Marketing & PR
News round-up: firm overturns £100k wasted costs order, record number of law firms, and much more
Our latest round-up of news includes Fisher Meredith winning an appeal against a big wasted costs order, SRA figures on the number of firms and solicitors, the first law firm to ‘pin’ on growing social media service Pinterest, fee income up at the largest law firms, and more.
QualitySolicitors set to kick off £15m ad campaign ahead of May TV blitz
QualitySolicitors will this month launch the largest advertising campaign in the history of the legal profession ahead of a blitz that will see 8,000 adverts hit TV screens throughout May. The first of the new-look ads will be shown on Sunday 25 March, during the final of Dancing on Ice.
Lawyers2you targets London as fuss over A-board highlights advertising sensitivity
Lawyers2you is to become the first legal network to take on London when it launches its first franchise in the east of the city shortly, Legal Futures can reveal. The news comes after it faced criticism in the press for an A-board it used in central Birmingham.
Firms "getting SEO wrong" by focusing too much on generic phrases
Lawyers are focusing their search engine optimisation (SEO) tactics on the wrong keywords and can convert more work by targeting so-called ‘long tail’ keyword searches, digital marketing experts have claimed.
Law firms “ignoring leads” that come through comparison websites, major report finds
Law firms are overwhelmingly failing to follow up referrals for basic legal work from comparison websites, in what is described today as a “massive own goal by the profession”. In a mystery shopping exercise, eight out of ten online referral requests for a simple will were ignored.
Lawyers told: don’t be put off social media by barrister fined over tweets
Lawyers were this week told not to be discouraged from embracing social media after a barrister who was among the legal pioneers on Twitter was fined for messages he posted on the service. However, the case does raise questions over the role of regulators in policing lawyers’ activity on Twitter.
New websites aid solicitors seeking barristers, and consumers seeking solicitors they can trust
A new service has been launched that allows solicitors to contact numerous sets of barristers chambers simultaneously to check what counsel are available for a case they are looking to cover. Meanwhile, another online service aimed at helping consumers find tradesmen is now targeting the legal market.
Lawyers embracing LinkedIn, says research as Law Society issues first social media guidance
Almost half of partners and staff at the typical top 50 law firm are now on LinkedIn, nearly double the number in 2010, new research has found. It comes as the Law Society publishes the first formal guidance to solicitors on the use of social media.
Legal comparison websites struggling to reconcile fixed fees with “reality of law”
The challenge for legal price comparison sites is to reconcile the public’s desire for an instant quote and fixed fees “with the reality that many areas of law are complex, lengthy, unpredictable, and, as such, cannot be achieved on a fixed-fee basis”, a Law Society report has concluded.
Mid-sized firms need to be bigger and would accept external cash, says survey
A large majority of partners at mid-sized law firms believe their practices need to grow by at least a third over the next three to five years to remain competitive, with many open to the idea of external investment, a recent survey has shown.
Ofcom raps ITV for allowing star to promote QualitySolicitors live on air
Ofcom has found ITV in breach of its code for allowing TV personality Amanda Holden to promote QualitySolicitors on the day she launched its tie-up with WH Smith. The network broke the rules on promoting services and on giving them undue prominence in programming.
Law Society recognises Legal365 for helping firm be “ready to compete”
The law firm behind Legal365 – the online legal service that is set to expand into a chain of city-centre high street shops – last night received the Law Society award for excellence in innovation. Last Cawthra Feather was recognised for a service that is “ready to compete in the new emerging legal services market”.
RJW unveils plan to extend Claims Direct brand beyond personal injury
National law firm Russell Jones & Walker is planning to extend its personal injury brand Claims Direct into other areas of law, the firm has revealed. It is looking at areas such as employment and family law, wills and possibly conveyancing.
Big brands will have “huge advantage” because they know their customers
Big brand entrants to the legal market will have a “huge advantage” because of their vast client databases, the Chief Legal Ombudsman has warned. Adam Sampson said new entrants have an acute awareness how to utilise their existing clientele.
Firms using social media to broadcast rather than converse, survey finds
Bigger law firms are embracing social media but then failing to engage in two-way communications through it, new research has found. The survey found that nearly half of the firms prohibited staff from accessing social networks from work, even though clients were keen to interact that way.
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.
