Brooke: traditional law firm approach has a limited future
Sheffield law firm SSB Law has left the QualitySolicitors network to focus on its own brand instead at a time when it says “the traditional law firm approach has a limited future”.
Partner Jeremy Brooke said SSB joined the network in 2013 because “we believed that there was a basis for a national brand that offered a different approach and a consistent level of service to customers”.
But he continued: “Having worked with QualitySolicitors for the past three years, however, we have found an increasing conflict between our own brand and the QS brand and we have now reached the point where we believe it is better to part company and continue to develop our own unique offering.”
A QS spokesman said: “Over the last six months, QualitySolicitors has been in consultation with its membership to set out and agree the future direction of the network. We are very excited about where the network is going, with new initiatives already launched and bringing benefit, and many more to come, all put in place to deliver more value to the firms we work with.
“Of course with such a large and diverse group of legal firms, not all change will suit every individual business, and we can confirm that SSB Law has left the QualitySolicitors network by mutual agreement. We wish them all the very best for the future with their own strategy.”
Some longstanding QS members West Midlands firm Talbots [1] and Norfolk firm Clapham & Collinge [2] – left last year citing a desire to move away from a national brand.
Earlier this year QS announced a greater focus on lead conversion [3], along with a change in leadership to drive it. QS said it has been focusing on web marketing, and its central website and those of its member law firms recorded nearly 1.3m unique visitors in 2015, generating more than 38,000 leads and enquiries for the network.
SSB Law specialises in wills and probate, family law, personal injury and employment law, and last week launched a new arm, SSB Compliance, offering a support service to other law firms. In addition, another division, SSB Financial, provides financial services to clients.
Mr Brooke said SSB would continue to work with Rocket Lawyer, the online legal document and advice provider. “We have built up a strong relationship with the Rocket Lawyer brand, which drives costs down – a saving we pass on to our customers.
“The traditional law firm approach has a limited future, which is why SSB is focusing its attentions on challenging the outdated and expensive provision of legal services in ways that are encouraged by the Legal Services Board.
“We have adopted the strapline ‘straightforward legal advice that doesn’t cost the earth’ and we test all of our development work against that.”