A pint of milk, Curly Wurly and some boundary dispute advice, please

So it was only a matter of time before someone else jumped on the franchise bandwagon. With the usual lines about the legal services industry changing and uncertain futures, Local Law has turned out to be that someone, with plans to sign up corner shops and get them to advertise the services of, er, local lawyers. Unlike QualitySolictors, which has advice desks in WHSmith branches, Local Law’s plans appear to be all about marketing. Whether this means flyers will be strategically placed around certain everyday shop items for maximum effect - wills and probate firms next to cigarettes, bankruptcy services next to scratch cards and divorce lawyers alongside top-shelf magazines - we just don’t know. Though it sort of makes a depressing kind of sense.

The organisation will pay retailers a fee of £1,200 a year to display advertising material in their shops - but law firms will be coughing up nearly £67,000 a year, plus VAT, to be a member. For the type of firm that is being targeted, namely high street and personal injury outfits, that’s a lot of dosh.

But, as the marketing bumph accompanying the launch announcement says that “the Local Law team are highly experienced and have previously put the smallest of firms onto the World Stage!” it’s got to be worth every penny.

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• And our China blogger Robert Lewis of Zhong Lun takes the Simon Cowell role in China’s Got Legal Talent. Well, sort of