According to a recent global study, lawyer to lawyer referrals "...constitute a vitally important income stream for many law firms". However, for the vast majority of small to medium sized High Street practices, I suspect that this could not be further from the truth. In my experience, Solicitors are somewhat reluctant/wary to refer work to their fellow professionals, even though they have no expertise/capacity to do the work themselves! Perhaps it is an intrinsic fear that the other firm will "poach" their Client. Maybe they are worried that they will look "desperate" touting for business. Whatever the reasons, they certainly have no commercial basis. Who would not want to make money from unwanted enquiries, either via a referral fee or profit share or a reciprocal arrangement? Is the business case not overwhelming, especially as no third parties are involved and the Solicitors Code of Conduct actually helps for once?
So, if the concept is a "no brainer", how are you going to develop formal/informal referral relationships? One easy solution is to join Solicitors Referrals, the national referral network between Solicitors. Annual membership starts at just £100 plus VAT and the first 25 subscriptions to SearchLite are completely FREE. What are you waiting for?
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