Lawyers, such as personal injury lawyers, often still receive new cases through word-of-mouth referrals. They also try to generate new cases by placing advertisements in local newspapers and magazines. However, this approach is outdated and no longer effective, yet many lawyers still advertise this way.
Especially in the Netherlands, personal injury lawyers struggle to get new personal injury cases. The number of victims, such as those with whiplash complaints, has decreased for lawyers. As a result, the number of personal injury lawyers in the Netherlands has sharply declined over the past 10 years, and we are seeing more personal injury agencies entering the market.
Filing a Legal Procedure
It’s bizarre, but true. Up until two to three years ago, communication with Dutch courts was still done via fax. Documents sent to the court, requests to the court, and letters were still sent by personal injury lawyers and other attorneys by fax or post. If someone had been hit by a car (Dutch: aangereden door auto) and the judge had to get involved, the summons would be sent by post.
However, since recently, it has become possible for lawyers to communicate with the court via email, using a secure environment. But it has only been in recent years that the fax was definitively retired. For many industries, this is unimaginable, but for lawyers in the Netherlands, it was a common practice until recently.
The courts and tribunals in the Netherlands have also tried to automate the entire litigation process. Hundreds of millions of euros were invested in a system that would make digital litigation possible. Unfortunately, it never came to fruition, and the current solution is secure emailing with the courts.
IT in the Legal Profession
In the legal profession in general, and among personal injury lawyers in the Netherlands, the situation with IT is not much better. This is a big problem and one of the reasons why the legal sector in the Netherlands, particularly in personal injury, is not doing well.
Most personal injury lawyers in the Netherlands have now transitioned to digitally maintaining client records, but there is still much room for improvement. For example, personal injury lawyers in the Netherlands rarely use the many possibilities offered by online programs. And many lawyers are still unfamiliar with SEO and SEA.
SEO and SEA for Personal Injury Lawyers
In many industries, advertising on Google is commonplace. Many companies have extensive SEA campaigns. However, in the Netherlands, this happens very little in the legal profession, particularly among personal injury lawyers. It is primarily personal injury agencies that engage in this. This applies to both SEA campaigns and SEO. Personal injury lawyers in the Netherlands hardly focus on this at all. Only a few law firms are involved in this method of client acquisition.
There is still a lot of progress to be made in the legal profession. Will they catch up, or will they ultimately lose to the personal injury agencies? It will be an exciting period for all parties involved.