A comparison website for law firms is set to launch next year backed by millions of pounds from two private equity investors.

The Law Superstore will offer consumers a choice of legal provider based on 30 selected categories and charge a flat fee for every piece of work passed onto law firms.

The venture is being marketed as the legal equivalent of Compare the Market and hopes to capitalise on the success of consumer sites such as Airbnb and Uber which match providers with consumers.

The project has taken nine months to develop and is being led by Matthew Briggs, who previously has been in charge of Yorkshire firms Minster Law and Brilliant Law.

Briggs said private equity providers JZ International and Souter Investments, which have previously bought into personal injury firm Winn Solicitors, have pumped a seven-figure sum into the new venture already.

‘People will say they’ve seen lots of these come and go, but I promise you no-one will have seen anything like this,’ said Briggs.

‘This is a true legal services aggregator which we’ve built over a long time with several developers and through a number of focus groups with law firms.’

The Law Superstore is going live next March and Briggs will spend the coming months trying to attract firms to sign up for free to be part of the search engine.

He said the company will offer no legal services itself but will help meet the significant unmet demand for professional advice.

‘It has been designed to be far more than a price comparison site or a simple review site as it will offer the legal profession a new way to market their services and match legal service providers with customers,’ added Briggs.

‘Through a sophisticated software platform, customers will be ‘matched’ with legal providers that meet their exact requirements based on a range of criteria including particular expertise, services and geographic location.’