Today’s Wills and Probate talks to Settify CEO and Principal Max Peterson about his company, Settify and plans for building a client base in the UK. The Australian legal tech company provides a way for new clients to engage with firms online (through their websites). The systems use Artificial Intelligence and Expert systems to intelligently seek all of the client’s key background information, which is summarised into a brief for their lawyers. Settify say that they help to turn ‘browsing’ into ‘engaging’.
What prompted you to set up Settify?
I have always loved being a family lawyer. I paused my full time practice because I believe that, as a profession, we should be constantly working to improve the ways that we assist clients. Technology will play an increasing role in that – making our services more accessible, more effective, and crucially, more valuable to clients.
What problems does it solve for law firms?
Firstly, it provides a boost to firms’ marketing efforts. Far more people will visit your website than will ever actually phone or email you. We add buttons to firms’ websites, which lead clients through an interactive question-answer process that gives helpful, bespoke information, and takes a full background. It is a great way to give clients a low-obligation way to get meaningful assistance, interact with the firm, and be impressed by you before they ever speak to anyone at the firm. It leads to more files opened.
Second, but perhaps more importantly, it elevates the client experience. It helps clients to understand where they stand and how their lawyers can assist. It orients them for that first meeting. It means that as lawyers, we can spend less time on background, and more time going through advice, options, strategy, and building the crucial ingredient of a solicitor-client relationship: trust.
How many clients do you have currently? In Australia and in the UK?
There are currently about a thousand Wills and Family lawyers worldwide using Settify, across 130 firms. There are 118 Settify firms in Australia and New Zealand, and since we launched in London in October last year, 12 English firms have adopted it, and many more are close to coming on board.
Perhaps the more important metric is that over 18,000 new clients have used Settify to engage with their lawyers since we launched in 2017, and 1,000 new clients came through in January alone. One in three family law matters in Australia now begin with Settify, so it is fast becoming the ‘new norm’.
What’s the feedback been like?
Clients love it. We survey them so that we can constantly improve. Over 90% say they would recommend the system to friends and family, and over 96% say that they are impressed by their lawyers providing the system. The qualitive feedback is also glowing, with clients reporting that it helps them feel prepared to work with their lawyers.
The feedback from lawyers has been fairly superlative. James Pirrie, Director of Family Law in Partnership has said “It is inconceivable that any serious provider of family law services will be without this system.” David Hodson OBE MCIArb, Partner of the International Family Law Group has said “I’ve been blown away by how good it is.”
How does Settify help firms to convert enquiries for new work?
We don’t bring people to your website. That’s not our focus. Settify gives clients a whole new avenue to connect with firms from the time that they hit your website. Every Settify client has seen that they can pick up the phone, or send an email. Thousands have elected to use Settify instead. Sometimes it’s out of hours or on weekends, sometimes they are international, often they are busy professionals and want to investigate their options in their own time.
Settify is interactive and conversational. It gives assistance without charge or obligation, and in plain English. Once clients have started on it, it draws them through, so that it’s an obvious choice to continue to work with that firm. As a partner at one of our Australian firms says “Settify takes clients off the market.”
How does it help to improve the customer experience for the end client?
Firstly, it gives them instant assistance, at the time and place that they have chosen to commence their research into their lawyers. It gives bespoke, personalised information about where they stand in their particular circumstances, the issues they will face, and how their lawyers can help.
Lawyers used to charge clients as we ask them ‘what’s your middle name?’ ‘how much is the car worth?’ Settify allows clients to provide that ahead of time. It means the crucial first meeting is spent on what we as lawyers should be delivering – the application of our expertise and experience to the facts of a matter, and establishing the relationship.
What are the biggest challenges currently facing law firms?
Internal bureaucracy is stifling many law firms in England, and preventing them from taking advantage of the changing demographics in their key markets. Partnership structures often stifle progress and experimentation, which places firms at a competitive disadvantage. The technology available to law firms today is powerful, affordable, and easy to use – there is simply no excuse for outdated practices.
Delegating responsibility, and empowering individuals to push your firm to greater heights, is the key to breaking free from these bureaucratic shackles.
What do you think the impact of the increasing amount of regulatory change that’s currently planned, compliance burden, rise of legal tech products and services etc will be on the profession?
We think compliance is really important, and a great thing for society. The GDPR is a regime that protects individuals as data subjects, and holds companies like ours to the highest standards. We wholeheartedly embraced it, and designed Settify UK from the ground up to put data security and confidentiality at the core of our product.
But GDPR is not the only regulatory regime in town, and it’s important to choose technology that is designed with the legal profession in mind. Settify was built by lawyers – law-abiding, risk-averse, nervous-nelly lawyers. We’ve chased every rabbits down every hole, so that lawyers don’t have to.
Are UK law firms well places to take advantage of the opportunities that such a time of change will bring? Who do you hold up as a good example of a forward looking, innovative and entrepreneurial firm? What other legal tech products / services do you rate?
Yes and No. On the one hand, the overwhelming majority of Britons use the internet regularly, and there are so many great off-the-shelf products that firms can start using today to better engage with their clients. It’s never been easier to take advantage of this changing landscape. The question is whether firms want to move with the times, and this seems to be something that many English lawyers struggle with. Inertia will be the biggest barrier for most firms.
The exceptions to that rule will, I think, stand to inherit the earth. Just a few that I think are really impressive for being truly innovative, forward looking and entrepreneurial are:
- The International Family Law Group (London)
- Family Law in Partnership (London)
- Major Family Law (Newcastle)
- Wollen Michelmore (Devon)]
How is client demand changing? And what will law firms have to do to meet those demands?
All people, not just clients, are using technology more and more in their everyday lives. They’re developing a taste for good tech. They expect instant access to information and assistance. They don’t just want a good lawyer with a pad and pen, they want the processes, systems and technology that demonstrate that their matter will be dealt with effectively and efficiently. They want a level of service that is less about nice offices and cups of tea, and more about the machinery that elevates their work with their lawyer into an easy, seamless, impressive experience.
What should law firms focus on that matter the most to clients? Service? Price? Speed? All of those and more!
None of those. Firms should focus on the old-fashioned: relationships. If your clients love you, they’ll tell people. That has always been true of lawyering, and it will continue to be fundamental. The difference now is that innovative practices and lovely technology can bolster, support and enhance that relationship. Many lawyers still don’t get that.
What’s your background?
I graduated Melbourne Uni Law with first class honours, then practiced for about 4 years in the Family Law team at Lander & Rogers Lawyers in Melbourne. It’s one of Australia’s largest family law teams, and constantly rated as ‘top tier’ by the independent guides. I was lucky to learn from the best. The head of the Family Law group, Mark Parker is probably Australia’s top family lawyer, and I loved the team.
My cofounder Athol Birtley is the tech genius behind Settify. He is also a lawyer, and almost duxed Law at Melbourne University, while also doing a computer science degree and building a computer game company with his mates in his spare time.
What are your longer term plans for the business?
Constant improvement of our existing product, and repeated innovation at the juncture of law and technology. We have built a Wills and Estates version of Settify in Australia, which we are looking to bring to the UK in the coming months.
