get overawed by others hitting it further, frustrated at those who seemed to hole every putt they looked at, or by those who maybe came across much more confidently in media interviews. He played his game, stuck to it, went about things his way and held off all comers to take home the ultimate prize – a Major championship. If he had tried to change any of that, or be something he’s not, I suspect he wouldn’t have done so well.

Playing to your strengths or playing your own version of the game doesn’t however mean you can’t look to improve or innovate ‘you’. As I say, Matsuyama is clearly not ‘long’ off the tee, but he constantly looks at ways of improving his accuracy and confidence on the course allowing him to get round his way. I’m told by a friend who plays professionally on the European Tour that Matsuyama is the only player he has seen try 5 or 6 different sets of irons and drivers on the practice range before a round, with a dedicated ‘runner’ between him and the equipment manufacturers’ truck to swap and change clubs for him, until he feels comfortable he has the right equipment for the particular circumstances of the round ahead. Interestingly, although not so unusual, I read that Matsuyama changed to a different putter just two weeks ago.

In the context of running a business, I wonder how many people spend too much time trying to be somebody or something they’re not. Or trying to be all things to all people. I’m not for one second saying don’t try new things, but do that in a controlled way, or for a trial period to see if it is something worth sticking with in your individual circumstances, rather than doing so because ‘everyone else is’. One lesson we can learn from Matsuyama’s Masters win is perhaps that sticking to what you know, what works best for you, what you’ve had success with, and improving and innovating on that, may bring about the best results.

Gregor Angus