Read extracts from The End of Lawyers?, and related articles

Mark Wyatt was publisher of The Lawyer for six years before he set up Legal Week in 1998. He is now managing director of TakeLegalAdvice.com, an internet service that matches clients with lawyers. Here, he explains how his new venture is attempting to use technology to introduce greater transparency to legal services

We launched TakeLegalAdvice.com in response to a trend we saw emerging first at The Lawyer and then at Legal Week.

In the late 1990s, the dust was blown off the law. Corporates became more savvy. They started to shop around and loyalty mostly evaporated. They introduced panels, evaluating different law firms instead of sticking with the firms they had always used. Customer care and price became more important.

Outside investors will demand a very different type of law firm

In part four of The End of Lawyers?, Richard Susskind says that new investors will not be wedded to business practices of the past

How the traditional role of lawyers will change

In part three of The End of Lawyers?, Richard Susskind argues that 'black letter' lawyers will give way to multi-disciplinary, 'hybrid' advisers

Legal profession is on the brink of fundamental change

In the first of a six-part series on the future of legal services, Richard Susskind lays down a challenge to all lawyers

A decade on: much changed, much still to unfold

In part two, Richard Susskind revisits some of the radical predictions he made about legal services 10 years ago

Richard Bennett: 'Every industry changes'

HSBC's general counsel says that change is inevitable but there will always be a need for diversity in the legal market

For the first time, people started talking about what was going to happen in the future, how they could deal with it and get the best result — not just for the firm but for clients.

At the same time, the amount of information about law firms started to grow. The rise of the legal press meant that for the first time everyone could see how much everyone else was making, who was doing well, who was good, who wasn’t.

We launched TakeLegalAdvice.com because we thought there needed to be even greater transparency in the legal market. We’ve spent years listening to law firm clients and members of the public ask, “Who should we use for this piece of work? Who is any good?”

The final nail in the coffin was Sir David Clementi’s report which called for better client service and a framework that permits a higher degree of choice.

There’s a natural apprehension out there about using a lawyer, because traditionally it hasn’t been transparent. There’s so much legalese. We did extensive research and discovered that four out of five people were scared stiff of instructing a lawyer.

There are nearly 100,000 lawyers in this country, around 9,600 law firms and about fifty practice areas. Choosing the right lawyer can be absolutely crucial to the outcome of a matter. If you choose the wrong one, it can be catastrophic — but how do you find the right law firm? In the Yellow Pages? Ask a friend?

What we’re trying to do is help make the system more efficient.

TakeLegalAdvice.com matches consumers and businesses with lawyers. You fill in your details and within 48 hours you’ll get an e-mail from a selection of law firms, setting out how they can help you and what they will charge. It’s then up to you who you choose.

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