July 2, 2014
Mirabella Stammers, Legally Yours
Bio The path that led her to this point
After working for seven years as a corporate lawyer in both Melbourne and London, I knew something had to change, not only for me but for the industry. I had seen problems in the industry for a long time.
When most people think of lawyers they think "expensive", "hourly rates" and "scary". Price uncertainty was certainly the biggest issue expressed by clients during my time in the law. Clients wanted value-based billing. They wanted to pay for outcomes, not hours worked.
Another problem with the legal industry is the inability for people to work flexibly within the law. If you can't work 60+ hours a week or you have another priority in your life, you're out of the game.
That has meant that many talented women have ended up leaving the law when they have children because the industry hasn't yet learnt to be flexible. Some of the brightest and most successful women I know couldn't get a job once they needed part-time hours. It all seemed a bit backwards.
I wanted to fix these problems. It didn't make sense to stick with old models that no longer worked.
So, from this kind of thinking came Legally Yours, an online referral company that provides fixed-fee legal services for everyone from mums and dads to big business. We have 53 lawyers in our network across VIC, NSW and QLD, and we're growing every day.
It's completely free to use the service and all of the quotes are fixed-fee in nature so you never have to worry about hourly bills again. So that was the first problem fixed.
In fact, the fact that many lawyers who want to work flexibly don't necessarily have big fancy offices works for us, because the cost savings can be passed onto the clients.
Ultimately I believe that the quality and success of one's life is made up of the decisions that we make every day about how we spend our time. This step is how I've decided to spend mine, in the hope that it brings the ability for others around Australia to make better, more informed decisions, on how they spend theirs, and ultimately improve the quality of their lives.
Q&A Insider advice & tips
What's been your greatest achievement to date?
Having the belief in myself that I could create Legally Yours from scratch, and then achieving that goal.
What's been your biggest challenge so far?
Funding. And getting lawyers to understand that if they have an hourly rate of $500 but have no hours billed it's a bit pointless. They're better off charging for an outcome, not an hour.
Best lesson you've learned along the way?
Have a co-founder! It's hard work trying to do it all yourself.
A website, book or resource that has helped you in your business or inspired you and why?
Google Analytics.
Which person or brand do you most admire and why?
Google because they are constantly assessing the market and changing their methods to always be ahead of the game.
What advice would you give someone starting an independent business in your industry?
Research the industry thoroughly and then do your market research. Have a clear plan as to how to market your product and make things easy for people, and where possible, free.
Finish this sentence
Everything changed for me when…
I decided to follow my gut.
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