In the latest of a series of interviews of key people in the legal sector, Andy Poole interviews Jon Davies about his pivotal role in the Law Society’s switch from the Solicitors Indemnity Fund to open market insurance 20 years ago, and his support for the pioneering Law Firm Ambition collaboration today.
Andy:I gather that you were the architect behind Travelers taking over SIF back in 2000. What was that like?
Jon: It was an exciting time, a bit like suddenly being faced with all the challenges of Covid-19, except that only a few of us were involved.
I was 30 and this incredible opportunity suddenly presented itself. I remember writing the SIF proposal in my spare room and sending it to the Law Society. The proposal explained all the problems the Law Society faced and how we could help them overcome each one.
I then did my first ever video conference call, which I had to chair. There were two rooms full of people, so I had to take great care to position the cameras to include all the seating.
There were lots of lawyers involved — and no wonder. St Paul, as we were called before our merger with Travelers, TUPE’d across 220 staff from the Law Society and we took over responsibility for handling the run-off from all of the existing policies.
Whereas insurers usually pick and choose where to focus in a particular market, at Travelers we had law firm customers of every size, from one-man-bands to the magic circle firms, overnight … in every type of law that existed.
Back then renewals all happened on the same day, so you can imagine all those people at our door on August 30th hand-delivering their cheques in order to meet the deadline.
It was quite something and it still shapes the company that Travelers is today in the legal sector. There is no other insurer like us.
Andy: Getting back to the present day, tell us about Law Firm Ambition (LFA) and its purpose.
Jon: As LFA’s strapline says, the purpose is “Making it easier to grow your law firm”. We want to insure well-run law firms, and with the resources at LFA we are making it much easier for firms to run themselves well.
Jon: That’s the really exciting part. There are nine excellent legal sector brands behind it, including Armstrong Watson, Lloyds Bank and Travelers, who support LFA both as experts and financially. It is early days, but already we have almost 100 legal sector experts who are contributing their knowledge.
It is a very strong group and there is a lot that we can do to make life easier for law firms and to make them safer and more prosperous in the process, to everyone’s benefit.
Andy: How have you managed to involve all these experts and brands?
Jon: It’s simple. We started with a few excellent people and top-notch legal sector brands and grew it from there. Once people see who is involved, they also want to get involved.
Andy: What makes Law Firm Ambition different from all the other legal sector resource websites?
Jon: Yes, we are all drowning in information already, aren’t we? So there is no point just adding to it. For example, this week I could probably dig up a hundred published blogs talking about lawyers working from home … interesting perhaps, but probably of little actual value.
On Law Firm Ambition we stick to helping people with practical issues around running a law firm. We only write something if we are confident that it will be well read and shared. And we then regularly update each item, as part of a growing library of how-to content.
Andy: Right. So what topics have you covered?
Jon: We started with strategy and marketing, the two growth topics. We then focused on finance and risk control, as getting these right is central to stability and survival. Now we are broadening out into other topics, including people management and compliance.
Until you actually read the content, or watch the podcasts, this may not sound like a big deal. But it is. The Law Firm Ambition content is quite unlike anything else I’ve seen in the legal sector.
Andy: What is your favourite bit of content?
Jon: No surprise here. I am really impressed by the content that my colleagues Paul Smith and Charles Attwell have created to help law firms avoid negligence claims. We all know that the law is a minefield and lawyers are juggling files and deadlines the whole time, so mistakes will inevitably get made. But these checklists and podcasts by Paul and Charles reveal where the majority of the mistakes are made and how to avoid them … and they are written in a way that lets a lawyer understand the dangers in just a few minutes.
But I should emphasise that ALL of the content on Law Firm Ambition is useful like this. The experts have really focused on the practical issues that matter in the real world.
Andy: What are the plans for LFA going forwards?
Jon: Well, for a start, we will patiently carry on working with the experts to grow the website and update all of the content. We then have plenty of other plans for how we can make life easier for law firms, and these will be revealed over the coming 18 months.
Andy: Lastly, I have to ask you, what are your views on the post-Covid world?
Jon: It will be a different world, that’s for sure. Working practices have changed, in particular the idea of commuting to the office five days a week. The shift online has leapt forward and this will be a tough challenge for some high street firms, whereas City firms and larger firms in general have been forced to adapt to competitive threats for many years now.
As an insurer though, we will still be looking for the same types of firm as now, which is firms with the right culture … a culture of growing a solid firm that sticks to its areas of competency and treats its employees and clients well.
I’m sure that Armstrong Watson and Lloyds Bank and the other six Law Firm Ambition Founding Partners would say exactly the same thing. Lawyers are great to work with in as much as they are such clever, curious, knowledgeable individuals, but they are also extremely busy, which is where the problems start to arise. So having a well set-up firm is essential if you want the law firm to thrive.
Notes:
Jon Davies is General Manager and VP (Bond & Specialty) of Travelers Europe.
The nine Founding Partners of Law Firm Ambition are: …plus The Access Group (joining soon)
Further information about Law Firm Ambition can be found here
