Reallymoving Acquires Comparison Site TheLawSuperstore

Property services comparison site reallymoving.com has acquired the TheLawSuperstore.co.uk – the UK's first full service comparison website for legal services – from Winn Holdings Ltd, the parent company of personal injury firm Winn Solicitors.

TheLawSuperstore was launched in August 2016 to make it easier for personal and business consumers to compare and select legal services from across the UK.

Reallymoving has 18 years' experience in managing a comparison site for domestic removals, surveys, conveyancing solicitors, Energy Performance Certificates and Scottish Home Reports. During 2016, the site received 225,000 registrations, and generated 834,000 quotes on behalf of its network of partners. In the conveyancing market, reallymoving.com receives approximately 11,000 registrations from consumers every month and is currently working with 70 property law firms. Reallymoving.com plans to use its experience to replicate that success across the legal services sector.

Rob Houghton, CEO of reallymoving.com said: “We believe there is huge potential for comparison sites in the legal sector. In 2016, the Law Society reported that the total value of legal services to the economy is approximately £26bn[1]. The wills and probate market alone is worth something like 6% of the total annual turnover of solicitor firms in the UK.[2]

“But despite encouragement from regulators, demand from consumers, and the example set by the financial industry, price comparison sites have yet to take off in the legal services arena.”

Nick Masheder, executive director of Yorkshire law firm Beaumont Legal, an existing client of reallymoving.com, said: “We've been working withreallymoving.com for over 12 years and in that time we have gone from being a small high street firm to one of the largest providers of conveyancing services in the industry. Reallymoving.com has been integral to that growth. The site generates high quality leads and provides a significant amount of our business..”

Over the next few weeks the reallymoving management team will review the TheLawSuperstore commercial model and its user experience. Following this review, they plan to relaunch TheLawSuperstore in the autumn.

Rob Houghton said: “We have been hugely impressed by the success TheLawSuperstore have had in creating a simple way for users to obtain instant quotes for a comprehensive range of legal services. It's a very handsome, and intelligently developed website. We are confident we can use our experience to drive its growth – reallymoving.com has been generating conveyancing quotes for the past 18 years.”

Matthew Briggs, former CEO of TheLawSuperstore concluded: “We're proud of the quality of the site and the achievements we've had but it's the right time for me to step aside and let the business continue in a new phase of its development. I look forward to watching TheLawSuperstore go from strength to strength under its new ownership.”

Legal service providers interested in lead generation can register for more information at https://www.thelawsuperstore.co.uk/.

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Legal Services Comparison Sites: reallymoving.com is undertaking the deal against a backdrop of regulatory demand for more transparency and better tools to help consumers compare providers of legal services. After the completion of a year-long study into the legal services sector, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has concluded that competition in legal services for individual consumers and small businesses is not working well.[3]

The CMA has set out a package of measures to challenge providers and regulators to help customers better navigate the market and get value for money, a package that includes facilitating the development of comparison sites and other intermediaries to allow customers to compare providers in one place.[4]

In their response to the Competition & Markets Authority's Legal Services Market Study Report, the SRA said consumers would benefit from more information about the services offered by a legal services provider “so they can compare the offerings of different providers” and that this “would help them to make an informed choice when purchasing legal services.”[5]

reallymoving.com: reallymoving.com was launched in November 1999, and has become the UK's leading provider of free instant quotes for home-moving services. The site provides instant quotes for domestic removals, surveys, conveyancing solicitors, Energy Performance Certificates and Scottish Home Reports and a choice between local and national service providers. During 2016 reallymoving.com received 225,000 registrations, and generated 834,000 quotes on behalf of its UK-wide network of partners. This represents approximately £163 million worth of work in 12 months. In 2016, approximately 8% of the UK's home buyers turned to reallymoving for quotes. In 2017, registrations with reallymoving.com are set to increase 30% on 2016.

TheLawSuperstore: TheLawSuperstore was launched in August 2016 to make it easier for consumers to compare and select legal services from across the UK – nowhere else can people search and compare the range of legal experts based on their specific requirements. The website is owned by Winn Holdings Ltd, the parent company of personal injury firm Winn Solicitors with private equity investment from JZ International and Souter Investments (which have previously bought into Winns) who invested a combined seven-figure sum.

The new senior management team will consist of CEO Rob Houghton, COO Rosie Rogers, and General Manager Simon Brent with TheLawSuperstore operating as a sub-brand of reallymoving.com Ltd.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/law/2016/mar/22/uk-legal-sector-now-worth-26bn-a-year

[2] https://research.legalservicesboard.org.uk/analysis/supply/market-financials/turnover-and-profitability/

[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-demands-greater-transparency-from-legal-service-providers

[4] Ibid

[5] http://www.sra.org.uk/sra/consultations/consultation-responses/cma-report.page