1. Tell us a little about the history of RSR Law Ltd.
RSR Law Ltd became an Alternative Business Structure (ABS) in Feb 2014 and was an amalgamation of a law firm (RSR Law), a Claims Management Company (CMC) (Sapphire Claims Management Ltd) and a marketing company (PinnacleOne Ltd), all of which had been working closely together since 2007.
2. Where in the UK are you based?
Our head office is soon to be based in Croydon, South London (as of March 2015), at present we are based in Beckenham, Kent, however we deal with Personal Injury claims and contentious probate throughout England and Wales. Our marketing arm is based in Welshpool, Wales.
3. How many partners and staff do you have?
RSR Law Ltd has three directors and has an additional 4 staff members.
4. What are your specialist areas of law?
RSR Law Ltd is an experienced law firm with over 45 years’ experience handling Personal injury litigation, specifically Industrial Disease. It also deals with Contentious Probate in respect of Will Challenges, and Employment Law.
5. How has the April 2013 referral fees ban affected your business?
In anticipation of the changes in that occurred in April 2013 we reduced our reliance on referred work well before the deadline. Our in house marketing arm was able to bring in new claims consistently and far cheaper than under the old regime. We believe our online marketing is second to none, and we welcomed this change.
6. Have you changed your marketing strategy as a result of the changes and if so how?
Yes – with our marketing now totally in house we are able to ensure that we stay abreast of any and all regulations, and as an ABS our strategy is solicitor lead. The basis of forming the ABS authorised by the Solicitors Regulation Authority in Feb 2014, was to reduce costs and to bring the experience (and websites) of an established CMC and Marketing Company under the RSR Law Ltd banner.
Our marketing is now solely internet based via our extensive customer focused and dedicated websites SapphireClaims.com and ContestaWill2Win.com. Our company has always specialised in Industrial Disease and has never pursued Road Traffic Accidents, Slip Trip Falls, nor Accidents at Work, so we have been a able to adapt quickly to the referral fee ban.
7. What do you think the public value most from a Personal Injury firm? What do they really want?
To be kept regularly informed, and not to be kept in the dark. Information and continuing updates on a clients' case is vital. Our firms approach is definitely information driven, much of the content on our personal injury website (sapphireclaims.com) for example has been written by an in house biochemist, and an ex-poisons specialist from the NHS. The client values solicitor knowledge, information and the peace of mind that we understand the nature of their claim, all with a view to hopefully achieving a positive result.
8. The personal injury industry has had some bad press over the last few years, why do you think that is?
The bad press associated with personal injury in the eyes of the general public is clearly in regards to cold calling, whiplash claims and insurance premiums, and more recently Medical Negligence claims and the cost to the NHS. There is no doubt that the action of some CMCs, some unscrupulous claimants, a minority of dishonest solicitors, and the nature of the reporting by the press has played a major role in this.
Hopefully companies like ourselves with a strong client focus, and no cold calling policy will be able to change this perception.
9. What’s your most memorable experience of working in the personal injury sector?
For us as a company and a complete unit working together it must be the change made by the SRA allowing ABS's. This was a big leap for our company, allowing us to adapt to the new legislation and compete with much larger law firms and CMC's; in fact we have just reached our 1,000th personal injury contact since our new marketing strategy took effect.
10. Anything else you'd like to share with us?
Over the past year since forming the ABS we have gone from strength to strength and rank highly in both the personal injury and contentious probate sectors handling hundreds of cases each year.
Thank you to Andrew Paine of RSR Law Ltd for this interview.
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