Welcome to CCC Legal Solutions

Case & Credit Control Solutions for Law Firms

This page/website is aiming to assist the following individuals or groups:-

  • An individual lawyer or legal advisor to clients; and/or
  • A head of a legal department in a law firm or equivalent; and/or
  • An owner, partner or director of a law firm or equivalent

where your products or services comprise ‘Private Client’ legal services.

CCC Legal Solutions is a practical coaching programme to help lawyers and law firms who wish to maintain Wills (and/or Trusts) expertise.  CCC, founded by Robert Cartmell and Jane Meads, arises out of the desire to help those people trying to make their way in the often demanding area of Private Client legal services.  The aim is to provide those persons with access the valuable experience of Robert and Jane and to provide solutions where a problem or issue has arisen.  Robert, as a former solicitor and former owner of a private client law firm, has seen and experienced the ‘ups’ and ‘downs’ of professional life within the law and specifically within the field of Wills and Trusts work.   Now outside of that environment, he can objectively help and pass on the benefit of such experience to others with the intent of assisting them, their firms and the legal profession to higher levels of excellence

CCC Legal Solutions Services

For our purposes in assisting you, ‘Private Client’ means the following products/services offered to clients (customers):

  • Wills
  • Trust Protections
  • Lasting Powers of Attorney
  • Property ownership arrangements
  • Inheritance Tax planning and estate planning advice
  • Probate and Estate Administration
  • Trust Management

Private Client work is not easy. It is difficult for a number of reasons, but primarily from the perspective of making it a successful viable operation for a business in the modern world.   At the end of the day, firms offering private client legal services are there to be profitable and viable.  They should not be loss leaders or lesser elements within a general practice.

However, as many people experienced in this area will tell you, working as a lawyer or advisor in Private Client legal services can be very rewarding. That is both in terms of

  • the enjoyment of the subject matter itself and its complexities (which is always surprising to the outsider); and
  • the relationships built with families and individuals (your clients and their families) over, hopefully, a very long time.

Primarily,  small to medium-sized regular ‘High Street’ provincial solicitors’ firms.  In other words, the ‘general practice’ covering a variety of  areas of work containing a private client department.   We can of course assist larger solicitor firms as well as specialist (non-solicitor) estate planning, probate and trust management firms.

Yes

Primarily it is simply that you cannot dedicate all of the time required to properly help you review and optimise the performance of private client legal services.  Secondly, it will help to have matters reviewed with someone outside of your organisation and with experience in helping people like you.

If you reading this as a Partner/Director/Head of Legal Department of your particular firm, an individual lawyer or in a support role, you will each have your own understanding of what we say and teach.  You will no doubt have received training on many aspects and you will know what to do if you have the time to think about it.  The help you need is often the simple but difficult task of putting into practice what you are taught – that is so vital as otherwise the time in being taught how to do things is frankly wasted time and money.

One of the main hurdles for you as an individual lawyer to overcome is to understand the value of outside input, knowledge and help in you fulfilling your potential.

One of the main hurdles for you as a law firm is to understand how outside help can make one of your private client lawyers or indeed the whole department become more ‘successful’.

In most of life’s work areas, there is a known need for coaching, training, practising skills.  That is with all job roles, from footballers to restauranteurs to financial advisors. All such entities have skills and strategy coaching.  Why should the legal profession be any different?

Lawyers mostly receive training in the law. Before qualifying as a solicitor, there is a legal practice course which is usually a 1-year course before a training contract at a solicitor’s firm.  However, after that, very little actual business training is given and, likewise, very little in the way of learning new practical skills such as selling or efficiency working. Further, there is a lack of time to practise new ideas.

Everyone values time. It can be easy to not spend time on working on an improved skill set or system of work when there are a hundred emails in the inbox or a large case load. The thought is often “keep my head down and get the work done that is on my desk or in my inbox”.   But that list of tasks (whether slightly smaller or larger) will always be there the next day.

Of course, CPD is undertaken. That is mostly by way of being ‘updated’ in the law but rarely is it seen necessary or encouraged by law firms for their lawyers to have a CPD to focus on skill-sets, practice and file management. Behind the scenes, the partners and directors are very much focused on ‘billable hours’ and working to the max.  But are the lawyers really equipped in the area of Private Client work to be successful?

Your firm may subscribe to Practical Law or Lexus-Nexis and have the best precedent bank. Your firm may have an excellent Case Management System and credit control system. You may have CRM technology.  You may be considering A.I. technology. However, in our experience such systems cannot achieve everything.  In many firms, although the investment time and cost of such systems are significant, in many cases the lawyers and staff are not trained or coached on a regular basis to help them utilise those systems properly in their work. We provide the personal training and support to back up those systems.

Our aim, therefore, is to help your lawyers and support people achieve their goals and increase their productivity in a fulfilling way for them and for the firm.

To date, there is a huge lack of focus and understanding of how a private client legal services department can prosper.

For Private Client lawyers:  the key areas of help are:

  • Understanding the need for trust expertise at the core of a Private Client legal department;
  • Selling the concept of flexible trust provisions in Wills and ensuring client take-up;
  • Working efficiently. Taking instructions from clients and giving advice in a way that maximises opportunities for selling useful services that you offer to them.

For Heads of a private client department or firm, the key areas of help required are:

  • Developing an effective strategy and ‘best practice’ for profit making in Wills and estate planning work;
  • Ensuring a system is created and then adhered to and improved; that everyone within the department can understand and work with;
  • Ensuring file reviews are properly undertaken and at minimal cost and time;
  • Ensuring that all time spent on client files is charged-for work.
  • Creating a system for each product and service that is of minimal risk and delivers an excellent product and service;

Some common expressions we have found from people working in the sector are:

  • I know how to do the job.
  • I wish I could allocate more time to new ideas but I cannot.
  • I have my own methods of work which are successful enough.
  • I am experienced in advising clients.
  • I do not need help from anyone and I certainly do not like change.

We are not just a Consulting firm. We work alongside your firm to help you help yourself. 

We:

  • Credit Control manage your Case Files
  • Organise the prioritisation of work for your lawyers and fee-earners
  • Can run your back-office billing and recovery systems

Developing the correct strategy for both the Department and individual lawyer is key.

We:

  • Help you go back to basics and identify the real/actual products and services you are selling
  • Provide a solution and path for you to define an ‘optimum’ approach to the delivery of each of those products and services
  • Help you to put in place a plan for achieving the optimum delivery
  • Then, crucially, we help you achieve the plan

We can cover a great spectrum of matters – in fact, everything required to develop and operate a business in ‘private client legal services’.  However, to achieve anything of substance, it is necessary to have proper focus.

Focus:  on one thing at a time.  Give proper space for one project to be undertaken and completed.  Do not try to implement a whole raft of change at the same time – it will unsettle everyone.

Developing the correct strategy for both the Department and individual lawyer(s) is key and our job first and foremost is to listen to what you want so that we can then help you better.  Then we create one project and work that through to a conclusion.  Then you can review and appoint us to work on another project.

If you would like to talk to us about any of our services please get in touch

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