Client care

More than four out of five of divorcees want family law services provided by fixed fees, according to research carried out by Co-operative Legal Services to launch a campaign against hourly rates in light of this week’s legal aid cuts.

More than half of those going through a divorce were priced out of the legal services they would have bought and felt they needed, new research has found, with nine out of ten people told by solicitors to take or leave pricing on an hourly rate.

A war of words has broken out between the Law Society of Scotland and Council of Mortgage Lenders over the former’s decision to ban joint representation of borrower and lender, subject to formal rule changes later this year.

The trend towards ‘unbundling’ legal services is gathering pace, with a Yorkshire law firm launching a ‘Pay as You Go’ service for family law clients who will no longer be eligible for legal aid after 1 April.

The government does not intend to extend legal professional privilege to non-lawyers, the Ministry of Justice confirmed yesterday after accountants urged Parliament to level the playing field for multi-disciplinary entities.

The Supreme Court has ruled 5:2 in favour of not extending legal professional privilege to non-lawyers, even where they are giving legal advice that they are qualified to give. The court said it would make a well-established principle unclear and also that it was ultimately a matter for Parliament.

Just 8% of recent home-buyers would seek out a big brand such as the Co-op to handle their conveyancing the next time they move, a consumer survey has found as Conveyancing Association launched customer service ‘pledges’ that it says are a first for the industry.

Merger and acquisition talks are rife among law firms, although there is little evidence of many making it through to a deal, new research has suggested. According to the survey by NatWest, 62% of firms had received or made approaches in the past year.

Quality of legal advice and service still trump cost when clients choose a lawyer, although certainty about price and a firm’s use of technology are increasingly important, according to a major survey of client needs being released at today’s Legal Futures conference.

Regulators need to take urgent action to improve the way lawyers handle complaints after a “hard-hitting” new report highlighted multiple failings. However, although clients are often scared to complain, a positive experience when they do can actually make them likely to recommend the provider.