DAS buys CW Law

Legal expenses insurer DAS, based in Bristol, has announced the purchase of personal injury and employment specialists CW Law, also based in the city.

CW Law, which employs over 60 staff, became an ABS last week. A spokesman for DAS said the law firm was among the first 30 to apply to the SRA, which was “based on the proposal that the firm would become part of the DAS Group”.

Paul Asplin, chief executive of DAS UK, has become chairman of CW Law. “Now that we have finally realised the long held ambition to incorporate a law firm into the DAS Group, we are in a position to move ahead with our plans to position DAS as a significant provider of legal services as well as the leading legal protection insurer,” he said.

“Not only will owning a law firm enable us to offer a seamless service to our policyholders with legal protection claims, it will also put us in a position to provide fixed-price legal services to consumers.”

Kathryn Mortimer (pictured), head of legal services at DAS, said the next step would be to integrate CW Law into the firm and launch the service as DAS Law.

“The process has been extremely demanding, but we are delighted to finally receive the go ahead,” she said.

“We are determined to make legal assistance accessible, understandable and cost predictable and position DAS at the forefront of this exciting new development in the legal world.

“Owning a law firm will bring other more subtle benefits, such as the ability to expand the functionality of our hugely popular telephone legal advice service to deliver written advice via email and other digital platforms.”

Last month DAS launched a new insurance scheme, Everyday Legal, with national personal injury firm Simpson Millar, offering cover on legal costs in return for a premium of as little as £9.99 per month or 33p per day.

DAS bought Everything Legal Ltd, owners of the consumer information website Law on the Web, at the end of 2011.