Firm sets sights on quality mark for Net law services

A national law firm has become the first to be working towards the government-devised quality mark for the provision of legal advice and information over the Internet, it emerged last week.Personal injury and trade union law firm Thompsons is now working on implementing the metadata scheme, aimed at giving clear labels for the contents of legal advisers' Web sites and making them more accessible to the visually impaired.The quality mark sets basic standards covering both the quality of content and best practice in delivery.The government's central objective is to make legal Web sites more accessible to users of the Community Legal Service Web site, Just Ask!, but the scheme is applicable to all Web sites in the legal and advice sectors.It is in line with the Lord Chancellor's Department's commitment to promoting the use of IT in the provision of legal services, and was finally given the go-ahead earlier this year after months of consultation (see [2001] Gazette, 8 March, 20).Development and resource agency London Advice Services Alliance (Lasa) was drafted in by the Lord Chancellor's Department to help four organisations - Thompsons, the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, Coventry Law Centre and disability charity Dial UK - in the first pilot phase of the Web standards project, focusing on the technical elements of the quality mark.In the next stage of the project, scheduled to start next month, Lasa will provide custom-developed software Metadata Editor, along with training and support, to another 40 more organisations.Jennie Walsh, head of media at Thompsons, said it was about time law firms began to use their Web sites for the provision of legal information and less as a marketing tool.

LINKS: www.justask.org.uk; www.webstandards.org.uk; www.lasa.org.ukPaula Rohan