The Legal Services Act – will it make a difference?

The MoJ has conducted research on clients’ experiences of using legal services for personal matters. Its purpose is to establish a baseline against which the anticipated impact of the Legal Services Act will be assessed.
 
The survey collected data relating to client profile, types of legal services used, types of provider and the standard of service they received.
 
Types of service used
 
The most commonly used types of legal service in the last three years were:

• conveyancing 50%
• will writing 27%
• probate 17%
• family matters 15%
• accident and injury claims 11%

Client profile
 
Compared with the general population, legal services users were more likely to be white and aged between 25 and 44, less likely to have a long-standing physical or mental health problem, less likely to live in deprived areas and more likely to live in rural areas.
 
Overall, users of legal services were less disadvantaged than the general population.
 
Again, given the types of service used, which mostly relate to the transfer of property, this is not surprising but it is interesting to compare the results to what we know from existing research.
 
In an earlier study, when asked about their experience of justiciable problems, respondents who reported factors such as long-term illness, living in rented, high-density housing, unemployment or low income were more likely to report experiencing justiciable problems. Such groups often face difficulties accessing advice successfully.
 
Client choice and client satisfaction
 
In the MoJ study, 75% of respondents identified their providers either through recommendations from family or friends, past experience or referrals.
 
Users rated the quality of the service they received very highly with 91% saying they had received a good service. In relation to choice of provider, only 6% said they had not very much choice and 7% that they had no choice at all.
 
Purpose of Legal Services Act
 
The main purpose of the Legal Services Act was to remove unjustified restrictions on competition in the provision of legal services with the intention that this would provide more efficient and consumer-friendly ways of delivering legal services.
 
However, the survey showed that the majority of people did not shop around for a provider, preferring to rely on personal recommendation. This brings into question how interested they will be in using new entrants to the market. Furthermore, given the levels of satisfaction found in this survey in relation to choice and quality, we question what ill the Act will really address.