What changes
Clients will use AI for legal questions whether or not their solicitor offers it. The question is whose AI they use. In the New Model, the firm builds and owns its client-facing tools under its own name: an assistant drawing on the firm’s approved guidance, a secure portal for documents, and tools that support the legal health check and life-event services.
The first tool is usually the health check. A household or small business answers questions and uploads its documents. AI reads them and produces a first view of what’s in place and what’s missing, and a solicitor reviews the result before it goes to the client. Nothing is presented as advice until a solicitor has checked it.
Life events are where the joined-up front end matters. A bereavement or a divorce involves a solicitor, a financial adviser and often an accountant. A shared space where the family controls what each professional can see saves everyone time. Your Family Financial Hub (YFFH) is one example: an adviser firm gives each client household a hub, the family sees gaps such as a missing will or lasting power of attorney, and it can share chosen categories with its solicitor. YFFH is built by Independent Check, which runs 8MDs. A law firm doesn’t need its own hub to take part; being the firm families choose to invite in is a strong position in itself.
Why it matters now
The firms that put a useful tool in front of clients first tend to become the place those clients go back to. Building one takes months, and most of that time goes on guidance, testing and supervision rather than technology, so starting now matters more than starting big.
Checklist
- Choose one client tool to build first, ideally a health check questionnaire for wills and lasting powers of attorney, with a solicitor reviewing every result before it goes out.
- Write the approved guidance your assistant will draw on, and list the questions it must always pass to a solicitor.
- Check the supplier’s data terms, where data is stored and how access is controlled, and complete a data protection impact assessment before launch.
- Agree with two local financial adviser or accountancy firms how you’ll share information on joint clients, with each client’s written consent.
- Show the firm’s name, SRA regulatory details and a plain statement of what the tool does and doesn’t do on every screen.
Illustrative example
A three-partner private client firm launches a branded online health check for wills and lasting powers of attorney. It spends £12,000 on setup and £300 a month on hosting and AI costs, which is £3,600 a year. In the first year, 400 households complete the check. A solicitor reviews each result in about 15 minutes, which is 100 hours in total. If 60 of those households then instruct the firm for new wills and lasting powers of attorney at an average fee of £900, that’s £54,000 of work, against first-year costs of £15,600 plus the review time.
Common mistakes
- Launching an assistant that gives advice with no solicitor in the loop. Decide what it can say, and route everything else to a person.
- Building a tool nobody asked for. Start with the questions clients already ask most often on the phone and by email.
- Hiding the firm behind a supplier’s brand. Clients should see your name, your regulation and your people throughout.
Coaching your clients
Show clients how to use the tools well, and what not to rely on them for. A short call when a family first completes the health check, explaining what the results mean and what a solicitor will do next, builds trust quickly. It also teaches clients to bring you documents and questions early, when legal advice is cheapest and most useful to them.