Client care

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers is set to become the first regulator to introduce a ‘polluter pays’ element to how it recovers the cost of the Legal Ombudsman from those it regulates.

A man sued by a Kent law firm for unpaid fees has lost his appeal against a suspended sentence handed out for contempt over his failure to comply with court orders.

There was no implied retainer between a businessman who found himself on the wrong end of an expensive short-term loan and the law firm acting for the lender, the High Court has ruled.

Consumers of legal services apply “relatively limited criteria” when shopping around, research has found – which 46% of those polled did, while 27% went to the first adviser they looked at.

Many personal injury law firms fail to understand what potential clients are looking for and are wasting their marketing budgets as a result, according to research published today.

The Legal Ombudsman has warned that if its poor performance over the last few months continues, it could take more than a year to process even the simplest complaints.

Little more than a third (37%) of barristers, chambers and firms regulated by the Bar Standards Board are fully complying with its rules on price and service transparency, it has emerged.

For legal firms striving to stand out in a digital age, live chat helps to bring them closer to clients and respond to the changing way people shop and procure legal services.

The High Court has upheld a decision refusing two ‘core participants’ in the infected blood public inquiry the right to nominate their own solicitors.

A law firm earned some £800,000 in fees on three failed property development schemes as well as ‘quick sale’ conveyancing where it acted for both sides, a tribunal has heard.

Legal project management has received an unexpected boost from people working from home as a result of Covid-19 but law firms are keen on formal standards for it, according to a study.

A law firm in Wiltshire is offering a ‘Wills through a window’ service as law firms look for ways to execute wills validly amidst a spike in demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Law firms and other advisers are often organised so they only see a legal problem that needs to be resolved, rather than take a ‘whole person’ approach to clients, the head of a well-known legal charity has said.

Law firms are making follow-up calls to only 9% of the people that contact them, a mystery shopper survey has found, with conveyancing teams performing better than private client and debt recovery.

Solicitors’ firms that adjust the way they present information to disabled people – and make explicit how they can accommodate their needs – will see the business benefits, a major study has found.