Exclusive: QS launches R&D division, with new campaign and strategy imminent

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Holt: securing a competitive advantage

QualitySolicitors is set to unveil a “new approach to delivering legal services”, Legal Futures can reveal.

It comes as the company’s deal with WH Smith winds down and a new chief executive has taken the reins, with founder Craig Holt becoming president to focus on research and development (R&D).

The new strategy and advertising campaign will also see the long-awaited launch of QS’s partnership with US online legal services business LegalZoom.

The changes, to be unveiled later in the year, aim to provide a “significant new approach to delivering legal services to consumers and SMEs”, said Mr Holt, but the detail is currently a closely-guarded secret.

The changes are the product of QS’s recently established R&D department, led by Mr Holt, which has a wide-ranging remit of “the improvement of and innovation in legal services”.

“In a market where change is the central theme, at all levels and across all law-types, innovation and proposition development should be at the heart of any legal business. Investing in research and development in this way is vital to securing a competitive advantage and providing desirable services to consumers and SMEs,” he explained.

The QS presence in WHSmith attracted a great deal of comment at the time of launch, with stories abounding of unstaffed stands; anecdotally they are said to have worked better for some firms than others.

Mr Holt said: “We learnt a lot from the WHSmith project, which has informed the work of our R&D department. We feel the time is now right to place our focus on this and our online delivery models such as the LegalZoom partnership.”

The new chief executive is Ian Wheeler, who comes from a background of leadership roles in the technology, publishing and travel sectors.

Mr Holt said: “His recruitment was an agreed strategy to enable me to have the time to concentrate on the R&D function and also to bring added experience and expertise to the QS leadership as we continue our growth plans. We are strengthened by his appointment and, working together, he and I are focused on this next phase in QS’s growth.”