The UK’s first nationwide network law brand rolls out as we speak, with ‘Quality Solicitors’ tarting up independent High Street firms the length and breadth of the country. This seems like a sound approach to creating brand equity in advance of the forthcoming ‘TescoLaw’ apocalypse, and it has to be said that despite the audible sniffing of many legal commentators QS appears to have got a lot a things right.
What’s working? Basically, a no-nonsense web site that makes buying law look as comfortable as buying a sofa, a reluctance to overcomplicate web architecture and office re-launches with stars from reality TV series and popular soaps.
What QS recognises is that real people out there – rather than corporate counsel or fancy Harvard-educated CEOs – know little about law and care even less about who practices it. (Recent surveys illustrate how low law brand penetration is in the UK, and that Joe and Joely Public don’t really understand what lawyers do.) What the man on the Clapham omnibus wants is someone to take away the conveyancing/divorce/will stress away from him – without charging the earth and without making him feel like an under-educated idiot.
To this end, QS ticks boxes. To become a QS affiliate, you need to demonstrate approval from existing clients. (Which nicely delivers the community endorsement/Trip Advisor side of things.) They talk up front about the friendliness and lack of pretention in their network. They make price promises. They hire the likes of Stacey Solomon to attract crowds to re-brand events in provincial town centres. And they have an avatar, who despite having the kind of unrealistic physique that would get Lara Croft reaching for the SlimFast, comes across as decent, sparky and responsible.
Yes, there are some clunkers. For example, this line shouldn’t have made it through:
Quality Solicitors do things differently to how typical law firms do.
But in all, this is a good attempt to recognise that High Street law can be enjoyable, colourful and unpretentious. No, I’m not saying that Slaughters should sponsor Loose Women or hire Joe Pasquale - but let’s recognise the diversity of this industry and credit those who are facing up to new realities in a genuinely market-savvy way.
