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Year Archive
View Article  They ain't happy - the updated version
One of the UK's providers of online legal training and information via the websites legaltraining.tv and lawinabox.tv today announced the termination of its agreements and all business relations with Semple Piggot Rochez Ltd, Semple Piggot Rochez (Legal Education) Ltd and Michael Semple Piggot. Legaltraining.tv Ltd entered into these agreements from November 2006 onwards but these have been terminated and are no longer in effect due to SPR Ltd, SPR (LE) Ltd and Michael Semple Piggot being in breach of and unable to fulfil contractual commitments.

Peter Lewinton, managing director of Legal Training.tv Ltd commented "It has become necessary for Legaltraining.tv to cease all activities with SPR Ltd, SPR (LE) Ltd and Mr Semple Piggot and make it clear to all those with an interest in the publication of legal information online that we are not working with SPR Ltd, SPR (LE) Ltd or Mr Semple Piggot."

In response Mike Semple Piggot said "Although there was never any direct personal contractual relationship between Legaltraining.tv and myself – all the contracts were at a corporate level – it has proved difficult in current trading conditions for SPR to continue to fulfill its obligations."

Mike Semple Piggot added "I still believe in the vision of online training as the future. Peter Lewinton has some excellent ideas that I believe he will be able to deliver. I wish him well."
View Article  IRIS strategy debate continues
For those of you still awake at the back of the class (well it is a Friday lunchtime) you might like to note that we are still receiving new comment postings on the IRIS strategy – in particular over the issue of Progress versus SQL Server.
View Article  Competitions that make you go hmmm...
We've always been fascinated by IT suppliers' competitions and the fact most of them leave you scratching your head thinking "what were these people smoking when they came up with this idea?" The latest vendor to go down this route is the DDS supplier nFlow. For the past 12 months they have been running a promotional campaign around the slogan of 'the grass is greener' – as is in: it's not too late to drop your wonky digital dictation system and switch to nFlow – aided and abetted by some dinky cans of soil and grass seed, so you can grow your own patch of green grass. (Geddit?) Anyway earlier this year someone at nFlow PR Central (that would be Laura) came up with the wizzard wheeze of a competition so people could grow their own grass, decorate it and submit a picture, with the best ones winning a prize. And now we have the winners – I know, contain your excitement.

Winning the prize for the most luxuriant tuft of grass (is there something Freudian going on here) was Debbie Williams of Accuro, while the prize for the most 'amusing' (their word, not ours) lawn went to Marjorie Caballero of Collins Dryland & Thorowgood. You can't quite see the captions on the picture below but it is a comment on the recent Mills McCartney divorce. The left caption reads 'Heather', the right 'Macca', the one at the front 'Fiona' and the one at the back 'Where is the snake in the grass?' We are speechless...




View Article  Orange Rag readership hits new high
The Orange Rag's readership for April hit a new all time high with 16,400 distinct hosts served and just over 150,000 page views recorded. Thank you.
View Article  Something for the weekend
With the long weekend on its way, here is something to ponder... Earlier this week it was reported that electric nailfiles and laser guided scissors (ooh, that could have your eye out – no really – see picture) were, according to UK shoppers, the two most useless gadgets on sale today. But what about useless legal IT gadgets?

We'd like to hear your views on what you feel are the most useless – as in they sounded a good idea at the time but when you actually got your hands on them, they failed to live up to expectations nd you realised it would have been simpler and less hassle to have used a pencil and a piece of paper to achieve the same result – gadgets you've encountered during the course of your work. Here are three suggestions... speech recognition software, time recording barcode reading gadgets of all types (including that strange dildo like 'pen' TFB used to sell) and (for older readers) the Psion Organiser with its non-qwerty keypad. Just post your comments and we'll report the results later. Otherwise (for UK readers at least) have a good holiday.




View Article  Law on the Web for sale
The legal information websites LAW on the WEB (www.lawontheweb.co.uk) and Can I Claim? (www.caniclaim.com) are up for sale, and with a readership in excess of 750,000 unique users every year, all of whom are looking for legal advice and information, there is bound to be a lot of interest in acquiring the sites. Offers are invited for the purchase of the websites, together with all the current information on the sites, documents sold through the sites, current revenue streams and all future revenue streams. The domain names are part of the package, together with other associated domain names. Formal offers in excess of £150,000 plus vat are invited before the deadline at midday on Friday 13th June 2008.

“ I have been running the sites for more than 9 years now and it is time for someone else to take them to the next level”, explains former solicitor Martin Davies, who set up LAW on the WEB at home as a marketing exercise whilst still in private practice in 1999. “The potential for a forward-thinking law firm is huge with such a massive target audience. Just one £5 DIY document download a year to 5% of the current readership would produce revenue of £187,500 and a law firm could provide additional telephone support and follow-up, which we cannot do at the moment.”

Initially LAW on the WEB was just a directory of law firms that had websites. From there the site developed with the provision of some basic free legal information. It now has more than 200 pages. “Once we had a reasonable readership and good placement with search engines, I decided that I would work full-time on the site.” That was in early 2001 and a year later a separate site, www.caniclaim.com, was set up specifically to target personal injury and medical negligence work.

Last year LAW on the WEB received visits from more than 648,000 individuals, and this year figures are up by around 15%, with almost 250,000 unique visitors in the first 4 months of the year alone. In addition to revenue from basic legal document sales, pre-paid telephone advice and panel solicitor membership, the sites generate over 400 personal injury leads and nearly 200 medical negligence case leads per year.

“Given the changes that are likely to occur within the legal profession following the introduction of the provisions of Legal Services Act over the next few years, then any forward-thinking law firm ought to look at the opportunities that these websites will offer them to compete in a market that is likely to be dominated by some big hitters. The so-called era of Tesco Law is fast approaching. The AA, the Co-Op, the Halifax and Tesco itself are already diversifying into legal services."

Alternatively another entrepreneurial solicitor might like to consider taking the sites on. As Davies says “It beats being in private practice, but still allows you to use all the legal skills that you have built up over the years.” A full information pack is available to any prospective purchaser on request at mail@lawontheweb.co.uk or 01243 535377.