Compare & contrast

Comparison websites can improve access to legal advice and stimulate competition on price and quality but need to commit to voluntary standards of quality, according to a report by the Legal Services Consumer Panel.

Its research among 16 comparison websites found no evidence of commercial influence on the way information was presented; mixed results around transparency of ownership; mixed results on pricing and on identifying what was being compared; and poor performance over use of personal information, with personal details often being passed on to third parties without consent.

Solicitors were failing to pick up leads generated by the websites on wills and conveyancing. Eight out of 10 requests for wills, and five out of 10 requests for conveyancing, did not get responses from lawyers—a result described as “staggering” and “a massive own goal” for the profession, by the panel’s chair, Elisabeth Davies.