Client care

Almost half of conveyancing clients complain of a lack of communication during the process, while two-thirds of conveyancers believe they keep consumers fully informed, a survey has found. Some conveyancers are finding ways of bridging the gap, with the proportion using online portals growing from 4% to 15% in three years.

Fees for conveyancing and lasting powers of attorney have fallen over the past two years, while they have risen for family work, a report by the Legal Services Board has found. It also revealed that only 18% of law firms publish prices for any of their work in these areas on their websites.

The big commercial law firms are not delivering value for money and often fail to stick to budgets, a survey of over 800 corporate clients has found – though some are much worse than others. In all, clients said their solicitors only met or exceeded their expectations on value for money in 49% of cases – DAC Beachcroft was top with 66%.

Black, Asian and minority ethnic defendants do not trust legal aid solicitors and often enter not guilty pleas against advice as a result, according to a major report. The Lammy Review said BAME defendants often saw duty solicitors as ‘part of the system’ and so pleaded not guilty.

Law firms still have a long way to go in dealing with enquiries from potential clients, with a failure to follow up initial contacts a particular weakness, mystery shopping research has found. In the most extreme example, not one of the 50 SME law firms that received a walk-in enquiry followed it up.

Lawyers acting for mentally ill clients and dementia sufferers have been praised in surveys commissioned by the Legal Services Board on the needs of vulnerable consumers, but some did find it hard to deal with solicitors. The majority of dementia sufferers said their experience of seeing a solicitor had been “extremely positive”.

A poll of almost 1,500 mortgage customers has highlighted familiar concerns about conveyancing – that it is slow, stressful and poor value for money. Conveyancers also came bottom when judged by how much they ‘made the deal happen’ compared to others in the process.

A ‘mystery shopping’ exercise to test law firms’ ability to communicate with customers has shown progress, yet the proportion of solicitors willing to follow up incoming calls from the public, although better than last year, was still “drastically low”.

The Legal Services Board has dismissed concerns about the “negative” impact of its requirement that lawyers tell clients about their complaints procedures before any work has been done. Research found “negative reactions” to the prominence of this information but the board said the problem was how some lawyers have chosen to provide it.

In-house lawyers have ranked responsiveness and understanding of their businesses above price as the qualities they most look for when choosing external law firms. One legal counsel at an investment fund said he was “shocked at the poor service we sometimes get” and “often dumbfounded by the poor level of responsiveness”.