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The rules of engagement

15 September 2011 / Richard Pettet
Issue: 7481 / Categories: Features , Profession , Marketing
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Richard Pettet urges lawyers to make the most of social networking opportunities

The revolutionary new way to access legal services!” screamed the cartoon woman fronting the QualitySolicitors/WHSmith advert, an advert not in The Lawyer but on the front page of the Sunday Times. This comes on the back of QualitySolicitors’ prime time ITV campaign with the same cartoon woman floating across England in a balloon, enfranchising well-established local law firms into the QualitySolicitors brand. Earlier this year we had the regional ITV and Sky1 campaigns from legal price comparison website Wigster—more cartoon-based frolics there, too—and Location, Location, Location’s Phil Spencer fronting InDeed’s conveyancing adverts on behalf of the people behind RightMove. Don’t be surprised if there’s a Christmas version with Phil selling us conveyancing gift sets.

All this loud legal marketing is a pre-emptive move by some astute people to get a head start on the Legal Services Act and the introduction of alternative business structures (ABSs) next month. On a less garish note, we also have The Co-op and The AA offering

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Farrer & Co—Claire Gordon

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Partner appointed head of family team

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NEWS
Conveyancing lawyers have enjoyed a rapid win after campaigning against UK Finance’s decision to charge for access to the Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has launched a recruitment drive for talented early career and more senior barristers and solicitors
Regulators differed in the clarity and consistency of their post-Mazur advice and guidance, according to an interim report by the Legal Services Board (LSB)
The dangers of uncritical artificial intelligence (AI) use in legal practice are no longer hypothetical. In this week's NLJ, Dr Charanjit Singh of Holborn Chambers examines cases where lawyers relied on ‘hallucinated’ citations — entirely fictitious authorities generated by AI tools
The Solicitors Act 1974 may still underpin legal regulation, but its age is increasingly showing. Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Morrison-Hughes of the Association of Costs Lawyers argues that the Act is ‘out of step with modern consumer law’ and actively deters fairness
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