hmmm
All I really knew was that I had found the perfect place on the perfect wave, and I had remained there endlessly. Forever.
Allan Weisbecker, from In Search of Captain Zero: A Surfer’s Road Trip Beyond the End of the Road.
SueEasy Not So Easy, as Air Miles come to UK clients
September 3, 2009
SueEasy.com, the lawyer/client matching service launched with much hullabaloo in spring 2008, is up for sale. The site was set up to allow potential litigants to post grievances, whereupon lawyers were supposed to offer to represent them. SueEasy also enabled users to search for class actions to join in with other litigants.
Despite this, as Carolyn Elefant at Legal Blog Watch notes, SueEasy attracted “much criticism from the lawyers around the blogosphere, who described it as ‘Shangri-La for ambulance chasers‘ or the ‘worst lawyer idea ever‘.” And so it seems to have proved, with SueEasy now up for auction. Swordplay fears that its obvious potential for a libel suit or ten will deter UK investors, but SueEasy makes much of its allure for “brand ambassadors”. We’re not sure what this means, but perhaps someone will step up to the plate.
Meanwhile, Edward Fennell of the Times has news of a seemingly rather more benign legal innovation. QualitySolicitors.com is now with us, an online service comprised of over 100 UK law firms whose aim is to find the right solicitor for you (assuming you need one). QualitySolicitors has a blog, though we would respectfully suggest that if it is genuinely to be regarded as such it needs to be updated rather more regularly than is thus far apparent, but what Fennell finds most interesting about the site is that it also boasts a loyalty card. As he puts it: “Apparently clients will be able to earn Air Miles, take holidays and earn discounts on property moves.”
Fennell thinks this venture is a first for the UK legal community, and we agree. But is it as innocent as it seems? Or is it but another nail in the coffin for the small, independent law firm?
It strikes Swordplay that the much-vaunted commodification of the law is steadily, steathily, inexorably marching forward.
Pictured courtesy of AsylumEclectica: a lawyer in the Garden of Eden (Kansas-style) ponders recent developments in the legal profession.
One Response to “SueEasy Not So Easy, as Air Miles come to UK clients”
-
Craig Holt
Posted: Sep 6th, 2009 at 2:49 pm1I am the CEO of QualitySolicitors.com.
I just wanted to explain a little about our organisation as it seems apparent from the above post that you might author might have misunderstand our aims.
Far from being responsible for putting “another nail in the coffin for the small, independent law firm”; our very raison d’etre is to help such firms survive in the post-LSA firm. Many of our, now 160, members are exactly that kind of firm and we welcome applications from others of sufficient quality. Our purpose is to develop a legal ‘umbrella branding’ under which firms can practice. In this way they can meet the threat of the new entrants by being part of a brand and equal the advantages of convenience provided by the larger corporations whilst still retaining their autonomy and independence as a firm. As a barrister myself I strongly believe in the important to society of these firms and will continue to fight the new entrants.
One thing I do agree with is that our blog needs some attention asap! We’ve only just launched the new site and haven’t yet really been in a position to focus on the blog. Keep checking in as it will be more heavily posted upon in due course!
Best wishes,
Craig
» Subscribe to comments by RSS
Comments
Please submit comments to Blade for his consideration
Blog Functions
Archives
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- Penelope Swift: Doubtless Blade would contend...
- Penelope Swift: That is creative, not curious,...
If
you find our information useful and would like to receive updates feel free
to subscribe via RSS or Email.
Thought for the day
In Joust
About Spada
Knowledge Bank
In this article, Gavin Ingham Brooke and Rohit Grover of Spada examine the importance of marketing and PR in a downturn. This article was originally published in Solicitors Journal, Practice Management Supplement, 28 April 2009, and has been reproduced by kind permission.
Environmental Reporting: Trends in FTSE 100 Sustainability Reports
In the latest of our series of white papers, Spada Research examines trends in environmental reporting. The white paper is available for download here.
Now available for download here is Spada’s latest white paper. Entitled ‘The Laity Bytes Back’, the paper looks at Web 2.0 and the professions.
In this paper, published in the International Journal of Business and Economics, David Brock, Tal Yaffe and Mark Dembovsky scrutinise large law firms, their strategies and measures of their effectiveness.
In this article, Gavin Ingham Brooke, MD of Spada, looks at how US law firms should approach hiring a UK PR agency. The piece is reproduced from Strategies – The Journal of Legal Marketing by kind permission of the Legal Marketing Association.
Towards 2012 – The New Legal Landscape
Spada’s white paper on the impact of the Legal Services act is now available to download here. The research recently featured on the front page of the Law Society Gazette.
Information Inflation: Can the Legal System Adapt?
George L. Paul, a partner in Lewis and Roca, LLP and Jason R. Baron, Director of Litigation at the National Archives and Records Administration, discuss the “new inflationary dynamic” of information in this article from the Richmond Journal of Law and Technology. How do vast quantities of new writing forms challenge the legal profession, and how should lawyers adapt?
To suggest material for inclusion in Knowledge Bank, please e-mail us at spada@spada.co.uk or call + 44 207 269 1430