Ad description
Claims on the website www.nickfreemansolicitors.co.uk stated "Freeman & Co is one of the UK's best known criminal law practices, headed by its founder, Nick Freeman ... About Nick Freeman aka Mr Loophole - Nick has acted for a string of high-profile celebrities. His success in the courtroom has earned him the nickname 'Mr Loophole' ... With Freeman & Co you'll receive - Nick Freeman's expertise and experience in cases ... Senior Solicitor's attendance with you at a Police Station as required Specialist representation from our Senior Solicitors Personal telephone support 24/7 from a Senior Solicitor".
Issue
A complainant, a former client of Freeman & Co, challenged whether the claim "With Freeman & Co you'll receive - Nick Freeman's expertise and experience in cases" was misleading and could be substantiated, because they understood Nick Freeman was involved in only certain priority cases.
Response
Nick Freeman Ltd t/a Freeman & Co said Nick Freeman was their Managing Director and had overall supervision of every case file. They said he interviewed and trained each member of staff and worked closely with the company's lawyers. Cases were discussed on a daily basis with Mr Freeman and if clients specifically requested to speak to him they were able to do so. They said he was available to speak to every client and also prepared cases on an ad hoc basis, irrespective of whether clients requested that. They said he was not involved in only certain priority cases.
Assessment
THIS ADJUDICATION REPLACES THAT PUBLISHED ON 16 APRIL 2014. THE WORDING OF THE ASSESSMENT HAS CHANGED BUT THE DECISION TO 'UPHOLD' THE COMPLAINT REMAINS.
Upheld
The ASA considered the claim "With Freeman & Co you'll receive - Nick Freeman's expertise and experience in cases" and the text "Freeman & Co is one of the UK's best known criminal law practices, headed by its founder, Nick Freeman", could be interpreted as suggesting Mr Freeman's expertise was only generally available to clients of the practice. We acknowledged other text under the heading "With Freeman & Co you'll receive …" stated, "Senior Solicitor's attendance with you at a Police Station as required", "Specialist representation from our Senior Solicitors" and "Personal telephone support 24/7 from a Senior Solicitor", which we considered made clear other colleagues might be involved with individual clients.
However, we considered the claim "With Freeman & Co you'll receive - Nick Freeman's expertise and experience in cases" was ambiguous and could also be interpreted as suggesting Mr Freeman would be directly involved in handling every case as well as being available to personally discuss cases with each client. We noted the ad also referred to Nick Freeman's "success in the courtroom", which we considered might be interpreted as suggesting he would personally represent clients at court. We considered the overall impression of the ad was such that it would be understood to mean Nick Freeman would be directly involved with the details of each client's case. Because in some instances Mr Freeman had only overall supervision of cases, we concluded the ad was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
3.3
3.3
Marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead the consumer depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the marketing communication is constrained by time or space, the measures that the marketer takes to make that information available to the consumer by other means.
(Misleading advertising).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Freeman & Co to ensure their future advertising did not imply staff would be directly involved with clients if that was not always the case.
