The Law Society this week launched a £450,000 national advertising campaign to promote the brand of solicitor and the services solicitors provide to the public.


The initiative, which uses the slogan 'Your solicitor, qualified to answer,' will see advertisements placed in national newspapers between 5 May and 22 June as well as on taxis and billboards around the country.



The campaign is aimed at encouraging the public to use solicitors by highlighting the kinds of problems which they can help to resolve. The advertisements direct people to the Law Society's website to help them find an appropriate solicitor, as well as providing information about various topics, including making a will, divorce, personal injury claims and asylum.



Firms and local law societies can join in the campaign and obtain free promotional materials from the Law Society's website.



The campaign has been funded from the Society's commercial income with cash saved by efficiency measures taken over the last year. Its effectiveness will be evaluated by measures including interviews with the public and monitoring the hits received on the Law Society website.



Media lawyer Mark Stephens, a partner at London firm Finers Stephens Innocent, welcomed the campaign and suggested it should have a positive impact. He said: 'While surveys show that an individual's experiences of solicitors are good, the public's view of the profession as a whole is exceedingly low... With the advent of Tesco and ASDA Law, the value of the profession could be denuded. So it is important to draw a distinction between properly trained professionals and others offering legal services.'



Law Society chief executive Des Hudson said the initiative was not specifically timed as a response to the challenges of new competitors to the legal market or the consequences of the credit crunch.



'But if we can help solicitors on the high street, that is exactly what we should be doing,' he stressed.



Catherine Baksi