Losing the Personal Touch?

Experts are predicting that this year will see a great change in the legal profession due to the implications of the Legal Services Act which received Royal Assent at the end of last year. In this article, Graham Payne, Senior Partner of Eric Robinson Solicitors, explains why how this new legislation could jeopardize lawyers’ relationships with their clients.

The purpose of the Legal Services Act is to reform the way legal services in England and Wales are regulated and, according to the Ministry of Justice, ‘put the consumer interest at the heart of the regulatory framework.’ It allows law firms to create alternative business structures (for example lawyers working together with people from other sectors such as accountancy, insurance or property on an equal footing as company directors), invite outside investment and even float on the stock market . 

Dubbed by insiders as ‘Tesco Law’ because it will eventually allow supermarkets to sell legal services, the Legal Services Act sounds like a good strategy in an increasingly crowded legal marketplace, but I believe it fails to take into account a fundamental issue.

I have been a solicitor for over 30 years and thoroughly enjoyed my work, but I am under no illusion that people only go to see a solicitor in times of difficulty or distress - they come to us when they need help. The most positive client is the one who has taken the pro-active step to make a Will otherwise we are involved in divorce, custody, the stress of house buying, criminal activity, personal injury, litigation or business affairs.

There is only one thing that all the clients I have worked with have in common. They have found face-to-face contact and a constant relationship with the same individual solicitor greatly reassuring. A lot of our clients need comfort and support and we know what will happen when the supermarkets offer their legal services - there will be impersonal call centres, a different name every time you call and if the client is in Southampton and the legal practitioner is in Northumberland there won’t be the opportunity to ‘call in the office for a progress report’.

As big names start to launch legal services which they can afford to subsidize, prices will be cheaper and more attractive to first time buyers seeking low cost conveyancing or personal injury claimants enjoying incentives beyond the current ‘no win, no fee’, but I still can’t believe that anyone whose marriage has broken down would turn to a supermarket chain for help and support.