Leading law firm leverages £49 online wills service

Russell Jones and Walker's consumer-facing web-based legal service has delivered more than 1,200 online wills within a year of going live.

Yourlegalrights.co.uk, a service delivered using Epoq's Rapidocs assembly software, provides access to a range of free online briefing sheets on a variety of legal issues for ordinary members of the public.

The service covers areas such as employment and family law as well as personal injury, property, and other consumer rights including bank charges, shopping rights and travel.

For a fee, users can also access a suite of off-the-shelf legal templates such as tenancy agreements and letters contesting parking tickets, and tailored documents such as prenups and wills which will be reviewed by the firm.

Wills start at £49 for a single will and £79 for mirror wills. By way of comparison, Saga and the AA's online wills '“ also powered by Epoq '“ start at £59.99 and £69.99 respectively. The review element of Saga and the AA's tailored legal services is provided in partnership with Cogent Law, the claimant arm of legal group Parabis.

Employment related issues featured prominently on the list of most popular searches, with searches such as 'back to work days', 'sacked while off sick' and 'flexible working' appearing among the top ten.

Workplace rights were also among the most popular articles consulted, with age discrimination, disciplinary issues, maternity rights and occupational stress among the top six most consulted.

The service was described in a statement as setting a benchmark in the delivery of online legal services and demonstrating the benefits of offering such services from both consumer and supplier perspectives.

The wording used suggests RJW intends to reach out to ordinary people, shying away from legal speak and instead selling its services using terms such as 'personal finance', 'job hunting pack', etc.

RJW's initiative is one of a few examples bringing together a law firm and document-assembly company Epoq.

Epoq has met with reasonable success selling its software to large organisations such as the AA/Saga and RBS, but is yet to make serious inroads into the law firm market.

Epoq's chief technology officer Grahame Cohen described the partnership with RJW as 'a fantastic example of how law firms are responding to consumer demand for access to legal advice that fits with their lifestyle'.

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