Marketing & PR

A new lawyer-matching service aimed particularly at tech start-ups has secured £260,000 of funding from e-commerce funder Forward Partners and Jonathan McKay, chairman of JustGiving.

More than 1,000 barristers have already signed up to a “game changing” initiative that aims to smooth the way for consumers and businesses to use public access, Legal Futures can reveal.

Claims management companies (CMCs) which break the rules this year face potentially huge fines – of up to 20% for those with an annual turnover of more than £500,000. Smaller CMCs can be fined up to £100,000.

Forget the John Lewis Christmas advert – lawyers have stepped up efforts to target the over-50s and the victims of medical accidents in the latest high-profile marketing pushes by QualitySolicitors and First4Lawyers respectively.

London law firm Hodge Jones & Allen has this week received an apology and “substantial” damages from The Times newspaper over a front-page article which claimed the firm was being sued by a former client for negligence in relation to a MMR vaccine claim.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to end the monopoly currently enjoyed by the Law Society’s ‘Find a Solicitor’ website, by making the data behind it available to commercial comparison sites. It is also to set up own “online regulatory register” for the public.

The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that a TV medical negligence advert for Merseyside personal injury specialists Michael W Halsall Solicitors was “likely to cause undue distress to pregnant viewers”.

More than a million passengers travelling to and from UK airports are still to claim delayed flight compensation for last year alone, a survey has found. However, it suggested that passengers may prefer to claim compensation directly from airlines.

The government has secured an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill banning inducements for personal injury claims offered by unregulated third parties linked to law firms.

Over 1,300 solicitors – from small practices to some of the biggest in the City – have joined rating and review website VouchedFor, and 1,100 client reviews have already been posted, the company has said.