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15 June 2012 / Dr Jon Robins
Issue: 7518 / Categories: Opinion , Commercial
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Shopping around

Consumers are starting to flex their “buying muscle”, says Jon Robins

Should lawyers need further convincing that the main point about the Clementi reforms, the Legal Services Act and now the new alternative business structure market entrants is improving the lot of the consumer (and not inconveniencing lawyers), then it’s well worth checking out the Legal Services Consumer Panel’s (LSCP) Tracker survey which came out at the end of last month .

“The success of the reform should be ultimately be judged by how consumers experience legal services,” begins this annual health-check. Quite. It is only “year 2” for the survey but it promises to become a vital measure of the effectiveness of changes in the newly liberalised legal services sector. Two key indicators of the changing market, as correctly identified by the LSCP, independent research arm of the Legal Services Board, are increasing choice of provider and price certainty—in particular, the preparedness of consumers to “shop around” for legal services and the availability of fixed fees.

The consumer’s buying muscle

Just over

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NEWS
A time-restricted bank tax, a ‘roadmap to fiscal devolution’, extension to parental leave, entrepreneur’s relief and a giveaway on energy bills for households are the headlines in Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey’s 2026 Autumn Budget
A Court of Appeal judge has lamented the ‘very concerning’ state of the law on employee inventor compensation after a chemist’s case took five-and-a-half years to reach court, eventually being listed for a 37-day trial next year
The Law Society has emphasised that responsibility remains human, in a practice note on artificial intelligence (AI)
Respect orders, which enable police, councils, housing associations, transport networks and other authorities to take enforcement action against anti-social behaviour, have come into force across England and Wales
The Land Registry has launched two consultations aimed at making its information more publicly accessible, ‘Restructuring HM Land Registry fees’, and ‘Future of access to HM Land Registry information’
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