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Who reviews the reviewers?

31 March 2021 / John Gould
Issue: 7927 / Categories: Features , Profession , Legal services , Regulatory
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Comparing the market: John Gould considers the hidden perils of online review sites for the legal profession
  • Despite research suggesting that consumers have little belief in the usefulness and credibility of reviews posted online, seven web platforms have nonetheless been selected for a pilot of review sites, with solicitors encouraged to engage with them.

When it comes to the legal services market, the work of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) over the last few years feels like a solution in search of a problem. In 2016, the CMA prodded legal regulators into price transparency rules. This was based on the fanciful notion that consumers would benefit from reading thousands of words on a number of solicitors’ websites describing hypothetical prices, rather than make a few phone calls to get actual quotes.

Although the CMA’s recent review of progress maintains a cheerful tone, the only progress seems to be that the regulators have managed, to some extent, to do what the CMA wanted. The result is that price comparison information

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Rylatt and Robyn Laye of Anthony Gold Solicitors examine recent international relocation cases where allegations of domestic abuse shaped outcomes
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
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