Are you Legal or HR?

This is a question I get asked a lot

I have been approached directly recently by a number of companies offering me a full HR and Legal Advice package for Consilia Legal.

Whilst some of the Companies on the face of it offer advice in the legal sector from fully qualified solicitors, my experience of dealing with them (on the other side of matters) is that the advice and file management is being provided by a paralegal who is supervised by a fully qualified solicitor. Other companies I have dealt with are not qualified lawyers at all. This got me to thinking about the differences in offerings and also about “advertising puff”.

A number of HR consultants in the past have sold services to my clients as a one stop shop and described themselves as legal advisors. Similarly, a number of law firms advertise services in my sector as legal and HR advisers.

In both cases, neither the HR advisor is qualified legally nor is the legal advisor an experienced or qualified HR professional.

So why and when did this mixing of professions begin? That is a question I can’t answer but it does seem to be the case that employment lawyers and HR professionals are often put together in one category which can be confusing and/or misleading to the consumer.

My personal view is that companies and individuals should specialise in their field and that HR advisors and Legal firms can work together well providing services in their areas of expertise without professing to be in a position to carry out each other’s roles.

In my 19 years of qualification I have never chaired a disciplinary hearing, and neither would I want to do that. I am not a strategic HR professional and I have no CIPD qualifications. Ive worked with a lot of HR professionals and also sat on the CIPD North Yorkshire committee for many years. I have infinite respect for HR professionals and I see that role as entirely different in skill set to my own.

I studied law, as did the rest of my team. We love the law and that is what we do.

We do provide specialist legal expertise to HR professionals when assisting them with their own client matters. We do not seek to step on their toes and attempt to advise on recruitment polices by way of example.

In addition, I am not a Health and Safety Consultant.

We also do not provide generic pick your own templates for our clients. Whilst there is a place for standardised documents in some circumstances, legal disputes are not one of them in my opinion.

When people ask me why I don’t offer a full package on a fixed fee basis I tell them that we work with a number of amazing people qualified in their respective fields and have no desire to become effectively a hybrid (potentially lower standard) offering.

Neither do I want to tie in clients to lengthy contracts of 3 or 5 years after basically checking their handbooks and contractual documentation and frightening them about their chances of having to defend an Employment Tribunal claim. Many of my clients have been with me for years and my experience is that 30 minutes of advice in most circumstances can see off a claim. In most cases there is no need for lengthy expensive retainers.

Our business is the law, we are a law firm and not offering a bulk one size fits all service but rather a bespoke service based on our relationships with the clients. Some clients like a monthly retainer for legal services others like a pay as you go or bank of hours term. In all offerings the key to high level of service is the client relationship.

I would love to know your thoughts and experiences in this area whether you are a HR professional, lawyer or have experience of different types of services.