How Mark Morris and Lena Koke are reinventing the legal profession
Canadian Business
by Rebecca Harris
April 23, 2018
Someone told us very early on, ‘You’re starting with a coarse block of wood, and you have to continually sand, and you will never stop sanding. You can always get better, you can always refine more, you can always make it a better process. …
Mavericks and Movers: Five innovators who've shaken their industries with words — and deeds
Financial Post
by Cody Battershill
April 5, 2018
It’s a model that turns traditional legal services on its head. Instead of luring clients with lofty claims about professional standards, Axess goes directly to their customers with reliable service at a competitive price. …
Combining retail and law to deliver “Axess-able” legal services
Building New Law Podcast
by Peter Aprile and Natalie Worsfold
November 6, 2017
How Lena Koke’s and Mark Morris’s retail law firm model might change everything.
2016 Profit Magazine Top 50 Startup Award for Canada’s Top New Growth Companies
PROFITguide.com
by PROFIT Staff
December 2016
2016 Rising Stars Award Winners
Lexpert® Rising Stars
2016
Mark Morris aims to be a workflow pioneer. Through Axess Law, he has been instrumental in building processes that allow for the daily delivery of commoditized legal services, enabling many thousands of files to be transacted on a monthly basis.…
All About Alumni: Milestones
University of Toronto Magazine
Autumn 2016
…Axess co-founder and president Lena Koke (JD/MBA 2008) was recently named a Rising Star to Watch in the PROFIT/Chatelaine W100 ranking of Canada's top female entrepreneurs.…
W100 Rising Stars: 5 Women to Watch
PROFITguide.com
by PROFIT Staff
May 16, 2016
…Sign of success: Sales increased 634% over the past two years. Smart move: There’s no mystery at Axess storefronts, which Koke believes has been instrumental in winning clients who otherwise avoid law firms.…
Fresh ideas flourish north of border
FT North American Lawyers 2015
by Financial Times
December 8, 2015
…Canadians have been receptive to the no-frills model. In the two-and-a-half years since it started, Axess says it has grown to 40 full-time employees across 10 locations. It is planning to expand from its base in the Toronto area across Canada, including Ottawa, the nation’s capital, in 2016.…
Why your next lawyer may be working at Walmart
Financial Post
by Drew Hasselback
December 2, 2015
…The two-year-old discount law firm is now operating out of 10 locations in Walmart stores across the Greater Toronto Area. Early next year the firm plans to expand to Ottawa. It could be operating in as many as 18 Walmart locations by the end of 2016. If things work out, it may even expand nationally.…
Lawyer weighs in on extra monoline fees
Mortgagebrokernews.ca
by Justin da Rosa
August 21, 2015
…“As a lawyer in Toronto I can confirm that many law firms charge additional amounts for monoline mortgages,” Mark Morris of Axess Law wrote on MortgageBrokerNews.ca, noting that he does not charge extra fees for those files.
Morris says he has worked with monolines for over 15 years and those files have gotten easier with experience.…
Put technology to work for you
National Magazine
by Julie Sobowale
Spring 2015
…Client intake forms range from traditional paper for walk-in clients to PDF forms for website visitors. At Axess Law, which has set up shop in various Wal-Mart locations in Ontario, lawyers and clerks fill out intake forms which are stored in the cloud.
Generating documents without a lawyer, just clerks or customer service representatives, is not the same experience or it’s insufficient,” says co-founder Mark Morris, co-founder of Axess Law.
The value is interacting with lawyers.…
What's next? - Bringing law to the people
Canadian Lawyer Magazine
by Gail J. Cohen
Monday, May 4, 2015
…90 per cent identified the perceived cost of service as the prime motivator for representing themselves. Axess Law is a law firm designed around the principle that lawyers are best suited to fill this existing service deficiency by operating in new legal service environments, most notably, at Wal-Mart locations with high foot traffic.”…
Inside the rapid growth of Axess Law
Precedent Magazine
by Daniel Fish
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
…After two years of part-time planning, they launched the first location of Axess Law. Then, the real work began. “Lena and I worked seven days a week for 18 hours a day,” recalls Morris, now 39. “I never thought that I would work as hard as I did when I was in politics. I literally slept in my office there. I vowed I would never have to do that again. But I did.” Morris had two young kids at home, now ages two and five, and he admits his wife “has had to make sacrifices in order for this business to succeed. There’s no doubt.”…
Walmart law shops plan major expansion
The Global Legal Post
by Neasa MacErlean
Monday, November 24, 2014
…Visible through its bright orange colouring scheme, Axess Law appears to have found a large consumer base for its Can$99 wills and other products since it opened in Toronto a year ago. Co-founder Mark Morris said: 'It’s only a matter of time before you see our bright orange in Alberta and B.C.'…
Capitalize: "Law-Mart" undercutting the law industry
Business News Network
by Paul Bagnell
Friday, November 21, 2014
Law-Mart: Pick up a will with your TV at Wal-Mart
by Jeff Gray - Law Reporter
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
…Recently launched Axess Law has put itself among the most aggressive of a new breed of low-cost law firms by installing a bright-orange branded retail presence inside Toronto Wal-Marts over the past year, offering wills for just $99 and real-estate deals for $1,288, tax and other expenses included. The service is the first of its kind in Canada.
The law firm says the move has been so successful it is expanding the service to seven more Toronto-area Wal-Marts over the next six months, with a plan to move into Wal-Mart Canada Corp. outlets across the country. The next location, at Toronto’s west-end Dufferin Mall, is due to open in weeks.…
The Top 25 Most Influential 2014 - Changemakers
Canadian Lawyer Magazine
by Gail J. Cohen
Monday, August 4, 2014
…Morris and Koke are the Top 25’s first ever co-recipients for a reason. Koke and Morris co-founded Axess Law, the first practice in North America to open an office in a big box store. Their offices, which are available in several Wal-Mart locations in the Toronto area, focus on providing convenient law services to the average person…
In-store Legal Services
The Lang & O’Leary Exchange
by Danielle Bochove
Friday, August 1, 2014
Would you like a will with your beans? Supermarket law becomes a reality
Legal Futures
Latest News
by Neil Rose
Thursday, April 24, 2014
…The prospect of law firms opening offices in supermarkets has become a reality in Canada, with a practice opening three within stores of retail giant Walmart amid plans to take the concept ‘coast to coast’.
Axess Law, which started off in 2012 in a ‘regular’ office in downtown Toronto, claims to be the first practice in North America to take this approach.…
Big Box Lawyers
News Hour Toronto
by Carey Marsden
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Get Your Will At Walmart
Larry Fedoruk Show
by Larry Fedoruk
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Jerry Speaks with Mark Morris, Axess Law Partner
Jerry Agar Show
by Jerry Agar
Tueday, April 22, 2014
Walmart shoppers can now get $99 wills
The Toronto Star
Business, Personal Finance
by Francine Kopun, Business reporter
Monday, April 21, 2014
Behind the plastic jugs of liquid Tide stacked near the entrance of a new Walmart in Markham is an innovation in discount retailing: Axess Law.
Founded by Toronto lawyers Lena Koke and Mark Morris, Axess Law provides fast and affordable legal services to time-pressed shoppers. Simple wills are $99. Notarized documents are $25, plus $19 for each additional document.
The Axess office in the Walmart on Copper Creek Dr. in Markham is a slim 600 square feet, branded in orange (think ING, Joe Fresh) and is open seven days a week until 8 p.m. It opened in January…
