Rice: Good publicity
A family law solicitor will this week hold a 24-hour Q&A marathon, where members of the public can ask questions about legal issues and which will be live-streamed on Facebook and YouTube.
Ursula Rice said she thought the idea was “completely bonkers” but she was persuaded to do it by her marketing assistant son, Eden, and she intended to be present, with the help of a lot of coffee, for 18 of the 24 hours.
“I can’t believe he talked me into it. It’s mad, but he said it was good publicity because lawyers are so boring.”
Ms Rice, who runs Family First Solicitors in Oxford, said that among her guests would be a barrister, with whom she would be debating whether solicitors should be able to act for both parties in drawing up pre-nuptial agreements, a McKenzie Friend and a woman who runs a dating service.
Ms Rice said she and Eden had been planning the event for several months and it had come together in the last couple of weeks. The 60 Minute Clinic Marathon will begin on Friday at 8pm.
She said Family First’s weekly 60 Minute Clinic sessions, which usually took place at 8am on a Thursday, had a Facebook community of 4,100 followers.
Members of the public could direct message her or a colleague with their questions and they will be given a code name for when their message is read out on camera.
Viewers are warned that they are not getting legal advice and they need to avoid identifying themselves “because their ex could be listening”. Questions can be about anything to do with family law and have included international abduction and domestic abuse.
Ms Rice said: “We always say ‘this is worth what you paid for it’, in other words nothing, but it is our best guess and it helps an enormous number of people. It’s like a thinking Google and it’s better than AI.”
Most people viewed the sessions after the event, numbering “often in the hundreds” and including other lawyers and family mediators.
Ms Rice said the sessions were sometimes hosted by one of her colleagues. Family First employs two chartered legal executives, a graduate legal executive, a paralegal, trainee solicitor and trainee legal executive.
The solicitor, who spoke about unbundling at the Solicitors Regulation Authority compliance officer conference in 2023, said it made up about 20% of the firm’s work. Other work is charged on a bespoke fixed fee basis.
She expected viewers of the 60 Minute Clinic Marathon to peak on Friday evening and then on Saturday morning, with another spike in the afternoon.
She added that she thought Q&A sessions were “the best way for us to do pro bono”.
Instead of “killing ourselves on one case,” she said the firm could “help more people, more meaningfully by getting it out there on Facebook”.
The event will be broadcast live at facebook.com/familyfirstsolicitor and on the Family First Solicitors YouTube channel.