Developed by the Liverpool-based management team at LegalRSS, the new app allows law firms and the legal industry to keep up to date with the latest sector developments. Jonathan Caswell reports

A long-established news provider for the UK’s legal sector has changed hands with new owners targeting growth of its services by launching a multi-function smartphone app.

Developed by the Liverpool-based management team at LegalRSS, the new app allows law firms and the legal industry to keep up to date with the latest developments at the touch of a button with daily articles on court reports, judgements, general legal news and case law.

The first-of-its-kind app can also be tailored for individual law firms to carry their own branding and services. It is designed to help firms showcase their expertise, offering an added-value communication channel with their clients that will help to nurture and strengthen client relationships.

This bespoke version of the LegalRSS app also includes built-in analytics, allowing firms to see what types of legal news and subject matter their clients are most interested, so that they can implement targeted cross-selling and boost client retention.

In addition to personalised news content from qualified court reporters covering 60 different disciplines of law, LegalRSS creates and distributes tailored e-newsletters and provides an automated newsfeed for legal firm website.

LegalRSS was founded in 1997 by marketing specialist Joe Reevy to provide consultancy services to professional services firms with a specific focus on techniques to improve profitability.

The service was recently acquired by Liverpool-based Martyn Best, a former chartered accountant, who has created, supported and developed a range of successful businesses.

Martyn, also the editor of the Law Management and Marketing e-newsletter and the founder and editor of Chartered One, the magazine of the Liverpool Society of Chartered Accountants, said: “Joe Reevy has established LegalRSS as a respected and trusted service making it the first port of call for the latest legal news.

“I am delighted to be able to take LegalRSS to the next level and create something even more valuable to the legal community. I’ve worked with this sector for many years and indeed with many legal practitioners and I have seen that law firm marketing can be constrained.”

The app also encourages clients to spend more time on legal firm websites and reduces the need to create fresh, regular blog content. Greg Best, LegalRSS’s director of marketing, added: “A website that doesn’t contain up-to-date information of interest to clients and prospects has very little marketing value.

“Research shows that after arriving on the site, more than three quarters of subsequent page views are of articles and topical legal material. No content means a swift move to another website. The LegalRSS app helps to mitigate against this.”