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18 September 2014 / Dr Jon Robins
Issue: 7622 / Categories: Opinion , Legal services , Profession
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Selling out?

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Jon Robins raises a question over the Law Society’s latest advertising campaign

“Use a Professional. Use a Solicitor”. As far as campaign slogans, it is unlikely to inspire great passion within the hearts of the great British public. It is a sensible message, certainly not as tacky as Chancery Lane’s 2013 ad campaign (“Don’t get mugged by an insurer—use a solicitor”, attacked by the Association of British Insurers, with reason, as a “gross error of judgment”) or as plain bonkers as the “My Hero, My Solicitor” billboard campaign launched 10 years ago.

Reassurance?

The point of the latest advertising campaign might well be as much to reassure a jaded and sceptical constituency of the profession, High Street solicitors, that their professional body really does care, as opposed to a sincere attempt to shift the public perception of the profession.

At the heart of the campaign is a serious point. It identifies an arguably meaningful difference in the marketplace. “The growth of unregulated and do-it-yourself legal services means consumers are exposed to

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

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Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

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Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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