Barristers’ chambers wishing to be at the forefront in a post-Covid world must focus on education, training, the tech revolution and client care, says one of the UK’s leading Chambers.
Joe Wilson, Chambers Director at St Philips Chambers says the learning curve of the past year means that chambers throughout the UK will be asking searching questions of themselves as the profession has seen the biggest change to business in a century.
“I think trying to make sense of the past year is something that we can only really properly do further down the line, but with the end to the health crisis in sight, it is only right that chambers wishing to adapt and move on boldly analyse the big questions raised over the past 12 months,” he says.
His comments come in a year where St Philip’s Chambers achieved 68 Legal 500 rankings, with many new barristers making an appearance.
“As we switched to a virtual world last spring,” adds Joe, “we quickly focused on what are the possible outcomes of the future for our clients and how do we deal intelligently with these possibilities using our sizeable resources.”
He says St Philips promptly came to the conclusion that there was a far greater emphasis needed on educating and training clients as to what the future may hold; and creating robust programmes to aid them.
“Straight away, we created a programme of webinars on many subjects right across our knowledge base, and we are proud of the way they have helped many try to navigate what has been a difficult terrain,” he says.
“Fortunately, we are extremely well-connected, as you would expect from a chambers of our standing, and we felt strongly that all our webinars had to be of the highest calibre possible to create value for our clients. We feel we have achieved this, with the Judiciary citing our guide to creating and using electronic hearing bundles by Rob Mundy and Ali Tabari, as a “go to” resource; and our YouTube channel already having over 13,000 views of our uploaded tutorials and webinars.”
“After all, we found ourselves being relied on more than ever by many clients who needed our support, especially in those early days that seemed so surreal. We believe this intense focus on education, training and client care is something that all barristers chambers will need to take on board. ”
He adds that the adversity of the pandemic and the way St Philips reacted has helped reinforce the strong bond Chambers has with those it serves.
“I think in times of crisis, we see the real character in people and businesses,” he adds.
“The amount of good-will to St Philips, which we know has always existed, has been far more visible because of the way we switched instantly to share the vast swathes of knowledge we have with our clients,” adds Joe.
He adds that he believes as the shadow of Covid19 lifts those chambers who have stepped up to the mark will reap dividends.
“We will see more being demanded of chambers throughout the UK,” he asserts. “The post Covid19 client will want a deeper dialogue and a new level of help and understanding, which was not as prevalent in a pre-Covid world.
“We will see the impact of the pandemic affect our lives greatly in the years ahead and unquestionably there will be huge changes afoot in all our specialisms,” he says.
“The future of towns, cities, office and retail, employment are gargantuan topics where the surface has only started to be scratched.
“These new challenges for the very best legal minds requires a special kind of relationship with clients going forward. It means more open conversations and the ability to alleviate the real concerns that have been created, where the future in a fast-paced world has moved up several gears.
“It is not a time for anyone to rest on their laurels and we at St Philips certainly won’t be doing that as we look forward to continuing to push standards even higher as 2021 brings new challenges, which are yet to reveal themselves.”
For more information please contact Joe Wilson
T; 0121 246 2136.
M: 07894 386358
E: jwilson@st-philips.com