Law Soc rejects TV ads in favour of the Press

The Law Society has ruled out launching a television advertising campaign as part of a wider marketing blitz to improve the public image of solicitors.

Officials have accepted advice from advertising agency J Walter Thompson that a television campaign would not deliver value for money.

Law Society spokeswoman Jane Farrin said: "JWT feels it would be better to go with press advertising which can be better targeted. We don't have the budget of a BT."

Farrin added that the recent television advertising campaign by the Law Society of Scotland was of a "low quality" which failed to impress the profession.

Society president Martin Mears is understood to be against expensive television advertising at a time when many solicitors are finding it hard to make ends meet.

Meanwhile, the society has put its advertising plans on hold until after the elections and after new secretary general Jane Betts takes over in August. "There is so much going on at the moment that we felt it would be better to wait a while before pursuing things further," said Farrin.

A final decision on an advertising campaign would need to be approved by council. But Tory party public relations guru Sir Tim Bell has been retained to advise on the society's legal aid campaign and will be available to offer more general advice.

A spokeswoman for the Law Society of Scotland hotly disputed Farrin's criticism of its advertising campaign which included television.

She said: "Independent market research conducted before, during and after our campaign in the early Nineties showed it achieved its objectives of making solicitors appear approachable and friendly. The campaign was aimed at the public, not solicitors, which was the key."