Liverpool Law Bulletin December 2013 December 2013 | Page 17

Local News

An Evening with Christina Blacklaws Director of Policy with
Co-operative Legal Services
24th October 2013

There was a good turnout of
members of the Liverpool and
Chester and North Wales law
Societies for this event.
Christina was for many years in
private practice running her own
firm specialising in childcare law
and mediation in London. She is
a Law Society Council member
and Chair of the Legal Affairs
and Policy Board of the Society.
She is a very impressive and
personable woman.

She began by giving us facts and
figures about ABS’s. There are now
236 licenses as at 17th October.
Christina explained they carried out
about 0.02% of legal business. She
provided information about those
behind the ABS’s, the private equity
houses which are pumping money
into them, which organisations are
grouped together, who is backing
whom, and how ABS’s affect the legal
market.

Then she told us about the Cooperative Legal services. Their

strapline is “here for you for life”.
They have 620 members of staff,
including approximately 110 to 120
solicitors, and they have 14 training
contracts. They operate on a one
third ratio solicitor to non legal. Their
work is in most consumer areas,
conveyancing, family and wills and
probate. The majority of the service is
telephone based, but in answer to a
question as to how they for instance
establish that a person ringing up to
make a will has the capacity to do so,
we were told that the telephone
interviews are highly scripted and if
there is any hint that a vulnerable
person is being put at risk, they don’t
do it. In family work involving court
hearings they have contracts to
provide face to face meetings at their
bank outlets (most of which are in
London) and they use panels of
barristers chambers to deal with the
hearings. They have had legal aid
contracts so we have to assume they
are equally affected by the
reduction/extinction of the same.

Christina’s message to us was that the

Hill Dickinson’s Rachel Ashworth
crowned Liverpool Idol 2013
Solicitor come singer helps raise £10,000 for Mencap Liverpool

Rachel Ashworth, Solicitor at Hill Dickinson wooed a 200-strong crowd to be
crowned Liverpool Idol and in the process help raise over £10,000 for local
charity, Mencap Liverpool.

Delivering a harmonious rendition of Use Somebody by Kings of Leon, Rachel
beat off tough competition from six other strong acts, including Jennie Heyes,
also of Hill Dickinson who came second with her performance of Rolling in the
Deep by Adele, and Brian Humphreys of BWMacfarlane who sang I’m A Believer
by The Monkees to finish in a respectable third.

Rachel said, “I am delighted to have won Liverpool Idol 2013, particularly given
that the standard of singing was so high. I am extremely grateful to Hill
Dickinson LLP for putting me forward and to all those who came along in
support. It was a fabulous evening that brought together some of Liverpool’s
strongest talent in aid of a really deserving cause.”

The X-Factor style event was held at Pan Am in the Albert Dock, and saw
professionals from Liverpool’s business community singing and cheering their
hearts out for Mencap Liverpool, who support individuals with a learning
disability and their families in the local area.

The performances were judged by an impressive panel including Sense of Sound
Director and vocal coach Jennifer John, former Frankie Goes to Hollywood star
Brian Nash and local singer songwriter Steve Macfarlane.

Left to right: Christina Blacklaws, Alistair Fletcher and Darlene Storrar,
President of Chester & North Wales Law Society
Co-operative legal Services can help
the rest of us. How? They highly
advertise and she says we will all
benefit from that because their model
(highly standardised and
commoditised) will not suit all - some
people want to sit down with an
individual to give instructions for wills
for example, and one size or type
does not fit all. So there will be work
for everyone. If the overall legal
market expands we will all benefit.

Her suggestions to the non ABS
service providers is to engage with
our local community, localise our
marketing activities, ensure a quality
service and embrace fixed fees.
Sadly we ran out of time (she was

catching a train back to London) so
unfortunately we didn’t get to ask all
the burning questions that had been
gathered, which was disappointing. So
there are still a lot of question marks
as to how they operate, and how
they deal with particular types of
cases. One thing is for sure. The Cooperative Legal services is here to
stay, and there are lots more like
them