Dest 02 06 Marketing guru turns to legal sector for shake-up

Banking marketing guru Peter Simpson, who made his mark as the innovative commercial director at First Direct, has turned his attention to the legal sector, which he says ‘needs a kick in the pants’.

Simpson, from Yorkshire, was part of the team that developed the business strategy for First Direct, which, at the time of its launch in 1989, offered a revolutionary banking service. In 1991 he became the on-line bank’s commercial director. Uniquely, the bank designed its service around customer needs by providing a 24-hour service delivering exceptional service quality.

Nationally and internationally he is recognised as a leading light in bringing a fresh and innovative approach to delivering and marketing professional services. Just this week he picked up the award for First Direct being named direct brand of the decade by ‘Precision Marketing’. At the same awards ceremony he was in a prestigious shortlist of three in the ‘client marketer of the decade’ category.

As a result of his development of the First Direct brand, it is today one of the icons of financial services provision with both its advertising and direct marketing consistently awarded top accolades for creativity and effectiveness.

A man who is always looking for a challenge, Simpson has now been attracted to Destiny Legal Services, a pioneering business, which is aiming to transform the structure of the legal sector by bringing much-needed efficiencies and delivering value for money to its customers.

“The legal sector is almost pre-historic in its management and in its approach to customers. Some lawyers think they are doing the world a favour by getting out of bed in the morning and the result is a profession that is vastly overpaid for delivering a second-rate service. Finally the customer is waking up to the fact that they are being short-changed and we are already seeing the impact with law firms struggling to remain viable.

“The Clementi review, which has essentially deregulated the legal sector, will bring new entrants, who are leaner, meaner, fitter and more customer-focussed, into the market. Only those lawyers who quickly recognise the need to change their business model, will survive. It’s ‘kick in the pants’ time.”

Destiny Legal Services, which was launched in Manchester earlier this year, is offering legal and operational expertise on a flexible basis to other law firms which will enable them to cut their overheads and modernise working practices to secure their long-term future.

Mark Smith, chief executive of Destiny Legal Services commented: “With mergers between law firms being announced on an almost daily basis it is obvious that, in order to survive, legal practices must become modern competitive businesses. Many law firms have overheads which cannot be sustained if they wish to remain competitive. Destiny offers a range of services which will allow lawyers to outsource the process-driven elements of their business enabling them to sustain a viable business going forward.

“Peter Simpson has a track record second-to-none and the fact that we have been able to attract him to Destiny is evidence of the potential this business has to be a market leader in legal services in the 21st century.”

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Press contact:
Vicki Baxter, Joanne Fletcher-Wall or Alex Henshall at Bell Pottinger North (01625) 506444 vbaxter@bellpottingernorth.co.uk or jfletcher-wall@bellpottingernorth.co.uk or ahenshall@bellpottingernorth.co.uk

Notes to Editors:
Destiny Legal Services Ltd is the first legal services management company of its kind, offering a full range of legal services including high quality call handling and operations processing. This is a groundbreaking concept for the legal industry.

Destiny Legal Services aims to generate positive change in a way that legal services are delivered, offering legal and management expertise, provided on a flexible basis which responds to individual legal client’s needs.