Consumer panel

There is a strong case for some lawyers facing periodic reaccreditation and for creating a single badge to help consumers distinguish between regulated and unregulated providers, the Legal Services Consumer Panel said in a report published today. Responding to a request from the Legal Services Board for consumer perspectives on quality, the panel drew on consumer research it commissioned and found support for lawyers undergoing “a regular MOT”.

The independence of the legal profession from government is under threat from Whitehall, Legal Services Consumer Panel chairwoman Dr Dianne Hayter warned on Saturday. Speaking at the Bar Council annual conference, Dr Hayter revealed that the Legal Services Board (LSB), Legal Ombudsman and consumer panel have all been told to close their websites, while she highlighted the threat from legislation that will allow government to abolish or amend the terms of the LSB.

Legal services is one of the markets most failing UK consumers, with bankers and insurers among those doing a better job, pioneering European Union research has revealed. Lawyers are just ahead of second-hand car salesmen, however. The Legal Services Consumer Panel has branded the results “embarrassing” and said lawyers will have to up their game significantly if they are to resist competition from alternative business structures.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and Office of Fair Trading (OFT) have each pledged around £30,000 to support the Legal Services Board’s (LSB) research into the will-writing market, Legal Futures can reveal. However, the Law Society has declined to contribute, citing concerns over the impact its involvement could have on how the impartiality of the research is viewed.

The Legal Ombudsman has added his voice to concerns at plans to merge the Legal Services Consumer Panel into Citizens Advice. He said that whatever happens, he will still “need someone I can talk to who I believe truly represents consumer interests… Unfortunately, for all its virtues, Citizens Advice cannot do that.”

An expert advisory group to help the Legal Services Consumer Panel design its Consumer Welfare Index has been unveiled. The index – first announced in the panel’s 2010/11 workplan – will be a basket of indicators that, taken together, will assess whether the legal services reforms are having a positive impact on consumers. It will then form the basis of an annual “consumer health check”.

Plans to merge the Legal Services Consumer Panel into Citizens Advice will need to overcome issues around confidentiality and conflicts of interests as the charity is also a provider in the legal market, Legal Services Board chairman David Edmonds has warned.

The Legal Services Consumer Panel could be a surprise victim of the government’s so-called bonfire of the quangos and be merged into Citizens Advice, it has emerged. The panel’s chairwoman, Dianne Hayter, has hit out at the move, saying Citizens Advice would not be able to replicate the role of the panel during a “critical period” in the development of legal regulation as the introduction of alternative business structures nears.

The Legal Services Consumer Panel has had to put on ice plans to develop best practice standards for legal comparison websites, Legal Futures has learned. The work formed part of the panel’s 2010-11 workplan, published in March, but has been shelved because the panel has since been asked by the Legal Services Board to investigate will-writing regulation.

The Legal Ombudsman (LeO) today reopened the debate about whether the details of complaints against lawyers should be published, including their names, with a strong endorsement from the Legal Services Consumer Panel that they should. In a discussion paper that seeks views on how it should approach the publication of complaints data, LeO says a naming policy could benefit consumers and lawyers, but that there could be unintended negative consequences too.

The will-writing debate moved towards the end-game today after the Legal Services Consumer Panel launched its investigation into whether the industry should be regulated. However, the Legal Services Board is currently trying to secure £110,000 in funding for the panel to undertake market research.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority and Bar Standards Board are in discussions about creating a joint online consumer network involving the general public, Legal Futures has learned. The move follows pressure from the Legal Services Consumer Panel for the frontline regulators to improve engagement with consumers

A range of law firms and commercial interests have been wining and dining representatives of the Legal Services Board (LSB), according to information released to Legal Futures under the Freedom of Information Act.

The latest edition of my series looking at who’s who on the various bodies overseeing the legal profession takes us to the Legal Services Consumer Panel, the public face for which is chairwoman Baroness Dianne Hayter of Kentish Town – one of four members of the eight-person panel who are declared Labour supporters in the register of members’ interests that has just been published following a Freedom of Information Act request by Legal Futures.

The profession’s regulators have been urged to put consumer engagement at their heart of their strategies after talks last month found their efforts to date have been limited. The Legal Services Consumer Panel says this is “an essential part of being a credible regulator”.