It is
almost impossible to drive along any stretch of motorway in the UK without
encountering an Eddie Stobart lorry. They appear to be everywhere. But you
would not normally associate them with our justice system. Not until now.
The Company
has a sub division known as Stobart Barristers. They are to offer legal
services to the public by offering direct access to barristers in relation to legal
disputes. This is something which they are permitted to do under legislation going
back to 2004. They say that this will cut out solicitors. They will offer a
fixed fee, pay as you go, service which will offer clients certainty and
affordable advice.
According
to the Company’s Legal Officer Trevor Howarth - ‘Our fixed-fee,
pay-as-you-go approach gives back control to the individual client and for the
time they can stop the process at any stage. From the bar’s point of view, they
don’t have the infrastructure or ability to provide the preparatory and litigation
work, or the marketing, so we provide that, we are one of the first
companies to look at the bar and see the benefits it offers,’
It is
tempting to say that they are just jumping on a bandwagon – boom boom! I have
joked over the years that some cases are so complex that it would need an Eddie
Stobart lorry to deliver the papers to the court. Could we see be-wigged
truckers eating Yorkies and preparing closing speeches as they drive from Glasgow to London?
But this is
in fact a significant and serious development.This is a major household brand which has developed its own relationship with barristers and is now extending this to the public.
We are
going through a period of unprecedented change in legal services. The advent of
Alternative Business Structures means that major names such as RAC and the
Co-Op can provide legal advice. Now we have the most well known haulage company
offering direct access to the bar and excluding solicitors altogether.
It will be
interesting to see how this develops. Will clients looking for legal help consider
going to this company whose entire identity, however successful, is linked to
trucks on motorways? Will cost override all other factors? Or will clients remain
loyal to the lawyers they know and love?
What this
does mean is that no law firm can afford to be complacent. We need a modern and
forward thinking approach to ensure that clients are offered the best advice
and help possible at a rate and in a way that is accessible and affordable.
All very strange given that Eddie Stobart has until very recently instructed a national firm of solicitiors to defend a claim which was pursued by Unite The Union on behalf of a number of Eddie Stobart's former employees. Eddie Stobart continues to instruct the same law firm on another related case, which is not supported by the Union. It just goes to show that it is "impossible" to cut out solicitors - especially when employees/ former employees pursue claims.......wonder if Eddie Stobart's employees will have access to the new legal service.
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