No news is good news: how Ratcliffe & Bibby made verification something nobody chases
Published
Ratcliffe & Bibby is a full-service firm with three offices across Carnforth and Morecambe. We spoke to Practice Manager Alistair Higham about getting one verification process to stick across every department, and why it's now one of the few things he doesn't have to think about.
What does working with Thirdfort & Actionstep deliver for the firm?
Identity document verification (IDV) that sits inside every case, so fee earners open a file, click once and the check is away.
A rollout that started with The Property team and spread to the rest of the firm, at the pace each team was ready for.
Client verification completed remotely in the app, with no calls back to the office asking what to do.
The only constant is change
Alistair has been a practice manager for 26 years. He has watched the filing cabinets empty, the networks go in and the anti-money laundering (AML) rules move underneath the firm more than once.
"For law firms, everything changes every five years."
Alistair Higham, Practice Manager, Ratcliffe & Bibby
Except one. Knowing your client still means what it always meant, in the regulatory sense and the customer service sense. Client experience depend on the people and technology they interact with, and that's where Alistair focuses his energy.
"Throughout the inevitable changes, my job is looking after the staff. They're the ones looking after the clients."
Alistair Higham, Practice Manager, Ratcliffe & Bibby
That belief shapes how Alistair judges any new piece of technology.
"We aim to empower the staff in what they do. That doesn't include tying them up in superfluous, ineffective admin that annoys them. Use the technology that's available."
Alistair Higham, Practice Manager, Ratcliffe & Bibby
The compliance work around it keeps growing. AML policies get updated every year, and beyond that firms have external audits, data collection for regulators and internal file reviews to keep on top of.
And then there is the work of preventing fraud and meeting those obligations. Verifying identity, verifying bank details, source of funds, source of wealth. All of it lands on the same teams, and they're already short on time.
Certified copies and a photocopier
Before Ratcliffe & Bibby digitised, verification meant getting the client into the office, in person.
"We used to ask clients to come into the office. We'd photocopy the ID, then certify it with a stamp and sign it. We'd have to do that with ID and with bank details."
Alistair Higham, Practice Manager, Ratcliffe & Bibby
It worked, in the sense that the task was done. But it told the firm less than it looked like it did.
"You don't know whether it's a forged passport. You don't know whether they're a politically exposed person. You'd have to scan the internet to find that kind of thing out."
Alistair Higham, Practice Manager, Ratcliffe & Bibby
It also delayed the process. Property transactions are slow enough without waiting on a diary to line up before anything else can begin.
The firm's first move to a digital provider solved the diary problem and created a new one. Clients couldn't work out what to do, so they rang the office instead. For a firm that runs almost entirely on word of mouth in its part of Lancashire, first impressions carry a lot of weight. Property clients in particular tend to arrive on a quote with no relationship to fall back on, and the identity check is their very first experience of the firm. Ratcliffe & Bibby moved to Thirdfort after six months.
Start where the regulator is looking
With staff and teams across multiple offices, Ratcliffe & Bibby didn't switch the whole firm on at once. Alistair started where the requirement was clearest.
"That's where we started, because of the requirements of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). We just wanted it to work well, and to make sure the Property team were happy."
Alistair Higham, Practice Manager, Ratcliffe & Bibby
Property proved it. Private Client came next, where the product brought new benefits.
"Once that was working, we brought it into Private Client work. We realised it had other benefits for them that weren't as relevant for Conveyancing. The team found it very useful for identifying beneficiaries as an example."
Alistair Higham, Practice Manager, Ratcliffe & Bibby
By the time the Family Law team was ready to start using it, two teams had already shown what it looked like in practice.
"We also work in Family Law, and since the other teams were happy with Thirdfort, it was easy to bring everyone on. One process across the whole firm is simpler for everyone."
Alistair Higham, Practice Manager, Ratcliffe & Bibby
For a full-service firm, that sequencing matters more than it sounds. Every department has different priorities and requirements when it comes to verification, and going in with a firm-wide mandate on day one asks all of them to trust a process none of them have seen. Letting one team run it properly first gives the next team a colleague to ask rather than a policy to comply with.
Failing to plan is planning to fail
The other half of Alistair's approach has nothing to do with software.
"You keep people informed with what's going to happen, how the changes are going to affect them and how it's going to improve their day. And when you're planning something, you bring them into the planning."
Alistair Higham, Practice Manager, Ratcliffe & Bibby
The point, he says, is to ask while there is still something to decide. By the time a change arrives, the team has already helped shape it. Nobody gets handed something they had no say in.
It's a low-tech technique for a technical rollout, and it's the reason a firm spread across three locations ended up with one process rather than three.
Open the file, click the tab, off it goes
Ratcliffe & Bibby use Thirdfort from inside Actionstep, the firm's practice management platform for case and matter handling. There is no second system to log into, no copying details across, no separate record to reconcile afterwards. The check sits on the matter alongside the risk assessment and the compliance tab, and the result comes back to the same place.
"It's easy. You open up your file, you make your selections and initiate the Thirdfort verification from within Actionstep. You don't have to do duplicate work or manage multiple systems."
Alistair Higham, Practice Manager, Ratcliffe & Bibby
On the client side it is just as efficient. An explanation followed by a text message with a link to a clear app journey.
"You explain to your client what you need to do, why you need to do it and how it's going to happen. You'll get a text message, follow the link, read the instructions on your screen, do what it asks. Clients move on with their identity verification promptly on the app. It doesn't take long at all, and then you're ready to go with the rest of the transaction."
Alistair Higham, Practice Manager, Ratcliffe & Bibby
All of it done in the app, with screening and document verification handled remotely rather than a stamp on a photocopy.
The quietest kind of success
Ask Alistair for feedback from his teams and there isn't much to report, which turns out to be the point.
"I haven't heard anything for a while, because it just works for our teams and clients."
Alistair Higham, Practice Manager, Ratcliffe & Bibby
The calls from clients asking what to do next stopped. Plenty still reaches the practice manager's desk on any given day. Verification just isn't usually part of it.
"It works and our team is happy. That's all I need a piece of technology to do."
Alistair Higham, Practice Manager, Ratcliffe & Bibby
One process, three offices, every department. Ratcliffe & Bibby got there by proving it with one team at a time, keeping the people who use it in the conversation and putting the technology where the work already happens.
Whether it's one team or all of them, we're ready when you are.
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