Echoes of imperial glory as Birmingham promotes legal advice

Birmingham Law Society is spearheading an image-building drive to recreate the city's imperial glory by substituting its record as a manufacturer with that of its capacity as the home of legal advice.

The initiative - called 'Advised in Birmingham' - will be launched this week by the society in association with the city's bar, the Institute of Legal Executives, the College of Law and the University of Central England.

The initiative aims to raise the profile of Birmingham to attract more clients from outside the region and attract good-quality lawyers.

Quarterly briefing meetings will be held with the media, and stories will be fed to newspapers and other media to raise the profile of lawyers in the city.

The project has raised 53,000 from regional development agency Advantage West Midlands, the legal services department of the city council, a city organisation called Locate, ILEX and the Birmingham Law Society and bar.

Anthony Collins, senior partner of Anthony Collins Solicitors and president of the law society, said: 'We're translating the 19th century image of Birmingham as "the city of a thousand trades".

The city used to export to the four corners of the world.

But because of the success of the legal community, we are going to turn the hallmark "made in Birmingham" to "advised in Birmingham".'

Mr Collins said that 17,000 people are employed in legal services in Birmingham, generating fee income in excess of 500 million each year.

Mr Collins confirmed that one target for the initiative is clients of City firms.

He added: 'You get more law per hour with Birmingham firms.'

Jeremy Fleming