Marketing & PR
Do small law firms have a brand?
Brands are not just for big firms. Thayne Forbes argues that they can work for smaller practices as well, explaining how to create one, where the value lies, ensuring it appeals to your target market and the risks of adopting a marketing collective’s brand instead.
Law Society mulls levy on CQS firms to fund advertising campaign
The Law Society is to ask members of its Conveyancing Quality Scheme whether they would fund a dedicated advertising campaign, it has emerged. Chief executive Des Hudson raised the possibility at a meeting of the Conveyancing Association last week.
Firms sign up to professional referral network that “cuts out costly panel managers”
Forty-eight law firms have already signed up to a new business networking tool that helps solicitors capture referrals directly from other professional services and claims to cut out “costly panel managers”.
Liverpool firm launches “branded fightback” to ABSs with not-for-profit eLawyers scheme
A personal injury law firm has launched a co-operative group marketing scheme based on a TV advertising campaign potentially worth up to £2m. eLawyers aims to build regional panels of firms who will receive exclusive leads by area of legal specialism.
Ban on barristers expressing personal opinions on cases set to end
Barristers should soon be free to give their personal opinions on cases when the rule restricting them to voicing only clients’ views is finally lifted – four years after the change was first mooted. Their regulator said lifting the same ban on solicitors had not caused a problem.
Lawyers “need to unbundle services” to compete with online providers
Lawyers should offer ‘unbundled’ legal services to the public in order to improve access to the law – and also to compete with online document assembly services like Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom, the American Bar Association has said.
Solicitors’ firm sees red in trade mark dispute with licensed conveyancers over their name
A judge has found in favour of a law firm in a trade mark infringement case against a firm of licensed conveyancers over its use of the word ‘Red’ when applied to legal services. London intellectual property specialists Redd Solicitors claimed that Northamptonshire conveyancers Red Legal Limited had infringed their trade marks.
New marketing collective bids to move beyond PI as Accidents Direct plans big panel expansion
A new marketing collective that is targeting consumer and commercial legal work – Simply Lawyers – is preparing for launch, Legal Futures can reveal. Meanwhile, Accidents Direct hopes to become the country’s leading claims management company by bringing more firms onto its panel.
Cost of acquiring PI cases is £700 – and the referral fee ban will have no effect, says report
The cost of acquiring personal injury cases, irrespective of the referral fee ban, is around £700 – £200 more than the government is proposing for routine road traffic claims even before the legal work is factored in, according to new research.
Bank launches free online work matching service
A free online business supplier community that allows law firms and other providers to pitch for service requirements posted by other UK businesses has been launched by NatWest and RBS. BizCrowd aims to take online the bank manager’s role in connecting businesses.
Solicitors favour LinkedIn over Facebook and Twitter as social media use slowly grows
Fewer than half of solicitors in Scotland use the three main social media platforms for professional purposes, according to new research. The most popular social network tool was LinkedIn, with 24% of the solicitors polled using it on a daily or weekly basis.
New solicitor marketing network to spend £3m as Thompsons eyes trade union partnerships
A new national marketing network of solicitors specialising in personal injury claims will be launched in the New Year with funding to spend more than £3m a year on advertising as firms come to terms with the upcoming ban on referral fees. Meanwhile new ABS Thompsons hinted at possible alliances with trade unions.
In brief: latest ABS, Co-op wins contract, top firms “don’t want” external cash, SRA race probe
Our regular round-up of important news nuggets includes the newest SRA-licensed ABS, an advice contract for the Co-op, a survey of top firms on how they are changing, a probe of SRA files to identify any racial discrimination, heavy fine for spam texters and much more.
QS defends "premature" attack ads and reports mixed results from WH Smith stands
QualitySolicitors (QS) has admitted its campaign of attack ads on ‘faceless’ legal advice may have been premature, but defended it on the grounds that the network’s solicitors wanted the message publicised.
New franchise targets advertising in Costcutter to reach "lower" demographics
A new high street franchise that aims to market member law firms to “lower” demographics in thousands of branches of independent food retailers working under brands like Costcutter, Nisa and Premier Stores went live yesterday.
Blog
It’s time for law firms to ask tougher questions
For years, many law firms have treated ID verification as a box-ticking exercise. Run a liveness check, match a face to a document and move on. But that is no longer good enough.
Business fatigue to AI will risk job security
Whilst we know professional learning has always been part of career paths, to hire, retain and keep talent, AI needs to be embedded as a core part of this training.
On good authority? GenAI and the reputational risks to law firms
As GenAI’s influence grows, so do the risks which are already playing out in courtrooms across England and Wales, where some early adopters are setting precedents they would rather not.
