Adapt to survive

The latest Legal Services Consumer Panel report makes for some stark reading. It found that consumers are more satisfied with the service they receive, and consider they get better value for money, if they shop around. Yet the amount of people shopping around is not only low - just 22 per cent of respondents - but they are unchanged on the previous year.

Given the raft of legal services reforms that have come into effect in recent years, and the general push to open up the profession, these findings should be surprising. But for me, they are not. The fact remains that for many consumers, rightly or wrongly, the legal profession is daunting and unapproachable: they deem it confusing, expensive and full of impenetrable jargon.

Because of this, even if people do want to shop around before hiring a lawyer - rather than just plumping for the solicitor they used last or their nearest firm - few know how to or what criteria they should be using. As the report showed, consumers are not just concerned about being charged the lowest possible costs: when asked what factors influenced their choice, respondents put price fifth after reputation, location, specialist knowledge and speed of delivery.

Tools are now emerging to help people navigate our confusing profession, such as good online legal directories that allow consumers to search for a solicitor based on the criteria of their choice, as well as offering information and guidance about the law and the profession itself. As these sites continue to grow, it can only boost the number of consumers shopping around for their legal needs.

Searching for a provider on the internet has risen slightly over the last three years, but still stands at less than 10 per cent. But of those who used a lawyer they had found online, they recorded a satisfaction level of nearly 90 per cent, compared to an average of 80 per cent. In other words, finding a lawyer over the internet works - so expect this trend to only continue upwards.

Change from within

But it is not enough for consumers alone to change their habits. Change must also come from the profession itself.

Research carried out by Access Solicitor found the profession was divided roughly into three broad camps. There was the ?old guard: lawyers and firms that felt they had enough work and, with retirement ?for many looming, they were not particularly interested in taking on significantly more work.

Then there were the early adopters, firms who have watched with interest as legal services reforms have come in and have tried to adjust, such as addressing brand and marketing strategies, adopting new technologies or even going into partnership with other providers.

But by far the biggest section is those in the middle. This group are well aware of the changes afoot, and the impact they are having, but for the time being at least, these firms are not doing anything about it. It is these people that need to be rethinking what they are doing.

Consumers want to shop around, and the higher satisfaction and better value that they get as evidenced by the Consumer Panel report only further justifies why politicians and the Legal Services Board (LSB) believe that the profession should be more accessible.

Empowering consumers

Often forgotten, but another equally shocking statistic, is LSB research showing that only 18 per cent of consumers seek advice from solicitors when they have a serious legal problem. So there is a massive 82 per cent of unmet consumer needs to serve - if we can just provide consumers with legal services in the way that they want them. I believe that by empowering consumers to shop around we could, in fact, significantly increase the total consumer spend on legal services. There are many firms out there today who desperately need that to happen, and as quickly as possible. The LSB has called for leadership on this from the various professional bodies, but so far none has materialised.

Consider how you act as a consumer yourself nowadays and you will know that the changes affecting our profession will be radical and everlasting. There is already far too much momentum for that not to happen, so it is futile that the profession should continue to resist. Yes, change is scary. But for those willing to provide services in the manner that consumers now demand, the future is full of opportunity.

The profession needs to get over its unfounded fears, and remember what Charles Darwin said: "It is not the strongest, nor the most intelligent, who survives. ?It is the one that is the most adaptable ?to change."