Canadian Lawyer

bringing law to the people Mark Morris and Lena Koke are the co-founders of Axess Law PC, a consumer- focused law firm specializing in real estate, wills, power of attorneys, business registrations, and notary services. Axess has five offices (and more on the way) located inside Wal-Mart stores in the Greater Toronto Area. CANADIAN ACCESS-TO-JUSTICE STATISTICS ARE STARK: 56 per cent of Canadian adults do not have a signed will; 70 per cent of Canadian adults do not have signed power of attorneys. In Ontario, 64 per cent of family law cases were self-represented at the time of filing and, of those who chose not to use legal pro- fessionals for their services, 90 per cent identified the perceived cost of service as the prime motivator for representing themselves. Axess Law is a law firm designed around the principle that lawyers are best suited to fill this existing service deficiency by operating in new legal service environments, most notably, at Wal- Mart locations with high foot traffic. Prior to starting our firm, we had careers, which spanned the development of retail centres as well as the leasing of retail space and branding of small market entrants. Through this work, we became familiar with the methods and approach that other businesses adopt in retail environments. Of particular interest to us both was the big-box environment, which, at the time, was increasingly inviting smaller businesses to set up shop within their environments in an effort to supply one-stop shopping to the Canadian consumer. By 2013, when we opened our first Wal-Mart office, it was normal for Canadians to interact with a tax preparer, a doctor, a pharmacist, a chiropractor, a dentist, and any other number of professionals within a retail store. Lawyers were the exception to this rule and, to our mind there was no good reason why that needed to be the case. Delivering legal services within a big-box environment required us to radically change our approach to customer service. We needed to fulfil the dual mandate of large-volume retail customer service while at the same time maintaining the highest level of legal service and professionalism. This required us to adopt a strategy similar to other professionals who had successfully entered and grown their presence in the retail space. We spent many months studying other service professionals operating in the big-box environment and distilled their process into an approach that we termed Best Retail Practice. At Axess, BRP underlies everything we do. It defines the way we built out our back-end technology, which from the start, we engineered to access client files and to use documentation generation engines over a wide geographic area. BRP also keeps us focused on areas of law with defined workflows, which require a near complete transactional under- standing of a client's needs in advance of a meeting. If implemented properly, BRP means we can determine the duration and price of a given client meeting in advance of an appointment — a crucial aspect of any retail operation. Beyond technology, BRP means incorporating business hours not traditionally seen in law firms: Axess is open seven days a week and until 8 p.m. on weekdays. We believe in a fully transparent pricing model where costs are clearly set out at the beginning of the process and we adhere to open concept environments, while maintaining respect for proper solicitor-client privilege. Most of all, Axess Law's BRP approach is based around the idea that small transactions, done in volume, net powerful results. Wal-Mart itself grew into one of the world's largest corporations through small transactions performed in volume and in the process expanded the reach and ability of North Americans to better afford mass consumer goods. At Axess Law, we believe in the same principle. In many cases, we are targeting the segment of people who are not using lawyers and in so doing, we are providing legal services to those people who, absent a firm like Axess Law, would not gain access to such services from a competent professional. We believe that Axess Law is a new and exciting approach to the way law is practised and we firmly believe there is no reason why we need to be alone in servicing Canadians this way. Retail is a part of Cana- dian life and services are delivered in retail environments all the time. Embracing this opportunity is not only a good business opportunity it answers the demand Canadians are making on our profession every day. We see opportunity in this market and think our profession should too. The opportunities are signifi- cant and the mandate we fulfil, providing Canadians with access to justice, is a critical one. 56% OF CANADIAN ADULTS DO NOT HAVE A SIGNED WILL. 70% OF CANADIAN ADULTS DO NOT HAVE SIGNED POWER OF ATTORNEYS. 26 M A Y 2 0 1 5 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m

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