The Legal Services Act was intended to bring with it benefits for the consumer - indeed, our company has based its entire business on providing a high level and expert service to clients.
However, it is quickly becoming apparent that the companies moving into this market are finding ways to simply squeeze existing law firms, without, it appears ingadd significant value.
We have experienced this first hand this week, with aggressive telephone calls from progressors within panels, not party to the transaction but simply with a vested interest to get the deal through. They are not lawyers and have not been instructed to represent their client, and yet they take up time of instructed lawyers, potentially driving up costs for consumers. We like the phrase "Laggers" (short for Legal Naggers) that we are hearing, and hope that consumers will become more aware of the impact that they have on the costs that solicitors will need to charge for dealing with them when working on an hourly rate.
Finally, we are surprised that a firm with designs on dominating the market is looking to charge nearly 50% of the fee that will be paid to their panel lawyers simply for passing on the work. This is profiteering at its worst, and we fear that the liberalisation of legal services may not generate cost savings for consumers that might be hoped.
