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27 July 2012 / Richard Moorhead
Issue: 7524 / Categories: Features , Legal services
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A legal rollercoaster

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Which way is the legal services market going, asks Richard Moorhead

The Legal Services Board have produced an interesting report (Market impacts of the legal services act–interim baseline report) seeking to bring together research and data on the market the legal services in England and Wales. It draws on data between 2006/07–2010/11. The report acknowledges that in a lot of the areas that the Board would like to have information, there are gaps. Nevertheless, the research that is pulled together here provides an interesting view of how the legal services market has been developing over the last four years.

Contraction

One of the most interesting elements of the report is the way it has evidenced the contraction in the legal services market. In 2010/2011, residential conveyancing was running at 54% of 2006/2007 levels. The figure for remortgaging was 28%. In broad terms, the market has halved. Demand for probate services fell to 70% of 2006/2007 levels. The level of family proceedings was largely static (although they are unable to say anything about

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NLJ this week: No such thing as a ‘Welsh seat’
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
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NLJ this week: Crypto fightback offers ‘new frontier for law’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
NLJ this week: Time to revive the duty to report crime?
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
NLJ this week: When are experts truly ‘necessary’?
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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