Canadian Lawyer

incredible opportunities await the brave Andy Daws is the vice president, North America, of Riverview Law. Built from the ground up and launched in the United Kingdom only three years ago, Riverview Law looks unlike any other law firm and aims to change the way businesses buy, use, and measure legal services. For more on Riverview Law read the Harvard Business School case study: "Riverview Law – Applying Business Sense to the Legal Market." FOR THOSE OF YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE STRONG-TASTING BRITISH PRODUCT of the same name, you'll understand why I say the ABS debate in North America has elicited a "Marmite" response, which splits the audience into two opposing but equally passionate camps. Love it or hate it, in this global economy in which liberalization of legal service regulation can be seen across several con- tinents, it's a trend that's likely to find its way over here sooner or later. In the meantime, imagine what could be achieved if that same zeal were to be applied to constructive change efforts in the present! ABS is merely one proposed solution to the underlying problems that have inevitably arisen over time in a self-regulated and protected industry — restrictive practices, competition issues, insuf- ficient accountability, lack of transparency, poor business service, insufficient regard to the interests of consumers, etc. These phrases are all to be found in the U.K. government's pre-Legal Services Act review, and seem largely echoed by the broader European agencies that made liberalization a condi- tion of bailouts and have gone so far as to ask whether lawyers really need vertical regulation at all. Viewed through a different lens, perhaps the greatest threat to traditional law firms comes not from the outside, but from within: resistance to change. With little pressure from external market forces, the predominant risk-averse personality type has managed to prevent any substantive change for decades. That gap now needs to be bridged, and at a time such as this (liberalized regulation is nothing compared to what's on the technology horizon) it's never been more important to maintain an open mind, ask the difficult questions, and dare to act on the answers. For example: If building our law firm from scratch today, what should it look like? What if it had to compete with accounting firms and other new entrants in a liberalized framework? Are we rid- ing the wave of emerging technologies or about to be drowned by them? What values and culture do we seek to promote and how successful are we? How much does our current operating model The Riverview Law DNA and model Legal services platform Behaviours of a client manager Career development Recruitment and induction Contract implementation Business insight and MI & data Moments of truth Values and behaviours R&D & innovation DNA of a professional outsourcer Legal input Business output Legal advisory outsourcing Litigation advice & projects STRATEGY SERVICES CULTURE SCALABILITY INPUT/OUTPUT The legal market The Riverview Law strategy 28 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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