Accentuate the positive

'Compensation culture myth exploded' ran the headline of the press release.

As we report this week, analysts Datamonitor have at last produced the figures to back up what we all knew - fears of a US-style compensation culture are unfounded.

Sadly, it received scant coverage in the national newspapers.

Would it have been the same had the research come to the opposite conclusion?

It is nothing new to discover that a positive message for the profession elicits little interest from a media far keener on how awful solicitors are, and it is, of course, hard work to turn around this perception.

But it has to be worth the effort.

Claimant personal injury lawyers, for example, have a real opportunity to assert themselves following the demise of Claims Direct and the court-related troubles of The Accident Group.

But will solicitors take on the challenge? As daily consumers of law firm marketing, we can back up with some authority the finding at last week's legal marketing forum that many are not overly sophisticated when it comes to this side of practice management.

Apart from the biggest practices with the biggest budgets (and even that is no guarantee of intelligent marketing), there is sporadic evidence of firms using marketing in a truly positive way.

Some still decry the need for it in a professional environment, but law firms of all sizes now boast a marketing capability in recognition of how things have moved on.

The problem often is that solicitors are reluctant to let these people off the leash so they can do what they are good at.

Now, more than ever, is the time to take the chance.