Today’s Wills & Probate were pleased to welcome the Law Commission to the second of our Today’s Thought Focus Roundtables.
After a successful launch, the Today’s Wills & Probate and Solve Legal Marketing teams brought together wills and probate specialists for the second of our Editorial Board Meetings and Today’s Thought Focus Roundtable. We were lucky enough to host this event within the ultra-modern 3PB Barristers Chambers’ office, which has only recently been opened.
Along with Professor Nick Hopkins, Leonie James and Spencer Clarke – all from the Law Commission, other guests in attendance throughout the day included:
- Nigel McGinnity, CEO of Certainty
- Robert Brown, Co-founder of Certainty
- Emily Deane, Technical Counsel at STEP
- Andrew Townsend, Director and Chief Operations Officer at Kiteleys Solicitors
- Charlotte Ponder, Legal Director of Countrywide Tax & Trust
- Clive Ponder, Director of Countrywide Tax & Trust
- Andy Riddle, Managing Director of Professional Deputies
- Emma-Louise Green, Associate Solicitor at The Wilkes Partnership
- Mark Abrol, Head of Property & Probate Litigation at The Wilkes Partnership
- Kylie Simmonds, Council Member at the Institute of Professional Willwriters (IPW)
- Paul Saunders, Managing Director of Legal Eye
- Lindsey Atterbury, a Private Client Solicitor
- Beverley Freestone, Commercial Director of DPL Professional
- Chris Vinton, Sales Manager at Thistle Insurance
3PB and many of the attendees are clients of Solve Legal Marketing and it was wonderful to hear the positive feedback on the services they have been receiving. A few examples of the work that’s been done and have achieved great results were displayed on the monitor within the boardroom – and certainly attracted a lot of attention and interest.
The morning began with introductions of all attendees, followed by the Editorial Board Meeting. We took feedback from the Board on Today’s Wills & Probate surrounding what they enjoy, improvements we can make and the forward features we have planned for coming months. We focussed on a selection of the forward features for general discussion, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), consumer reviews, price comparison and marketing your business. It was clear from the discussions that the majority plan to implement new marketing strategies within the next 12 months, encouraging consumer reviews could help the profession develop further – and the GDPR is a sore subject for everyone.
After a networking break, we held an exclusive Q&A session with the Law Commission, where attendees could freely ask anything regarding the latest wills consultation and plans within the Commission for the foreseeable future. We received some intriguing insight, which will be reported on within our dedicated feature article.
177 responses were said to have been received to the Consultation – a healthy number considering the technicalities involved in the proposals. Over 30 of the responses are thought to be from consumers as well, which is a positive result for raising consumer awareness. The Commission will be analysing the responses in coming months and will collate them into a report. They are hoping to release the official report by the end of 2018 or the beginning of 2019.
During the afternoon, the Today’s Thought Focus Roundtable discussion point was surrounding planning ahead within the legal profession. Here, we discussed topics including:
- how often businesses within the profession hold business planning meetings
- managing succession planning
- what are the current concerns and opportunities within the profession
- how technology is being utilised
- raising consumer awareness
Professor Nick Hopkins from the Law Commission commented: “This roundtable event, bringing together a diverse group of those involved in the writing of wills, will be very helpful for us in ensuring that our proposals for reform are grounded in the experience of those making a will and engage with real-life concerns.”
As mentioned, full coverage of the day will be published at the beginning of December.
If you are interested in attending our next Today’s Thought Focus Roundtable or would like to find out more about the services Solve Legal Marketing can provide your business, please contact Rachel Booth at rachel.booth@solvelegal.co.uk or call 01829 307809.
