The new code of conduct requires a formal contractual approach, not woolly marketing-speak, says Richard Harrison
No other profession so loathes itself. No profession is as highly regulated in terms of control of charging and detailed—arguably overbearing—client care requirements. The self-abasement inspired by public perception of the grasping, obfuscating solicitor has reached its apotheosis in the new Solicitors’ Code of Conduct which came into force on 1 July 2007—and we cower before our regulators.
The requirements have no doubt built up from past scandals, badly reported news items and misconceived judicial comments. Yet we must now live with it. The profession and its critics, in the judiciary and elsewhere, have now become focused on the client care letter. This was originally known as a rule 15 letter and, from some time in the early 1990s, the Law Society seems to have promulgated a precedent which most law firms have assiduously adopted and which somewhere contained the meaningless jargon:
“We aim to provide you with a high quality and cost effective service.”
It brings
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