Out of office — why lawyers are taking their advice out onto the road

From conveyancers to legal aid heroes, solicitors are leaving their offices behind to bring their services to the public, writes Peter Ranscombe.

With its pretty town square and famous fudge shop, Callander is the ideal gateway to the Trossachs. Tourists flocked to the area in ever-greater numbers following the arrival of the railway in 1858, buoyed by Sir Walter Scott’s romanticised stories of the Highlands.

Today, visitors still embrace Callander and the Trossachs, with many falling in love with the area and deciding to call it home. That’s where law firm Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie (WJM) steps in.

Early in the spring, the firm’s Dunblane office – which trades under its previous Bartys name – opened a free weekly legal advice surgery in estate agency West Homes’ premises in Callander. Clients and prospective clients can drop in to ask questions about conveyancing or private client topics – including wills and powers of attorney – and sign paperwork.

“It’s about bringing our knowledge and experience out to the public on a more informal basis,” explains Karen Crothers, a newly promoted partner in the Dunblane office. “Our aim is to be open and available – some people are still quite hesitant about phoning a solicitor for initial advice in case there is a cost involved, so having these free legal clinics makes us more accessible.”

Last year, WJM partner Angus MacLeod launched a free monthly advice clinic in partnership with law firm Brodies at The PowerHouse in Inverness, covering corporate, employment and property law for businesses exploring opportunities at the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport.

Helping entrepreneurs at incubation and acceleration centres

While conveyancers and private client specialists are working with individuals, law firms also have a long track record of travelling to incubators and accelerators to offer drop-in clinics and run events for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), especially in the technology and life sciences sectors.

Advice offered to entrepreneurs and their fledgling businesses can range from guidance on forming companies and raising funds through to protecting and commercialising intellectual property (IP), along with broader areas such as drawing up contracts and employment law.

Law firms BTO and Morton Fraser MacRoberts (MFMac) have each run events at the Roslin Innovation Centre, which provides a home for animal health, aquaculture and agriculture-technology businesses at Easter Bush, south of Edinburgh. Seminars run by the two firms have included ‘employment law and hiring’ and ‘lessons in IP’.

“Building early relationships with companies at their formative stage can lead to more significant instructions as they continue to grow, seek investment or reach an exit point,” explains David Gourlay, a partner at MFMac, which runs a mix of events, workshops and occasional drop-in clinics at several incubators and innovation hubs.

“For entrepreneurs, these events provide accessible, often informal legal guidance on issues such as formation, fundraising, IP protection and commercialisation, commercial contracting and employment. This can help them avoid damaging early mistakes, improve ‘investor readiness’ and build relationships with advisers they may later instruct.”

Law centres get out into their communities

As well as commercial firms running pop-up clinics, staff from Scotland’s law centres also go out into their local communities to provide legal services. “A lot of our work is driven by what our communities need from us in terms of our areas of specialism, and we feel that cannot happen by a traditional approach of clients just coming to us in our offices,” explains Aaliya Seyal, chief executive at the Legal Services Agency (LSA), which specialises in housing, mental health support, preventing homelessness and combating disability discrimination.

As well as operating from its bases in Glasgow and Greenock, the LSA runs an emergency helpdesk at Glasgow Sheriff Court, which provides support and representation to people who are at risk of losing their homes, if they have not instructed other solicitors.

“Our mental health department will quite often go out and attend appointments in hospitals and care homes, or make home visits,” adds Aaliya. As part of its legal education work, the LSA runs stalls at community events to raise awareness about people’s legal rights. Law centres can also act as gateways to wider support, with clients’ permission.

“All law centres share that same ethos of community engagement,” adds Aaliya, who also fulfils the secretariat function for the Scottish Association of Law Centres. “Many undertake outreach or drop-in work.”

Lawyers can help law centres by undertaking pro-bono work or making donations. Many law students also support the centres’ work. “I genuinely would not be sitting here today if I had not walked into a law centre to volunteer,” Aaliya adds. “Law students have the opportunity to gain experience in a whole breadth of things, from shadowing solicitors at court to doing appointments, working with us in our legal education, planning seminars and helping with marketing and communications.”

Extending legal aid provision through pop-up clinics

Rhea Frame, a senior solicitor with the Civil Legal Assistance Office (CLAO), has experimented with drop-in clinics during the past year. Following an initial two-day clinic in Stornoway last year, the trial has been extended to Orkney and Shetland.

“We have been actively trialling pop-up, drop-in clinics in areas where access to legal support can be more limited,” explains Angela Graham, head of the CLAO’s Highland and Islands office. “What we are looking to explore is whether in-person, locally delivered services can complement existing provision and improve access to advice, particularly in geographically remote areas.”

Angela thinks a blend of online and in-person services is likely to become the best approach. “Online services offer clear benefits in terms of efficiency, scalability and convenience, particularly for clients who are confident using digital channels,” she says.

“Offering telephone or online consultations with clients can be important to ensuring access to justice, particularly in some of the core areas of CLAO’s work, where individuals may be requiring urgent legal advice because, for example, they are homeless, facing imminent eviction from their home or require urgent assistance in relation to child protection matters and mental health. However, they cannot fully replace the value of face-to-face interaction, especially for individuals with complex needs, limited digital access, or who may feel less comfortable engaging remotely.

“Pop-up, in-person clinics can play an important role in building trust, improving engagement and reaching people who might not otherwise seek advice. We have seen from the initiatives we have taken so far that they can also strengthen relationships with local advice providers and communities. In practice, the most effective model is likely to combine both approaches: using digital channels as the backbone of service delivery with targeted in-person outreach where it adds the greatest value.”