5. Use of law firms - 71% of consumers
have not used any legal services in the
last two years, 7% have made a Will
in the last two years, and people that
have a Will runs at 35%. All of these
numbers are in line with previous years
when the survey has been carried out.
6. Complaints - 45% of the general
public say they would feel confident
making a complaint about a lawyer,
yet 44% of consumers who had used
a lawyer and were dissatisfied about
it did not complain, compared to 27%
for the services sector as a whole
All very interesting, but what are the
implications of such findings for Mayo
Wynne Baxter?
1. Choice – In some ways, it is surprising
that people feel they have more
choice when considering which firm
should be instructed. Our experience
is that we sometimes have to battle
with very obvious steering of people
towards particular firms, based not
on their quality of service, but on
the financial arrangements that exist
between the referring party and the
firm put forward for instruction. This is
particularly prevalent in Injury claims
where, although it is now unlawful
for the referring body to receive a
fee for the referral, they can still set
up an arrangement to divide the
profit between the parties to get
round that rule. It can also happen
in conveyancing, where some estate
agents are only able to recommend
law firms with which their head office
has negotiated a deal. Our regulations
require that such arrangements must
be declared so that informed choices
can be made. Be wary of any that only
come to light after the event.
figures as if lawyers have become
better at demonstrating the value
they can provide. Sometimes, this
can be difficult, because the value is
often in the avoidance of a horrible
consequence that (the consumer may
feel) may not have occurred anyway.
For example, we could review a lease
of a building which we advise needs
amendment to ensure that rights
between occupiers of the building are
set out correctly if a fire occurred and
the building is damaged. If you ignore
our advice and proceed to take the
lease, and a fire never occurs, there is
no adverse consequence. However, if
a fire did occur, you could justifiably
claim that we had not protected your
interests by allowing you to take the
lease in a defective form (if we had not
pointed out to you the defect).
4. Level of satisfaction – we have
outstanding results from the feedback
we are given, and publish the results
on our website. For June 2015 (the
last set of results collated to date),
84% of people that used us were very
satisfied and 14.7% were satisfied. We
are not complacent though. We want
to achieve at least 90% very satisfied
so will continue working towards that
aim.
5. Use of Law firms – as the LSCS has
concluded, the figures demonstrate
a significant unmet legal need. For
example, 65% of you have not made
a Will! Whether you use us or not,
please do ensure you make a Will
as soon as you can, and even if you
have made one, if it hasn’t been
reviewed and updated in the past five
years, there is a good chance you
will want to change it. Why do people
not use legal services? Often, it