'Tesco law' took a step closer to reality this week after the supermarket giant launched an on-line legal store offering shoppers the chance to buy self-help legal solutions alongside their groceries.

Tesco has linked up with legal DIY publisher Lawpack to provide a range of DIY kits and forms covering 17 legal topics, such as accident claims, property and employment law, 'at great value prices'. There is a 30-day money-back guarantee.


It hopes to attract more than a million unique visitors to the site - www.tesco.com/legalstore - in the first year, with the aim of making basic legal services available to millions of people who do not currently use them.


Triple Tesco Clubcard points are available on some of of the products, while there are special offers on the likes of the 'DIY Separation & Divorce Kit', currently £7.49.


The site includes answers to legal questions, a legal 'jargon buster' and links to the on-line directories of solicitors run by the Law Society and its counterpart in Scotland.


Tesco.com chief executive Laura Wade-Grey said: 'Tesco wants to demystify the law by offering shoppers simple and easy to understand legal products.' However, Tesco would not be drawn on its longer-term plans for legal services if the market is liberalised as a result of the Clementi review.


Lawpack director Alan Chance said the company had designed some of the products - such as pocket law guides - especially for Tesco. He predicted that 'lawyers will see quite a lot of enquiries from this', saying that in the first few hours of Tuesday morning, for example, around 50 users had linked through to the Law Society's solicitors-online.com site.


The Society welcomed the move, describing it as 'an innovative addition to the legal services market'.


Chief executive Janet Paraskeva said: 'Tesco.com's legal store will help demystify the law for many people and encourage them to seek legal advice. It is better that they go to a reputable source of legal information than cowboy providers who style themselves as legal advisers but are unqualified and unregulated.'