The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has today published new guidance that aims to encourage barristers to follow good practice when they receive feedback from their clients. It has also published a guide for the public about using and leaving feedback about barristers’ services. Along with the other legal regulators, the BSB was asked by the Competition and Markets Authority…
Bar Standards Board explains how it assures competence at the Bar
Following its decision last year not to implement the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA), the Bar Standards Board (BSB) has today published more detail about how it assures the competence of barristers. The approach reflects the BSB’s move in the last few years to become a more risk- and evidence-based regulator that takes better targeted action to maintain…
Encouraging the Development of ‘Low Bono’ Law Practices
For decades, the discussion about access to justice has primarily focused on the ability of low–income individuals to obtain free representation by lawyers. Lawyer representation is the “gold star” of the legal profession and advocates of legal services for the poor have fought difficult battles to ensure the most disadvantaged in our country have access…
SRA consultation on protecting the users of legal services
The SRA has launched a consultation on “Protecting the users of legal services: balancing cost and access to legal services”. While most people are happy with the service they receive from solicitors and regulated law firms, things can and do go wrong. It is crucial that the public can trust that when things go wrong…
Measuring Legal Service Value
This article proposes a theoretical foundation for measuring legal service value. It aims to support efforts to compare the value of offerings from different law firms, as well as alternative legal service providers. The value of any legal service depends on (i) its effectiveness, (ii) its affordability, (iii) the experience it creates for its clients,…
Understanding consumer experiences of conveyancing legal services
Conveyancing is one of the most common legal services people use in their lifetime, with more than one million homes bought and sold every year in the UK. However, there are some concerns about the conduct of some solicitors and the quality of service they are providing, with high proportions of insurance claims and complaints to the…
The legal needs of small businesses 2013-2017
The Legal Services Board (LSB) has published its third research report focusing on the legal needs of small businesses and looking at how their views have changed – and the legal services market has responded – since similar research was conducted in 2013 and in 2015. It is the largest ever survey of small firms’ interactions with the legal…
Prices of Individual Consumer Legal Services 2017: LSB research
The Legal Services Board (England and Wales) has published research which monitors the average prices that consumers pay for a number of common legal services. Understanding changes in prices over time helps determine whether there have been any improvements in the extent of competition between providers, and affordability and access to justice for consumers. It provides…
SRA consultation – Looking to the future: better information, more choice
The SRA is consulting on publishing more of the regulatory data that they hold about solicitors and firms they regulate. They are also consulting on asking the solicitors and firms they regulate to publish more information on the legal services they provide. The SRA is proposing to: require firms to publish their price for services…
Focus on… ABS investment activity
A major aim of the introduction of alternative business structures (ABS) in England and Wales was to allow new forms of capital into regulated law firms to improve market efficiency. Enabling external investment in law firms was designed to allow less reliance on short term sources of financing such as personal debt and overdrafts. The…