The firm has hired public relations (PR) agency Bell Pottinger to review the image of its litigation department. The firm is keen to distance the practice from its image as an insurance specialist.
The firm has cited cases including Equitable Life, in which it acted for defendant Ernst & Young, and its earlier involvement in litigation following the collapse of Barings Bank as evidence of its involvement in big-ticket commercial litigation. Senior partner Richard Dedman told Legal Week: “We are a top firm for insurance work and want to keep that position, but one of our objectives is to be the ‘go to’ firm for all types of commercial litigation.”
Bell Pottinger will shortly file a report to the partners on the media’s perception of the firm and its litigation work.
The move follows a controversial advertising campaign by the firm last year — designed to promote Barlows’ prowess as a litigation practice — which appeared in the national press naming 250 legal counsel under the tagline: “If you’d like your name kept out of the legal pages, take a note of ours.”
The advert caused anger among in-house lawyers and the