The imminent disappearance of the WH Smith brand from high streets has made Obiter think wistfully back to the time when it was all set to transform the legal sector.

Back in 2011, the retail giant agreed to host 500 ‘legal access points’ as part of a deal with nascent network QualitySolicitors, which could change the way consumer clients found solicitors.

The tie-up was endorsed, for reasons nobody could quite understand, by Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden and launched at the WH Smiths in Westfield in west London.

Holden was clearly won over by the prospect of QS and WHS working in tandem, going on the sofa of ITV’s This Morning and telling the show: ‘You can walk into WH Smith… there is a list that is now recommended by the public, for the public, of solicitors who are kosher, who are not going to rip you off and who can help you. And it’s completely free, you get advice free and then you can get any information you need.’

Amanda Holden

Amanda Holden endorsed the tie-up

Source: Alamy

Alas, QualitySolicitors did not go on to revolutionise the legal world (although we are happy to report it remains in operation), and the placement of legal access points did not turn the WH Smith tide. The stalls were taken down in 2013 as the contract ended with little fanfare.

WH Smith stores are to be rebranded as TGJones, with no plans that we know of to invite Holden or sell legal services at the relaunch.

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