At our recent fruitful Today’s Wills and Probate roundtable on 17th January at ICC International Convention Centre in Birmingham, delegates talked about the biggest challenges and opportunities in the coming year.
Creator and host of Today’s Wills and Probate roundtable event, Karen Babington, asked the attendees what worked last year for their business and whether they would be repeating it in 2019 or have they decided on a different approach?
The first to enlighten the group was Seb Shakh from WillSuite. He said: “We launched our Lifetime Trust offering, TrustSuite, to estate planners last year. This is an area of planning I see colossal opportunities for the industry and our goal is to make them much more affordable by automating the administration work behind them. WillSuite also had a very exciting year which is set to continue as we expand our will writing software WillSuite into the Australian market following a successful trip in December.”
Gavin Holt from Co-op Legal Services added: “2018 was a big growth year for us. This was particularly due to our successful acquisition of Simplify Probate. We’re looking to grow even more in 2019.”
Beverley Freestone from Arken.Legal further added: “We underwent a corporate restructure in 2018 and there has been a big investment in R & D preparing the Arken platform for future global growth. In the UK, Arken was accredited by the ICAEW, and our user base grew by 500% – our aim for 2019 is to build on and continue this growth.”
Craig Ridge from FBC Manby Bowdler informed the group that they acquired a private client company, Kerwoods, in 2018 and their plan was “to grow and prosper in 2019”.
Emma-Louise Green from Meridian Private Client LLP will be repeating what worked last year. She said: “We will continue our association with Today’s Wills and Probate and attend the British Wills and Probate Awards again.”
Ian Bond from Talbots Law has been in his position at Talbots for just over a year and is finding his feet still. He said: “The intention for the year ahead was to focus on customer service and making it easier for clients to buy from us. For Talbots, it’s not about how well you do law (we do that bit really well) but how well we engage with customers. This includes being paper-light with all matters, nimble working for staff, and, embracing technology for customers to serve themselves and engage with us. There’s nothing worse for a law firm when you do a perfect job but get the client’s name wrong.
Ben Furlong from Estatesearch plans to continue listening to their clients for the coming year. He said: “We aim to speak with and listen to lawyers’ challenges for the year ahead in order to address technology-led solutions.”
Martin Holdsworth from IDR Law will be innovating in 2019. He said: “The decision to set up a boutique practice dealing with Inheritance Disputes has opened up an arena of opportunities to innovate – we are involved in 4 unique tech-based service lines coming out this year – watch this space!”
Kylie Simmonds from Institute of Professional Will Writers are hoping to bring the organisation into the 21st century. She said: “In 2019, we want to work closely with Solve Legal Marketing to change our image, gain more members and retain lawyers.”
Dennis Gardener from Institute of Professional Willwriters plans to make themselves more visible in 2019. He said: “We plan to market what we offer to all of our members and others in the Estate Planning Sector and for the public: make ourselves the first choice they think of when deciding on Professional Estate Planning”.
Clive Ponder from Countrywide Tax & Trust Corporation comments on the main drive for the business. He said: “We have spent the last 3 years developing software which drafts in excess of 75 different products. The concentration for the company for next year with the software will be twofold; including eliminating the use of paper both in the office and in our communications with our advisers in the field; and arrange the software so that it produces additional documents all signed electronically that will assist in reducing the risk to your business and of your client being sued by ensuring that the voice of the deceased client is clearly heard. We also hope to achieve the above whilst reducing costs and increasing client satisfaction.”
Roser Coll is a Spanish solicitor and member of the Spanish Bar Association in Barcelona. She has spent 10 years in the UK working for British clients and dealing with cross-border estates with Spanish assets. Since 2009, she has had her own Law Firm in Barcelona, with a team of solicitors with expertise in the field of cross-border estates including Spanish assets. In 2019 she said: “I am interested in meeting and connecting with professionals in the sector in the UK and help them resolve the Spanish legal side of the estates with a Spanish element.
Charlotte Ponder from Countrywide Tax & Trust Corporation hopes to gain new business and retain existing clients in 2019. She said: “We will continue with our once a month webinar for the foreseeable future as they are popular and work well for the business.”
Louise Axford from George Green LLP confirmed that the firm has continued to expand in the last 12-18 months particularly their Wolverhampton offering, and joined the Midlands Air Ambulance Will Writing Scheme. She said: “For the coming year, we want to expand this further by taking part in the ‘Free Wills Month’ in March 2019.
Chris Buckingham from The Law Superstore echoed Co-operative Legal Services plans business goal. He said: “Planning on growing the business alongside the success of reallymoving.”
And finally, Matthew Lagden from Institute of Legacy Management wishes to reach out to the probate world. He said: “The Institute will be developing their partnership model with external stakeholders and the delivery of training in 2019.”
There is an old business adage which says “not planning is planning to fail” but Today’s Wills and Probate professional delegates at the roundtable did not disappoint. Even though their aims were all different, they all have one combined goal, which is ‘plan for success in 2019’.
