Battling on the high street

On the principle that once is a novelty, twice is interesting and three times is a trend, then the solicitors' profession is now witnessing a trend in personal injury specialist marketing networks.

A fortnight ago one cropped up in Kent, and this week we report on a fully-formed PI group in Blackpool and a nascent network in Wiltshire.

The aim is to take the fight directly to the claims management companies.

By banding together, law firms pool marketing resources; for it is on the battlegrounds of daytime television and local radio that the hearts and minds of accident victims are to be won.

So far, that field has been ruled by the non-lawyer-dominated claims farmers; it is to be hoped that the birth of these three groups signals a successful fightback by high street solicitors.

Indeed, it is also to be hoped that consortia of PI specialist law firms will be more successful than similar networks targeting that other potential mine of high street work - residential property.

For years, a few pioneering law firms have attempted to crack the house-selling market.

Initiatives, networks, consortia have all spluttered and started, but with no great success.

High street practice is under attack from many angles; a degree of co-operation may be the best form of defence and survival.