Great little piece in The Lawyer - which I can't find online - about Addleshaw Goddard's touting for work off the back of The Office of Fair Trading's investigation into the construction industry.
According to The Lawyer the firm sent out a "blast" email (whatever that is) to the construction companies involved, offering an hour's free surgery on a strictly confidential basis.
Rival firms were reportedly angry about the "underhand" nature of an unsolicited approach and one (unnamed) rival partner described the bid to "steal" clients as "absolutely disgraceful".
All a bit of a storm in a teacup really, because clients are not tied into firms of solicitors and lawyers now have to operate in such a competitive world, that it would be absurd if they couldn't offer their services directly to other businesses, whether or not they had existing advisers. Whether a "blast" email, which I take to mean a one off email sent to loads of people, conforms with Addleshaw's legal obligations, is something the article doesn't address, but it's something we all need to be aware of.
Great response from Addleshaws by the way. A source is quoted as saying it was ironic that competition lawyers were complaining about competition.
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