Niche insurance firm Plexus Law is set to cash in on Lord Falconer’s recent decision to let supermarkets provide legal advice to their customers by renting them its lawyers.
The firm is in discussions with high street retailers such as Tesco to provide them with lawyers to advise their customers directly, following the new constitutional affairs minister Lord Falconer’s decision to lift the ban on this practice on 24 July.
Tesco already has a strong line of business selling insurance products, but at the moment cannot provide direct legal advice to policyholders pursuing insurance claims. With motor claims, for example, Tesco’s underwriter Direct Line supplies Tesco policyholders with lawyers to work on their claims.
When Tesco is allowed to provide legal advice directly, the supermarket could ‘hire’ a number of Plexus lawyers at a fixed annual rate to advise policyholders on their claims in-store.
Plexus, formerly known as Badhams, is thought to have been in discussions with Tesco concerning this initiative for nearly a year and is understood to be proposing something similar to Sainsburys.
“I say good luck to them. It’s a really innovative thing to do,” said personal injury lawyer and Amelans partner Martin Cockx.