We are delighted to be partnering with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) on the Quality Indicators Pilot which strives to further improve the information available to the public when choosing a legal services provider.
The pilot, which initially focuses on conveyancing and employment law services, aims to encourage a greater use of online information within the legal sector, including comparison sites and online review platforms, with the objective of increasing the amount of comparable information that is available to consumers and so also increasing the number of users that utilise online information before engaging a legal expert. It is hoped that this will grow the number of consumers utilising online review platforms as a way of accessing the most appropriate providers of legal services for them.
Ray Crudgington, Managing Partner at Grant Saw, said “We are happy to be invited to take part in the SRA pilot scheme. In today’s society, people are spending more time looking at consumer reviews before instructing a lawyer for what is usually a big (or the biggest) transaction in their lives. We take client feedback very seriously and are proud of the growing number of exceptional reviews our lawyers (and support staff) receive. It is important that prospective clients get transparency from the outset and know the lawyer they engage will deal with their matter in a timely and professional manner. The pilot scheme will provide greater clarity on price, quality and service thereby allowing consumers to compare legal services and choose the best option for them. Clients don’t want to buy based on price alone. They want firms with a track record of satisfied clients and who take customer service seriously”.
Richard Silver, Policy Associate at the SRA, said “We are pleased to have Grant Saw on board for our online review pilot. Recent consumer research to support our Year One evaluation of our transparency rules found that the majority of consumers looked at a law firm’s website before instructing them, while 47 per cent also looked at customer reviews about the firm. Research by Ofcom shows that UK adults now spend more than a quarter of their waking day online, a trend driven by the pandemic. It’s timely to look at whether comparison websites and other digital tools can play a bigger role in the legal services market”.
You can find out more about the pilot scheme here.