Commoditised Legal Services

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Within months of the Legal Services Act 2007 [1] coming into play, the landscape for the provision of retail legal services in England and Wales changed, irrevocably, forever. In the coming years, with the adoption of both legal disciplinary practices [2] and alternative business structures [3] will see bespoke legal "products" replacing the standard service model in many sectors of law. It is recognised however that for certain services it is key that each case is priced according to its merits to ensure in those such areas that client choice is always supported.

There has been an ongoing issue between clients and their lawyers with regard to the rates charged. Recently, this has been covered in various articles by Dr. Yuri Rapoport founder of Prime Law Brokers in Australia [4] ^[1] in journals such as The Law Society Gazette [5] on 13th March 2008 [6] and The Lawyer Magazine [7] on 28th February 2008 [8].

Whilst the phrase has been used in a number of ways over recent years, the essential concept of commoditised legal services was co-defined and therefore the phrase, as we have come to know it already, was coined by Stephen Allen [9] [10] ^[2] and David Green [11] who co-founded Driving-Law ([12]) with Robin Stephens [13] , Ian Mann [14] and Alex Cooke [15]. This service provides single legal products at set specified prices.

Commoditised legal services address such public concerns relating to the traditional "by-the-hour" charging mechanisms commonly applied, by offering consumers clearly defined "products" or "results" at set, single item prices. This has been the kind of market-led solution which Sir David Clementi [16] sought to bring about following his review of legal services [17] which called for greater competition and increased consumer choice.

Professor Richard Susskind [18], who publishes regularly on the subject of legal services and the changing landscape, has long talked about "disruptive technologies" entering the market, of which commoditised legal services can be seen as an example. Alongside those reforms proposed by Clementi, the legal profession has to also address the public spending constraints being implemented by The Legal Services Commission [19] through the Legal Aid System [20]. The "post-Clementi" era had often be dubbed The Brave New World and this title was used by LPA Legal in their report "Brave New World: Impact of the Legal Services Act" which was published by Sweet & Maxwell [21] ^[3] which found that found that "58% of solicitors and 41% of barristers now think that high street law firms will be “drastically” affected by the reforms. According to 60% of solicitors surveyed, high street law firms will be a “rarity” by 2015. Furthermore, the survey found that nearly half of respondents are interested in adopting an ABS and 37% expressed an interest in accessing external capital". It is clear that times are changing in the market and that Commoditised Legal Services are here to stay.

The Lawyer Magazine ^[4] has regularly commented on these developments in articles such as The Reform School [22]^[5] and The Review of the Year [23] ^[6]. Andrew Holroyd, President of the Law Society [24] ^[7] discussed the changes afoot in the market [25] ^[8] in is acceptance speech - stating that it would be incumbent upon him to lead the profession through "what is bound to be a period of immense change and challenge"!

David Green has long warned consumers to be careful during these times of non-legal professionals coming into the market [26] ^[9] stating that sometimes misleading information can be giving about the pricing of legal services warning that under Law Society ^[10] Guidelines "the price has to be transparent". Stephen Allen was recognized for his impact on the future of legal services in England and Wales by The Lawyer Magazine [27] which named him in its Hot 100 for 2008 ^[11].