Selling and Marketing Legal Services Online -
maintained by Delia Venables
Section 3 - Companies providing lists of solicitors able to assist in various ways (referral panels)
Last updated December 1st.
Note that some property-based marketing sites are on a separate page here.
There could be up to two sponsored adverts here.
Accident Advice Helpline was established in 2000 to
provide access to justice for victims of accidents following the withdrawal of legal aid for personal
injury cases. Since 2000 Accident Advice Helpline has helped thousands of victims injured in all types of accidents.
TV adverts feature Esther Ransome.
Accident Compensation is a referral service
enabling firms to be found from an accident-related site. There is a lot of useful
accident related information for members of the public who find the site.
Subscription is by complete postcode district - up to three firms per postcode (London is handled slightly differently) and
visitors are directed to contact their local firm by instant, online enquiry form.
The site is one of the series of sites run by
Interactive Law.
For more information,
contact Adrian Miles on
enquiries@accidentcompensation.com.
Accident Compensation UK is an independent
accident claims service and the solicitors are all members of The Law Society panel of personal injury experts.
They are able to deal with a wide range of accident claims including car accident compensation,
pedestrian accidents, cycle accidents, slips and falls, accidents at work and industrial illness.
The Accident Compensation People
is an accident management company specialising in compensation for whiplash injuries, accidents at work, slips and
trips etc. They provide a no win no fee service but without using insurance cover; if the solicitors involved
think the case is winnable, they will take it on.
Accident Line was founded in 1994 by the
Law Society of England and Wales to encourage claimants to contact an experienced solicitor to get the best advice.
It provides a free phone service which puts individuals seeking to make a personal injury compensation
claim in contact with a specialist personal injury (PI) solicitor in their locality who will be able to
offer a free consultation to determine the viability of the claim. The solicitor will also be able to
discuss the various payment options available to the claimant, including conditional fee agreements.
The Law Society works with legal services and insurance specialist Abbey Legal Protection to run the
insurance supporting the scheme.
Accidents Direct claim to be the leading personal injury specialists
in the UK but do not really explain how they justify this. They say that they guarantee that all of their
clients keep 100% compensation and that they process claims under their completely free 'no win no fee' policy.
AvMA (Action against Medical Accidents) is an independent charity
which promotes better patient safety and justice for people who have been affected by a medical accident.
The site includes a directory of firms of solicitors they have assessed and approved.
Cerebral Palsy Information Service
is an independent network of medical negligence solicitor. They review the cliams and are able to recommend an experienced solicitor
who is a birth injury specialists and a member of The Law Society panel of medical negligence experts.
Clear Answers is a a company providing
marketing services for firms of solicitors involved in personal injury claims.
The company receives its income from the firms for carrying out the preparatory work in assessing
the circumstances of the injured person's accident and for providing them with a detailed report on the findings.
There are commendations from several firms of solicitors on the site.
Clicknmove is designed to
allow people needing a solicitor for a house move, a will or a probate to put details of
their requirement on the site and for solicitors to quote for the work - essentially
a system of bidding as low as possible to get the work.
From the solicitors' point of view, it enables a firm to be informed as soon as a new
requirement is registered on the site and to quote a price for the work. Firms pay a fee
to be one of the registered firms.
CMS Legal Services Online is a directory maintained by CMS
(Conveyancing Marketing Services) for solicitors in all fields (not just conveyancing).
More information can be obtained
from enquiries@cms-uk.co.uk.
See also my page on property-related marketing sites here.
The Commercial Law Noticeboard
provides information on commercial law activity in London.
It says "Over 3000 deals have been fed into a Classification Matrix
of 400+ Search Fields, including 40+ Transaction Categories, 85+ Transaction
Sub-Categories, 110+ Market or Industry Sectors, 120+ Client Options and 100+
Jurisdiction Options. Each of these Search Fields represents a particular perspective
through which to examine underlying commercial legal activity."
In other words (I think), if a company has a particular type of deal and
wants to know which solicitors have acted most strongly in that type of activity, they can
look it up on this site. It does seem to have a bit of arm-twisting involved, however,
in that "The Commercial Law Noticeboard provides a service to subscribers only and any
law firms which have not entered into a subscription agreement with Mocenigo
Research & Analysis will not feature in our database or any league tables
derived from it."
CompactLaw (previously known as lawrights)
offers free information on site and a telephone helpline staffed by solicitors costing 1.50 a minute.
Solicitors are invited to fill in a form to apply to join the panel but there is no email address on the site.
Copyrightvault.com is a company set up
to give musicians, authors, programmers and artists a service to register their copyright.
The company is run by solicitor Phil Kurthausen. He is looking for firms
to join a panel of firms who could take on cases associated with the site -
there are no fees to join and no referral fees (there are only a handful of firms shown on the site so far.)
Divorce-Online is the most heavily visited
divorce site in the UK with a great deal of free information on the site as well
as a very high number of visitors (about 50,000 a month). The site was set up by
Family Lawyer Mark Keenan.
There is a Family Law Directory on
the site to enable Family Lawyers to market their services to site users. The user
can search for a firm in their area and can then make an appointment with the
chosen firm via the site. This costs 150 plus VAT. There is a form you can fill in on the site to get more
information but no email address that I could find. For "end users", there is also a "Legalpac" which
can be purchased from the site which costs 80 and a number of other divorce and family
related forms and documents.
DivorceUK.com is a company set up by Scottish
solicitor Donald Wright to provide information on divorce in both England and Wales,
and in Scotland, with a network of solicitors ready to take on the clients.
There are two levels of members for firms at 275 and 500 a year, respectively, and a small setup fee.
There is lots of free information on the site, a calculator to work out the financial split in divorce,
case studies and endorsements from users and from solicitors. It is also possible to ask a question
and receive an answer, free of charge.
More information from info@divorceuk.com.
Emplaw (British Employment Law)
offers web-site and/or e-mail links from an interactive map of Britain to solicitor subscribers.
Non-subscribers with employment law expertise can have free listings. A vistor to the site clicks
on the "solicitors" button, selects an area from the resulting map and is then presented with a
list of solicitors in his area. The site started in early 1997 and now averages over 2,500 visitors
every weekday. It is unique in that it contains over 4,500 regularly updated A-Z fact cards of employment
law information to a professional standard as well as an excellent "superportal" to employment law
resources on the web.
More information from info@emplaw.co.uk.
Family Solicitors
is a company providing a network of solicitors firms. There is a lot of free information and
also a freephone answering service on the site.
More details from
enquiries@family-solicitors.co.uk.
The site is one of the series of sites run by
Interactive Law.
First4Lawyers are a personal injury claims specialist and
can help put you in touch with the right solicitor to handle your compensation claim. They offer a free, no obligation
assessment of your personal injury claim and 100% compensation for a range of accidents. If you don’t win your claim,
you pay nothing. You can ring free for an initial assessment.
Injury Lawyers 4U
has been set up by a consortium of leading personal injury solicitors, in order to promote direct access
for injured people to the solicitors who will deal with their case.
It is a consortium of 185 firms led up
by Manchester firm Amelans and including Leigh Day & Co., Donns, and Pannone & Partners.
The aim is to cut out the middle-man of claims advisors and offer services direct
to the people needing assistance. The logo offers "no loans... no credit... no catch"
Injury + is a consortium of leading personal injury and clinical
negligence lawyers from many well known firms.
The site enables a viewer to obtain a free assessment of their claim and then they also
obtain a referral to one of the solicitors in the consortium.
Inside divorce is a
commercial site offering free a great deal of free information on the site but also guiding viewers to
particular "panel" firms and services.
Interactive Law
is the overall site from Full Force Marketing which provides a whole series of individual
marketing-led web sites relating to different areas of law. The sites are designed
for the individual with a legal problem and each sites contains a considerable amount of
free information as well as the opportunity to look up a solicitor with that specialisation
and/or in the local area. The original sites in this series, Employment Law and Accident Law,
are already well established but now there are a whole series of other sites. Here is a list:
Kent Accident Link is a group of 10 firms based across Kent
working together to market their services to people with accidents claims. The firms details and links to web sites
and email addresses are given on the site (on the "About Us" section) and viewers get in touch with their nearest firm,
or alternatively can email the Group site for further assistance.
Landlord Law Solicitors is a new service from
solicitor Tessa Shepperson (editor of the well known
Landlord-Law site) and provides information and resources
for solicitors who do residential landlord and tenant work. Content includes precedent tenancy agreements,
possession notices (with instructions) and court forms, plus detailed information on tenancy agreement
clauses with notes on the OFTs cases and recent guidance on unfair terms. There is also a research section
with links to online cases and statutes. A forum area will be going live in the next few weeks where Tessa
will be able to answer members questions. In due course, there will be a ‘find a solicitor’ service whereby
Landlord Law Solicitor members can (subject to any qualification criteria being met) receive instructions
from the public via the public Landlord-Law site.
Law on the Web
has been online for more than 5 years and is published by a former practising solicitor,
Martin Davies. It is a popular gateway (up to 29,000 visitors a month) for the
public and small businesses to legal information, legal news, comment, and
directories of law firms on the web. Basic entries in the law firms' directory are free, with an
extended Profile (including a link to the firm's website) costing 120 a
year. Readers are provided with access to free advice via a variety of
methods, including the internal Road Reckoner and Ask No Questions services.
This site is associated with the Can I Claim? site, described above.
The site also has another potential marketing area for law firms - the
DIY Law section for legal document providers.
There is also a directory of individual barristers.
More information from mail@lawontheweb.co.uk.
The site now also offers a new directory called Law firms on the web.
Basic entries are free but if the firm wants to be profiled, which
includes 250 word profile, a direct link to their website, full contact
details and priority placement in all relevant search results, the fee is
10 per month through to July 2003 and then 120 for the year.
Legalpulse is a site particularly designed for small businesses
wishing to expand as well as private individuals. There is lots of free information on the site and
also a series of documents which can be purchased, typically costing around £30 to £40.
It is also possible to email your question to a solicitors for a fee or to speak on a premium rate phone line.
CEO is lawyer and ex Camelot director Gill Switalski.
legalservicesshop.co.uk
provides free advice and information on the site, having taken over what used to be the
freelawyer.co.uk service. It also acts as an introduction service between
individuals looking for advice and firms of solicitors, either with fixed
charges or with an hourly charge.
maxclaims
is a team of specialist compensation solicitors approved by the Law Society of
Scotland.
Medical Accidents is a site
offering a network of solicitors specialising in this area of work.
The site is one of the series of sites run by
Interactive Law. Details of how to join
the network can be obtained here.
National Accident Helpline say that they are the UK’s
TV brand leader for personal injury claims and have successfully helped thousands of people by putting them
in touch with their nationwide network of personal injury solicitors.
Medical Negligence UK is
an independent network Of Medical Negligence Solicitors who specialise in clinical compensation claims.
The solicitors are all members of The Law Society panel of experts who are highly specialised in clinical
negligence claims and undergo specific ongoing academic training.
National Accident Helpline
is a referral service with 300 firms of solicitors on its panel, operating in both
the UK and Ireland. Founded in 1993. I cannot see any information on the company
behind this site.
not-my-fault.com is an attractive site for attracting accident
claims set up by Morris Legal (Solicitors) of Solihull.
There is lots of information on different types of accident and on how to make a claim. Dean Morris, of Morris Legal,
is also willing to pass on claims outside the firm's physical or legal area of expertise to other personal injury specialists
on its panel.
Road Law has been set up by former criminal solicitor
Martin Davies who also runs Law on the Web.
There is lots of free information on the site including guidance on possible penalites and motorists
can also obtain legal advice and representation throughout England and Wales at fixed prices. Firms who
specialise in road traffic law can join the panel of firms associated with the site for a fee.
Shop4Law is a new system which selects 4 possible
solicitors for a viewer's case and passes on the details of the solicitors who wish to be involved,
to the viewer. Shop4Law does not get involved in the financial tendering process - essentially,
it just makes the introductions.
The system is based on a US model which is already apparently successful.
Solicitors.co.uk is a directory in which a firm
can obtain an enhanced entry for a fee (basic listings are free).
Two levels of enhanced entry are possible: a "standard" listing costs 10 a month and a
"premium" listing (which gets to the top of the list and also provides multiple methods of
contacting the firm) costs 19 a month. These charges are a flat fee for one postcode and the firm
can be listed under all the areas of law that they practice. No contract is required and the
company does not require prepayment.
TakeLegalAdvice.com is a matching service between
individuals or businesses with a legal problem and firms of solicitors. The person looking for a solicitor
fills in a brief description of the problem and this is sent by the company to firms who could provide
assistance. The firms then provide an answer, including costs, which is passed on to the potential client.
There is also a forum for discussing legal topics.
Note to companies offering marketing services from their web site - let me know
and I will add you to this list!
email
delia@venables.co.uk
