British Wills and Probate Awards: Judges’ Insights Sue Carter and Lakshmi Turner
As Champagne Sponsors at this year’s British Wills and Probate Awards 2021, we continue to celebrate with our Judges’ insights series. We will be sharing weekly interviews with the judges themselves to get their views on the future of the industry and what firms need to do to excel.
Following last week’s interview with Alex Holt, Director of Business Development, The Cashroom and Matthew Lagden, CEO, Institute of Legacy Management. For our final week of our Judges Insight series we are joined by Sue Carter, Strategic Consultant at Consult Sue Carter Ltd (LinkedIn) and Lakshmi Turner, Solicitors For The Elderly Chief Executive (LinkedIn).
What is the greatest industry change/shift you’ve observed in your career to date?
Sue: It has to be the move by the industry towards digitalisation. COVID-19 was undoubtedly responsible for vastly accelerating this, since before then the legal sector was not exactly well known for leading change and delivering legal services in a different, technology-focused, but client centric way.
What do you see as the greatest challenge facing the wills and probate industry today?
Sue: There has been (and will continue to be) a rise in disputes over estates of the deceased. I suspect this will start to increase the cost of Professional Indemnity Insurance, or at least carry a greater weighting in this practice area.
Working in wills and probate can be challenging both technically and emotionally, what drew you to this area and what about it do you find most rewarding?
Lakshmi: Being chief executive of SFE gives me a unique insight into this area of the law. What is rewarding for me in my role is being able to support SFE members by providing training, best practice materials and client care skills, so that they are equipped with the knowledge and best practice needed, to be able to give the best advice and achieve the best possible outcomes for clients given their circumstances.
What was the greatest lesson of the events of the past year and a half, and what will be the lasting effect of the pandemic on wills and estate management?
Sue: In my opinion the greatest lesson is that there cannot be a one size fits all approach. When COVID happened, firms had to quickly adapt, become more flexible, thinking creatively and innovatively using technology-led solutions. I hope the lasting effect will be that innovation in this sector continues to develop at the same pace beyond the pandemic, both for the benefit of the lawyers and the clients they work for.
When COVID happened, firms had to quickly adapt, become more flexible, thinking creatively and innovatively using technology-led solutions.
Sue Carter, Consult Sue Carter
What barriers need to be overcome to encourage greater integration of technology by practitioners in the industry?
Sue: The legal sector needs to embrace the new generation of innovators, who may not necessarily be lawyers. Firms need to bring them within the ownership structure of the firm so they can not only share the risk, but the rewards too.
What is the most important area to focus investment on across the industry right now?
Sue: I’d say the most important focus should be how to convince the remaining 55% of the UK’s adult population that they need to make a Will. This is a really big problem, so investment is needed in targeted marketing that produces real returns and makes a difference to this figure.
Do you feel that the industry is doing enough to protect vulnerable customers?
“ I think the industry as a whole does very little to protect vulnerable customers.”
Lakshmi: I think the industry as a whole does very little to protect vulnerable customers. However, at SFE (Solicitors for the Elderly) we have an accredited qualification, the OCCP Award (Older Client Care in Practice), which is a soft skills qualification that focuses on safeguarding, supporting and protecting older and more vulnerable clients. It is a unique qualification which allows SFE members to be equipped with additional knowledge and skills to be able to do the very best for their clients.
In an ideal world, anyone who advises vulnerable clients should have to take a qualification like this. However, between the rise of DIY wills and LPAs alongside the vast numbers of “advisers” who lack the necessary depth training, knowledge and experience in this area, vulnerable people are open to exploitation and abuse.
How do you expect the industry will expand in future years and what improvements need to be made to the wills, probate and estate management sector?
Sue: The pandemic shift towards delivering more online solutions works for a certain demographic of the UK population. Changing perceptions, away from the ‘stuffiness’ of legal professionals will be key, although for more complex estate management the face-to-face approach is, I believe, still sometimes necessary. However this is not to say that it can’t still be delivered in a more digitally efficient way than at present.
In my opinion, safeguarding in a fully digital environment needs to be a key priority. Consideration needs to be given as to how older people can be supported to access fully digital services, otherwise they will be left behind without a voice and open to exploitation and abuse.
Lakshmi Turner, Solicitors For The Elderly
Lakshmi: Clearly, this is going to be a growth sector as the population ages. However, there is a fundamental misconception about technology. When debating the impact of technology on older people, younger people seem to think tech adoption won’t be an issue for future generations as they will have grown up digitally native. These younger people find it hard to get their heads around the concept of mental capacity and what happens when that capacity diminishes.
So, whilst technology can be a great help to older and vulnerable people in many ways, i.e. surveillance, monitoring, housework, raising alarms, if all legal services go fully digital (as potentially planned by the government), this risks leaving some older and vulnerable people out in the cold, unable to access the services they need. In my opinion, safeguarding in a fully digital environment needs to be a key priority. Consideration needs to be given as to how older people can be supported to access fully digital services, otherwise they will be left behind without a voice and open to exploitation and abuse.
What are the most important factors for clients to consider when approaching firms and how can firms position themselves as the first choice within their sector?
“Listen to the client and deliver what they want, which isn’t always the same as what the lawyer thinks they want”
Sue: Firms need to think about how they can make their clients feel special. Listen to the client and deliver what they want, which isn’t always the same as what the lawyer thinks they want. They should deliver the service in the way that the client wants to receive it, which isn’t always how the firm wants to deliver it, so flexibility is key here. Always look to provide ‘value-add’ - define your unique selling point and work to ensure that is in the DNA of the people that make up the firm at levels.