the chief
Message from
I have talked before about how we are a regulated business, as
indeed are all firms of solicitors and many other (though not all)
lawyers.
The way in which we are regulated
changed in 2007, and currently we have
an immediate regulator, the Solicitors
Regulation Authority (SRA) and an
overarching regulator, the Legal Services
Board (LSB). The LSB also oversees
regulators of others, such as the Bar
Standards Board (BSB) for barristers.
It’s all a bit of a complicated picture,
and may well change in the next few
years. The current Minister of Justice,
Michael Gove, has recently talked about
regulators of legal services “tripping over
each other” so it’s pretty clear that he is
not impressed with the way things are.
One positive aspect of the changes
introduced eight years ago was the
creation of the Legal Services Consumer
Panel (LSCS), which began its work in
4
earnest in late 2009. I say “positive”
in the knowledge that some of its
pronouncements have not made easy
reading for lawyers of all descriptions,
but sometimes progress can only be
achieved when uncomfortable truths
have been faced.
The LSCS issues policy statements and
research findings based on surveys that
they arrange. Such findings capture, in
a way that hasn’t been possible before,
how and why consumers use legal
services, what they expect from lawyers,
and their experience of the process.
The last LSCS Consumer Impact Report,
published in 2014, contains some
interesting research outcomes, which I
have been reviewing recently.
These are some of the key points;
1. C
hoice - 68% of consumers felt they
had a great deal or fair amount of
choice in choosing a legal services
firm (up from 65% in 2011)
2. C
omparison - 24% of consumers
talked to more than one firm i.e.
shopped around before instructing one
of them (19% in 2011) and 14% found
it difficult to compare providers (down
from 28% in 2011)
3. V
alue for Money - 67% of consumers
that paid for legal work considered
they received good or very good value
for money (55% in 2011, 59% in 2012,
55% in 2013)
4. O
utcome - 82% of consumers were
satisfied or very satisfied with the
outcome of their matter in terms of
quality of advice received, while 79%
were satisfied with the service, both
of which are largely unchanged from
previous years.