Marketing & PR

Lawyers who attract a sufficient number of positive client reviews are able to charge higher fees, the head of an online lawyer-matching service has claimed. He also said that having a single “odd-ball review” among a dozen good reviews could increase a lawyer’s standing.

A criminal law firm has hit back at a Sunday tabloid newspaper story that quoted a senior policewoman who condemned as “idiotic” its Facebook posts identifying unmarked police cars. The firm told readers that while other firms “will promise you the earth… we’re more practical”.

National direct access chambers Clerksroom is to offer clients pay-as-you-go video conferences with barristers by the end of this year, it has emerged. Clerksroom has also won a place in the final of Disruptive Tech TV’s sales pitch competition – recruiting one of the judges as a client in the process.

The Society of Will Writers has launched a blunt campaign to encourage people to make a will, entitled ‘No will equals poo’. The visual featuring the poo emoji is accompanied by a short YouTube video that asks: “Do you want to be remembered only for the mess you leave behind?”

The University of Law is to stop claiming that it is the “leading” law school in the UK in the wake of a ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority. The watchdog upheld a complaint about an advert published by ULaw after finding the evidence supplied by the university incompatible with such a claim.

A will-writing company has been fined £30,000 for making unsolicited marketing calls to people registered with the Telephone Preference Service. It used information from a third-party company, which claimed the people on its list had opted in to receive unsolicited direct marketing calls.

A “brand-driven” solicitors’ practice specialising in employment law has become an alternative business structure in order to bring its ‘virtual’ barristers’ chambers under the ABS umbrella. Once the concept is proven, it aims to roll it out across other areas of practice.

An advert for family law services featuring the torsos of four female ballet dancers with their arms crossed over the chests with the tagline ‘Protect your assets’, was “mild innuendo” and not offensive, the Advertising Standards Authority has ruled.

Law firms are missing a key opportunity to differentiate themselves against online providers of residential conveyancing because they fail to deal with telephone enquiries properly, a report that includes three years of research in has found.

Online legal services business Rocket Lawyer is expanding into continental Europe on the back of its success in the UK to date, which has seen nearly 200,000 people sign up to the service and create more than a million documents in less than four years.

There is still evidence of a culture within law firms where incoming client enquiries are not valued, or seen from the client’s point of view, a new report has found. Concert’s Legal services communications report said there was a “particular gap” around sales-focused communication.

The insurance industry had a taste of its own PR medicine over the weekend after The Times accused insurers of “cheating motorists” by not passing on whiplash savings. Meanwhile, cold-calling was back on the agenda after separate announcements by Which?, the Information Commissioner and National Accident Helpline.

A lawyer-matching service for SMEs has raised £50,000 in less than three days as it bids to crowdfund £360,000 for the next stage of its development. LawyerFair told potential investors that “legal services are an inefficient, low innovation marketplace” and that within three years it would be turning over £4.6m.

A claims management company in Manchester has become the latest to be slapped down by the Advertising Standards Authority after failing to make clear to potential customers that the amount of money they could receive was before its 33% fee was deducted.

Civil, property and employment matters are the most-searched for areas of practice on the Bar Council’s Direct Access Portal, figures released yesterday showed – with EU law fourth on the list as people and businesses try to come to terms with Brexit.