Today’s news that QualitySolicitors is to put a member of staff in WHSmith stores throughout the country has provoked a strong reaction from the profession; as any regular visitor to the Gazette site would expect.

Whenever the Gazette reports on the latest QS initiative, the news is met with derision, often by the majority of commentators (though there are always those who support it or can see the sense in it).

QS’s detractors are also prone to query why the Gazette is covering the story, and so giving free publicity to the QS brand. That’s an easy one to answer: it’s newsworthy.

As a high street law firm, you may not like what QS is up to in your region.

But surely you still want to know about it.

Would firms rather bury their heads in the sand and not be told, as the Gazette revealed in February, that QS has just opened 100 new branches?

It’s always good to know what the competition is doing, even if you do not intend to join the QS brand yourself – and the Gazette, which was the first to break today’s news of the WHSmith tie-up – is the first port of call for that information.

So how significant is this move to place QS staff in WHSmith stores?

Frankly, QS boss Craig Holt hits the nail on the head when he points out that the deal will ‘fast forward QS to "household name" status years ahead of target’. You bet it will.

One of the biggest problems solicitors face is that many people who might want to use their services are actually a bit scared of them.

A consumer research project conducted by the SRA recently found that consumers are ‘in awe’ of the profession.

That might sound complimentary, but in practice it means they are too intimidated to walk into a solicitors’ office and finally get that will written up.

In one canny move, QS has eliminated that problem. Instead of trying to entice reluctant clients through a law firm’s doors, now the brand comes to them instead – in among the two-for-one chocolate deals and paperback books, a place where a smiling employee in a black and pink polo shirt presents customers with just the perfect opportunity to do something about that nagging legal problem.

It doesn’t matter whether that person is a lawyer or not – and in fact will probably work better if they’re not.

It is more important for them to be approachable than knowledgeable (I know commentators won’t like this). All they need to do is tap that appointment into the iPad, and let the qualified lawyers take it from there.

Holt declined to divulge how much QS is forking out for this deal – no doubt WHSmith will have driven a hard bargain.

But it is hard to see how this deal can be anything other than a very smart move for QS firms; all the better, because now QS has really stolen a march on the non-legal brands that will be looking to exploit their own high street outlets and branches come October.