“Money spent towards advancing technology translates into keeping customers” – Jennie Tran, Jem Lawyers – the 5,000th practitioner firm to sign up to PEXA’s digital platform
It’s a sign of the times when a law partner stares down the barrel of her industry’s tech-led disruption and, rather than fearing technology, seizes its benefits.
Jennie Tran, who recently founded boutique Melbourne-based Jem Lawyers, is the 5,000th practitioner to sign up to PEXA’s digital platform just weeks before caveats must be lodged online in Victoria. She knows better than most that ‘if you’re not registered and ready to transact on PEXA by December 1, you won’t be able to lodge a caveat’.
“Before long we’ll be signing contracts electronically instead of using the old paper format. Money spent towards advancing technology translates into keeping customers,” she said. “Customers want to see that lawyers are at the forefront of tech-led change.” And if lawyers don’t use the same gadgets and platforms as their customers? “My experience is that customers are not shy of saying ‘see you later – I’ll find another firm’,” she adds.
“Gone are the 9am to 5pm hours of operation that once defined working in legal practice. The public want better service and better rates – twinned with that is putting your technology know-how on display as another point of difference. As a profession, if we don’t progress we become irrelevant.”
Jennie’s honed her legal acumen with commercial and litigation work. However, as she explains: “Property is the daily ‘bread and butter’ that keeps work flowing into the business. I need to keep it going. I’m thrilled to have recently won some developer clients including a project that comprises 100 subdivisions in Keilor Downs. My plan is to build up the property practice by embracing productivity innovations such as PEXA. I can better plan my office resources that way and keep costs under control.
“Even better my staff love the change we’re facing into. I’m doing a lot of cloud based work and the new office has internet-based phones. Technology has cut my overheads so that I can focus on my service delivery business. If we keep this mindset up, customers will follow us no matter what change besets our industry.
“A big reason for signing up to PEXA was thanks to the encouragement from Steve Shelley at Boothby and Boothby Lawyers. He reached out to me as the lawyer acting for the other side in an upcoming settlement. Why wouldn’t I join PEXA with that sort of encouragement from another law firm? I’m excited to be part of a network that reaches out and helps each other to succeed.”