THE EXPERIENCE
What is the new legal experience?
The new legal experience is having access, from the very beginning of your matter, to the knowledge and skills gained by Martin and Grant during more than 47 years practice as barristers, and 4 years as a solicitor.
Barristers are specialist advocates who generally appear in the higher courts, prepare (or finalise) court documents, and who provide written opinions on the law, the procedures of the courts, and on the evidence necessary to be obtained for a court matter. They have skills, honed over the years, of examining and cross-examining witnesses in court.
Traditionally, clients start by going to a solicitor. The solicitor then "briefs" a barrister from time to time to perform various tasks on the matter. The solicitor is "tapping into" the barrister's skills referred to in the above paragraph.
However, whenever a solicitor briefs a barrister, there is an inevitable "overlap" of work, for which the client pays--the solicitor has to prepare a "brief" for the barrister; the solicitor usually discusses the matter with the barrister; the solicitor attends meetings with the barrister and the client; the barrister has to get "up to speed" on the matter (something the solicitor doesn't have to do because he or she has been involved in the matter from the beginning); the solicitor has to read and understand the written advices given by the barrister, then spend the time explaining these to the client.
It is much more efficient and cost effective, wherever possible, to have just one lawyer act for you from beginning to end. This is what Walt Allan provides.
We discuss the matter with you. We take the time to learn your business structure and how it operates. We know how to prepare and finalise the court documents. We know how to gather the necessary evidence; what evidence is admissible in the court and how to present that evidence to the court. And this is the same person who appears for you in court.
If you like, take the analogy of the trial lawyers you see on American television shows, who handle the matter from beginning to end.
This is the new legal experience we offer you.
Why not remain as barristers to provide this service?
We want to be with you from beginning to end to achieve the best outcome possible for you with the least possible duplication of work.
We can only do that by changing our registration from barristers to solicitors. The odd thing is that, as a solicitor, we can continue to provide all of the services that we used to provide as barristers. So it is a win-win for both of us.