Graeme McKinstry: Under pressure – why high street firms need to change

Graeme McKinstry

The recent high-profile changes within the profession, the latest being the disappearance of Leslie Wolfson & Co. to another English predator highlight the inexorable increase in the pressures on the traditional business model of the typical high street solicitor.

Whether under partnership, LLP or incorporation, the ingredients that go to make up a successful business – such as the strategies for HR, finance and management, coupled with the structure for ownership and fiscal control – are no longer fit for purpose.

Sir Tom Hunter, that icon of Scottish business, told a gathering of business leaders recently “today the pace of change is faster than it has ever been… yet slower than it will ever be…”. The legal profession is not immune and the likelihood is that with the advent of artificial intelligence, robotics, increasing regulation, the need for better risk management, improved service delivery, to say nothing of the predators from England, often with very deep pockets, wishing to devour smaller animals, the time for change is now.

Solicitors perhaps even more so than most individuals are slow to change. The comfort zone is a nice place to occupy but it no longer offers the security and serenity of earlier years. Now is time to get into the driving seat and navigate the path to succeed

The composition of the profession today is worrisome. There are approximately 11,500 solicitors in Scotland of which about 8,000, in round numbers, are in private practice. Those 8,000 are deployed across approximately 1,150 practice units.

The majority of the profession in Scotland are spending what is known as the grey pound. There is a decreasing appetite for ownership among the younger generations coming through.

Typically, a high street practitioner is in his mid-fifties and the swathe of employed lawyers in the big six are by contrast in mid-thirties.

Recent data shows that there were last year approximately 550 opportunities for traineeships across Scotland including the public sector including the Scottish government and the prosecution service. Curiously, our law schools apparently have approximately 1,800 graduates studying the Diploma.

Somewhere soon that circle is not going to square.

The need for change is obvious yet there is a curious reluctance to embrace change.

History shows that it is important to understand the need for change, appreciate the benefits of change and then for engagement in change.

The Leslie Wolfson story reflects a sad indictment of yet another household Scottish name passing into foreign ownership with the disappearance not only of the name but the independence and a further dent in the hitherto renowned reputation of the Scottish legal profession.

The high street, contrary to the big corporate and commercial firms, will however continue to thrive and grow. That future is bright but it must be earned and it is time for change. The traditional business model of partners, directors or members sitting round a board table discussing agendas which are far too long, often irrelevant and end in countless arguments will no longer do.

Graeme McKinstry is chairman of McKinstry Company Solicitors