Spotlight On…. Mark Hartigan
Mark Hartigan works as a Costs, Funding and Insurance Consultant at Kain Knight, having fallen into a career in costs back in 2006 after a successful 20-year career in the IT sector. In 2017 Mark joined forces with Nick McDonnell and help set up and build the Kain Knight office in Manchester which is now a 20 plus person team providing costs services and advice to law firms all over the North of England, and the rest of the UK.
Mark is a well-known face at industry events and conferences in the personal injury and clinical negligence sector. He advises clients all over the country on issues affecting their businesses, not just costs issues but also litigation funding, practice funding, case acquisition, and ATE.
Mark says “During covid many firms took out very cheap bounce back loans from the government to help get them through the pandemic. The pandemic forced firms to examine their businesses and really focus of what worked and what didn’t. Many law firms came out of the pandemic in really good shape having reduced overheads (especially office sizes) and optimised their IT to allow flexible working. These two things have immediately reduced overheads and improved productivity. Several firms I work with literally saved 6 figures per annum by reducing or re negotiating office leases – straight off the bottom line!!
These firms are now looking to expand and grow. To do that clients need funding and that’s where I can utilise my network of suppliers to give clients “a steer” as to who to work with. Litigation funding has had a bad press over the last 18 months with funders and law firms falling over. However, this market is mature with some good funders looking to support well run law firms at sensible rates.
In addition, firms are learning to leverage the supply chain to help with the costs of running cases, whether this be medical agencies (a mature but widely differing offering), or more recently Ate providers have offered welcome help with disbursement funding. This is a groundbreaking development and one that firms should embrace. If your Ate provider is not offering your firm funding – then change provider! As one managing partner of a clinical negligence firm told me: “it’s a no brainer!”
There are several challenges facing law firms in the clinical negligence sector and the uncertainty of fixed costs hangs like a dark cloud over the firms doing the work. Mark adds “The clinical negligence firms that I see who are doing well are embracing the following:
- Securing good sources of work, ideally by investing in their own routes to market via company branded web sites and on line marketing campaigns – making sure that when enquiries come in that someone appropriate answers the call (quickly) and converts. It may take time to build up the firm’s brand but once done, new work will come in at a fraction of the cost of conventional routes
- Seeking interim costs payment with interim damages payment – why would you not? Some of these cases run for years – why would you not ask the defendant insurer to pay for the running of the case. Firms don’t seem to do this and if they do, its piecemeal – if it becomes part of the firm’s culture then it can be truly game changing
- There is still room in the market for firms to own your geography (particularly the smaller firms) via web sites, PR, and local media. If you own the area your office(s) is based in you will benefit from a reduction in the cost of cases and improvement in client care
I think we will see further collaboration in the PI and CN sector from both law firms and also the supply chain – I believe there is room for the medium and smaller firm to survive and thrive if they can own their work channel and utilise the supply chain to help support the costs of running these expensive cases. I believe that there is way more pressure on the really big firms to keep growing their presence, market share and profitability!!
My work is all about meeting law firms up and down the country to understand how they operate – what are they doing right and how could they improve. Business is all about solving problems – sometimes in a law firm, you don’t even know you have a problem, and then when you do you cannot see the wood for the trees, never mind come up with a solution. My work at Kain Knight allows me to work closely with some of the leading firms and share best practice, solve problems and help firms grow. I get tremendous satisfaction from seeing my clients achieve their goals. If my clients are doing well and growing, then so will Kain Knight!”
