Legal access points for QualitySolicitors are disappearing from WH Smith stores across the country at the end of a two-year tie-up.

The firm announced in June it would end its contract to place stalls in branches of the high street giant.

John Baden-Daintree, head of legal services at QS, had admitted in April that the relationship had not worked for all signatory firms.

A spokeswoman this week confirmed to the Gazette that the stands are all now in the process of being removed.

Instead, the business will concentrate on developing of its online service as it prepares to unveil its partnership with US legal services business LegalZoom.

The spokeswoman said: ‘In a changing legal marketplace, QualitySolicitors has made a strategic decision to focus its business online and with individual partner firms, in order to give the best service to consumer and business clients.

‘As a result of this strategic decision, QualitySolicitors decided earlier this year not to continue with Legal Access Points in WH Smith stores.’

Details about the online service are still to be revealed, but the firm said the link will ‘continue to demonstrate that it is not afraid to challenge the way in which legal services are traditionally met’.

When the tie-up with WH Smith was announced in April 2011, it was heralded by Craig Holt, then QS chief executive, as a ‘game changer’ that would represent ‘the future of legal services’. WH Smith commercial director Ian Sanders said the businesses would enjoy a ‘long and successful partnership’.

The deal began with a QS presence in 150 stores – a figure that was eventually supposed to rise to 500.

On the high street, QS now has a presence in around 240 towns and cities across England and Wales. This week it announced its latest addition to the fold: SSB Law based in Sheffield.