Law Times - Newsmakers

4 December 2014 Lawyers Mark Morris and Lena koke made big headlines this year when the profession discovered Walmart law was already here. The lawyers, who had been working hard to bring pharmacies and restaurants into Walmart stores, had finally decided putting their own law firm in several locations was a good idea as well. Their experience as retail lawyers had given them an edge in know- ing what customers who shopped at Walmart were looking for. With the firm's low prices for many services, fellow lawyers were watching its progress as well, especially given the plans for expansion. Koke said she could tell when lawyers were walking by just from the scowl on their faces when they saw the firm's prices, including a simple will for $99. Customers, however, have been more positive. "The cus- tomer reaction has been uniformly positive," says Morris. "People are thrilled that they can get legal services at hours that work for them and at prices that they can understand and afford. The industry response has been largely positive, though there have been a few detractors who have doubted the qual- ity of our product. Those concerns are usually set aside once they see that our process is not based on form generation but rather individualized attention and personalized legal service." When it comes to things like wills, the lawyers say the firm's focus is on relatively simple matters. "The vast majority of Canadians don't have complicated wills. In fact, if I have to say, 95 per cent of the Canadian population probably wants to leave [their assets] to their spouse and their children equally, and their assets are such that they don't necessitate secondary wills, they don't require alter ego trusts, they don't require complex planning," according to Morris. "For those people, we are able to provide what is a simple will that ultimately meets their objectives and puts wills in the hands of the 56 per cent of Canadians that don't currently have one. This is an access to justice issue as much as it is a business opportunity." Despite the affordable fees, critics have worried about the emergence of so-called big-box law. "My view is the moment we permit our profession to go into the Walmarts or the Best Buy stores or any of the big-box places, somehow it loses some of our professionalism," said Law Soci- ety of Upper Canada Bencher Gerald Swaye during a debate on alternative business structures earlier this year. (Axess Law, however, isn't an alternative business structure.) Other benchers, however, saw the development in a more positive light. "I think the fact that lawyers are offering services where consumers come to acquire other goods and services is not completely new, but there seems to be a clear recognition by some that consumers will look for legal services in different ways and that's a good thing," said Bencher Malcolm Mercer, chairman of the law society's alternative business structures working group. Morris and Koke, meanwhile, plan to continue expanding their business. "We have an ambitious expansion agenda," says Morris. "We plan to open seven new offices in the next nine months and many offices thereafter. We hope to cover Ontario in the next two years and will set up locations wherever there is demand." top newsmakers Walmart law takes root in Ontario Firm's low prices has lawyers chattering, scowling By James Kang Mark Morris and Lena Koke made their mark with their low prices at their firm's Walmart locations. Essential Tools for Family Law Professionals For more information, visit www.divorcemate.com 1.800.653.0925 x407 | sales@divorcemate.com NOW AVAILABLE! ADD FREEDOM & FLEXIBILITY TO YOUR PRACTICE DM Tools Cloud Work anywhere, anytime, on any device. For child and spousal support calculations. Available for PC, Mac, tablets and smartphones. ntitled-3 1 2014-11-19 11:26 AM

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