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Waiting for Superman

10 October 2014 / Dr Jon Robins
Issue: 7625 / Categories: Features , Legal services , Profession , Wills & Probate
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Jon Robins questions whether all publicity is good publicity

It is probably fair to say of all the extensive superhero family, “Will Power” must surely rank as one of the more forgettable members. For readers who cannot remember or else choose to forget, this was a cartoon character used to promote “Make a Will” week in 1991. A lawyer’s version of the Green Cross Code man, if you will.

Solicitors zipped themselves into turquoise and white Lycra bodysuits and hung around supermarkets in the admirable aim of raising awareness of the dangers of intestacy. An admirable cause. However Will Power proved so detested by the profession that the Law Society’s head of communications received hate mail from mortified probate solicitors.

Media campaigns

It is probably uncontroversial to say that Chancery Lane has a somewhat chequered history when it comes to media campaigns to promote the services of its members. That its latest campaign (“Use a Professional. Use a Solicitor”) has not provoked controversy within its membership or derision on the

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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 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
A Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) ruling has reopened debate on the availability of ‘user damages’ in competition claims. Writing in NLJ this week, Edward Nyman of Hausfeld explains how the CAT allowed Dr Liza Lovdahl Gormsen’s alternative damages case against Meta to proceed, rejecting arguments that such damages are barred in competition law
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