Editor's blog | Forget the ABS revolution and focus on consumer service

Alternative business structures, we were told, would change the face of legal services. Consumers would have access to a wider supply of providers and increased competition triggered by the new entrants would raise professional standards, not dumb them down. ?None of that seems to have happened. It’s still early days, you might say, but there has not been a rush to convert to ABS. Sure, there are about 200 applicants in the SRA’s waiting room. Undoubtedly quite a few of these are among the 500 legal disciplinary partnerships that must convert to ABS by 31 December if they want to continue in practice.

?Some of these applicants may well have in their suitcase the kind of model dreamt up by those who drafted the Legal Services Act, of lawyers joining forces with other professionals. Mishcons come to mind. But if the ten ABSs to have been licensed in the first seven months are anything to go by, we are a long way from the promised revolution.

?Casting around, it seems many of the applicants are simply seeing ABSs as a convenience for themselves. Small firms allowing one or two non-lawyers into the equity; barristers moving away from the traditional chambers structure; sometimes there doesn’t appear to be any reason at all. ?That leaves the Co-op as perhaps the only genuine new entrant. Only last week they chose the bidder for their new client and case management system (MatterSphere, if you ask), which marked another milestone on their journey to the legal high street. But are they really the template on which legal services providers should model themselves?

Conveyancing quotes

?I called them to find out how much they would charge to sell my house. Before I could be given any information, I was asked for my personal details. Now, I am rather loathed to do this. When I renewed my car insurance last year I called around several insurers and made the mistake of giving my details before I even got to the point of hearing the ludicrous premiums some companies proposed to charge. A year later I have been inundated with text and postal reminders and am now spending unnecessary time getting my details off their databases.

?So, I explained to the very courteous man from Co-operative Legal Services, could you just give me a ballpark figure before I decide whether to proceed with giving you any of my details. No, he said, he couldn’t. The conversation was polite but profoundly disappointing.

?Now you might think: “that’s exactly what our firm does because we don’t want any time-wasters and we want to capture your details and then keep in touch so we can then market some of our other services”. That sounds completely fair – up to a point: you are not seeing this from the consumer’s point of view. It takes no time at all to say that conveyancing costs start in the region of X but that it ultimately depends on the sale or purchase price and other variables. If you don’t, your prospective clients will just go online and find out how much your competitors are charging. I got 30 quotes straight away.

?That initial contact has nothing to do with legal competence but it is critical, whether you are an ABS or a traditional firm. Consumer service, and whether you get the instructions, starts with being accessible and not putting obstacles in the way.