Member Article

Law firms prepare for ‘Tesco Laws’

An overhaul of the legal sector is set to take place this October, when the so-called ‘Tesco Laws’ come into force.

The Legal Services Act 2011 will allow Tesco, alongside other businesses to offer legal services to clients, as well as creating an ombudsman system to externally regulate legal practitioners.

However, this could pose a threat to traditional approaches, and could signal the demise of the high street law firm.

Deb McGargle, director at Particular Commercial and Legal services is a supporter of the changes. Her company already provides legal advice exclusively online, and sees this move towards opening up the legal market as a positive one. Nonetheless, she recommends consumers also exercise caution if they choose to use these new providers.

She said: “I think now is the right time for a shake up of the legal services. I think there is a big disconnect between what the client wants and what some of the law firms think their client’s want.

“Having said that, I think the consumer needs to be careful about how they choose their lawyer. If their decision is based on price alone then like all services, they will pay for what they get.

Traditional firms could also see profits decline after the introduction of the legislation.

Alasdair Smith, partner at Jackson’s Law Firm Newcastle, explains how these new methods of legal services could impact on the profession.

“The first category of organisation will sit as an intermediary, finding clients and subsequently passing them to existing firms. These solicitors are likely to see their profit margins squeezed by the payment of a fee to the introducer, making it a fairly unattractive proposition.

“The second category of organisations will look to recruit their own solicitors or other personnel to their own firm to handle cases, which could result in difficulties in ensuring a good quality of service and client care.”

Nonetheless, Mr Smith did not seem unduly concerned about the threat this could pose to his business, as he believes that many of these issues could be overcome easily.

In terms of consumer benefits, this new system of legal provider could give individuals access to easy to understand advice in their own language, in places that are open for most of the day.

However, it is still possible that these services could come at the expense of legal expertise and experience, as well as the quality of service that comes from a traditional firm.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .