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I am just a humble down trodden High Street solicitor. I am no marketing expert or guru except to make sure more money comes in than goes out.

Funnily enough, I see our small independent, well respectable, profitable (up 25% this year), debt free practice as a source of pride and we are proud of our business- of course we have to work at it constantly and move with the times (we have a 5 year plan to ditch the type writers in favour of computers and printers).

My take on this is that there are people/organisations out in the big bad world that take a bird's eye view of the legal market.

They see a multibillion pound services industry that is one huge fragmented mess that needs to be 'cleaned' up and consolidated into a more efficient and leaner machine. Because we can't have independent businesses anymore in this day and age.

No doubt there are well established High Street firms with excellent goodwill that are not being run efficiently and are not fulfilling the potential within. I have seen this myself.

The solution- let's set up instantly recognisable shiny corporate brands that everyone will recognise flock to. BY analogy, do you go to Costa/Starbucks or chance our arm with some shady looking independently run coffee shop?

Whether using the same model that works for mobile phones, coffee shops, fast food outlets will work in the legal sphere is yet to be decided. But sure are hell there are enterprises hell bent trying.

The one drawback I see, is that clients', no sorry consumers, do not approach legal services like buying a phone or coffee.

I think what irritates readers is not some 'anti-change for the sake of it' mentality but rather the constant attempts (e.g branding) to try and reduce the provision of legal services to that of buying a loaf of bread.

Buying a house/business/Will & probate etc etc does require a little more thought and human interaction. Will that change? Who knows.

We all have client's that refuse to use cheaper online conveyancing services simply because they want the personal service. I have corrected countless rubbish wills prepared by unregulated 'Will Writers'.

Will this last? Who knows. We are not naive it think we can just sit back and the status quo will continue.

Is there a market? Undoubtedly.