Russell Jones and Walker Solicitors view the future of personal legal services as a ‘battle of the brands’ and believes it is best placed to capitalise on this through extensions of its market leading personal injury name ‘Claims Direct’.
Independent research shows that Claims Direct is the best known name within the personal injury sector with double the unprompted brand awareness levels of its nearest rivals. As such Russell Jones and Walker plans to use this recognition to promote Claims Direct in the other areas of personal law that it already has strong expertise in. This includes employment and family law, wills and possibly even conveyancing.
“The public recognise few legal brands currently but that is all set to change with the introduction of alternative business structures next year.” Neil Kinsella Chief Executive of Russell Jones and Walker said. “This will give well-known high street names the opportunity to compete directly with Solicitors and we, at Russell Jones and Walker, have been developing our strategy since the review which led to the Legal Services Act. This included the re-launch of the Claims Direct brand in 2007 with a multi-million £ above-the-line and digital campaign.”
The Legal Services Act enables people other than those qualified as solicitors to own a law firm with the Solicitors Regulation Authority approved to be its regulator. However, the original October start date for licensing these businesses had to be delayed and it is now thought this will start in January 2012. Organisations including retail brands such as the Co-Op and insurance companies including D.A.S. have already stated their intentions to offer legal services and many believe others are queuing up. This influx of known brand names into a largely unbranded and fragmented legal sector has commentators suggesting this could lead to a significant number of smaller high street law firms closing down within the next three years.
Kinsella believes this presents Russell Jones and Walker with an ideal opportunity. “Recent Russell Jones and Walker research shows that people now know and trust the Claims Direct name and have said they would be happy to contact it about legal issues other than their personal injury claims. We intend to offer them this option.”
With over 85 years’ experience, Russell Jones and Walker Solicitors are considered one of the UK’s leading law firms with over 420 employees in 10 offices nationwide. Its focus has always been to provide accessible, affordable legal services for individuals. Neil Kinsella is one of the country’s leading commentators on the changing face of the legal profession and aims to ensure that the firm remains at the forefront of it irrespective of the likely new competition.
Via EPR Network
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