IT'S GOOD TO TALK (AND LISTEN)

Andrew Pike, managing partner of Burlingtons Legal , explains why understanding client needs is at the heart of the Burlington Group

Having worked in banking for 20 years, and law for another 25, I have seen a lot of changes over the years. Both professions are, at their heart, service industries and therefore have to adapt to the changing demands and expectations of their customers if they want to stay ahead of the game. Gone are the days when business just walked in the door. With the growth of the internet and social media, potential clients are presented with a wealth of reviews and choices. However, customer service has to operate within a regulatory environment and the phrase ‘know your customer’ has di erent meanings depending on the context.

Changing Face Of Banking

My abiding memory of my rst day at work is walking into the Midland Bank in St Austell, 45 years ago, to hear the assistant manager loudly venting his anger at having to ask customers whether or not they had a home telephone. at was the day that Midland Bank introduced credit scoring for personal loan applications. Credit scoring was introduced as a systemised way of getting to know a customer’s nancial stability and, despite the protests, was here to stay. Automating the process of providing services to customers based on systems rather than personal opinion, allowing the computer to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’, was one of the prerequisites for future developments, such as online banking and, more recently, banking apps on mobile phones. at represents progress for many, although o set for some by the disappearance of their local high street branch – according to Which?, more than 5,000 have gone in the past decade. Every silver lining has a cloud somewhere.

Increasing Regulation

Changes in the eld of law have perhaps been less obvious. You can still walk into a high street law rm in most towns, even though the local bank branch may have closed. Nevertheless, law rms have been changing in recent years and sole practitioners ( rms with just one practising lawyer) are fast becoming an endangered species.

To a large extent, that re ects the increasing regulation faced by law rms. e administration involved in complying with the requirements of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is gradually forcing small rms to merge, as many sole traders are nding the administrative burden greater than they can cope with. It is also harder to nd professional indemnity insurance at an a ordable price, as insurers have come to recognise that a sole trader can’t do everything well.

Over recent years, successive governments have ramped up anti-money laundering legislation and lawyers have increasingly become the gatekeepers. Old stories about how proceeds from the Brink’s-Mat robbery in 1983 helped nance the development of Canary Wharf have been resurrected recently by the popular BBC series e Gold. ese days, however, buying a three-bed semi in suburbia will require you to supply your lawyer not only with your passport and proof of address, but also evidence to show where your deposit is being held and an explanation as to how you came by it in the rst place. According to the SRA, the most common request, when asked how the SRA could best assist law rms, is to stop adding to the ever-growing regulatory burden that lawyers face. Proper regulation is essential, of course, but it doesn’t make life easy for lawyers or their clients.

Streamlining Services

To be fair, bankers don’t have it easy on that front either. Have you tried opening an account for a company with an overseas address and a parent company in the British Virgin Islands? Don’t hold your breath. e thing is, we all just want to get on with providing our customers with the services they want with the least inconvenience. Know Your Customer regulations don’t make it easy, but other changes have compensated for that inconvenience. at’s where knowing your customer is a real bene t, and Burlingtons has always built its team around people who understand and use the law to nd practical solutions for its clients, based on the nature of their business.

With the move towards electronic signatures for most documents, and the extensive use of electronic communications generally, paper les are becoming a thing of the past. Post-lockdown, we have also seen wide acceptance of the use of Teams and Zoom meetings, which, combined with (almost) paperless communications, can make transactions more streamlined and user-friendly for clients.

It’s not just the manner in which services are delivered that is important, however. Everyone is di erent and not everyone wants the same thing from a law rm. Some people only want to deal with a lawyer when they have to – when buying a property, for example, or sorting out a boundary dispute. Others, particularly businesses, value an ongoing relationship with a lawyer who understands what they do and how they do it.

Understanding Client Needs

Burlingtons o cially began trading in April 2011, but its roots go back much further, to the 1990s, when the senior partner, Deborah Mills, set up as a sole trader, under the name Deborah Mills & Associates. e rm has gone through various phases and addresses since then, but many of its current clients go back to those early years. ey have remained loyal because they feel their lawyers understand them and value the relationship that they have built.

Clients like to feel they have someone they can speak to, whatever the problem. at’s why every Burlingtons client has a partner who has overall responsibility for all their matters, and who is available to speak to them about any problems they may have – and I have heard some interesting ones over the years!

Clients look to their lawyers to help with a broad spectrum of needs and being a one-stop shop is becoming increasingly relevant. at is why, over recent years, Burlingtons has not only increased the range of legal services that it o ers, but it has also embraced wider opportunities through the formation of Burlingtons Group, of which Burlingtons Legal forms part (burlingtons.group). Now, as part of a wider group, Burlingtons has access to a whole range of services, including tax and accounting, wealth management, trust services, and real estate – and by building a detailed knowledge of its clients, Burlingtons is now able to tailor a range of services to meet a client’s individual needs.

Not everyone wants that wide a range of services, of course. Clients don’t necessarily want to hear about tax planning when they just want to make a will. at is where being prepared to listen to your customer and really understand their needs at di erent stages in their journey is a real positive.

Knowing your customer is key to good service provision and not just a phrase to be rolled out when onboarding a client. It’s what di erentiates a good law rm from an average one and, at Burlingtons, it is part of our ethos.

So, it doesn’t matter if you want a full English breakfast or just a slice of toast, Burlingtons can provide whatever you need – as long as you show us your passport rst!