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Law firms will this year have to give the Solicitors Regulation Authority a detailed breakdown of the number and type of complaints they have received in the past 12 months, as part of the process of renewing their authorisation.

Solicitors who offer financial services and plan to become alternative business structures could be forced out of the market by plans to plug a gap in consumer protection created by the Legal Services Act, the Financial Services Authority has admitted.

Clients of law firms that provide retail financial services advice and convert to become alternative business structures could find themselves without access to a compensation fund or the firm’s professional indemnity insurance because of a hole in the Legal Services Act, it has emerged.

Customer experience will largely define the success of legal providers in the post Legal Services Act world, according to a survey of delegates at last week’s Legal Futures Conference. Understading the client is vital but doing it will be difficult for some firms, the survey found.

Viv Williams, chief executive of Legal Futures Associate the 360 Legal Group, looks at the challenges facing law firms in 2011 and says that, with a price war looming, it is time for smaller practices to look at the benefits of consolidation.