Editor, Solicitors Journal

Rocket Lawyer asks LeO to handle complaints

19 Mar 2013News

LeO to consider extending remit this summer through voluntary jurisdiction

Mark Edwards, managing director of Rocket Lawyer UK, has said that he has discussed with LeO whether it should handle complaints about the legal website.

The Google-backed service was launched last November with a panel of around 20 firms.

The MoJ has said that it wants the legal ombudsman’s remit extended to claims management companies, but has not revealed the date.

Legal ombudsman Adam Sampson has also spoken of the need to create a ‘voluntary jurisdiction’ so it could handle complaints relating to legal service areas not currently regulated by the Legal Services Board.

“The legal ombudsman is thinking about extending his reach and bringing us into his remit,” Edwards told the Westminister Legal Policy Forum this morning. “We’re talking to him about it.”

Edwards was responding to comments from Steve Brooker, legal services consumer panel manager, that consumers might be confused if they “logged onto a site like Rocket Lawyer and ended up not dealing with a lawyer”.

Brooker said it was important that regulation “keeps step” with changes in the legal services market.

“The stakes are so high that we need a minimum level of protection,” he added.

Earlier Edwards said consumers wanted convenience, immediacy and product and pricing options.

Internal Rocket Lawyer consumer surveys showed that the top three things people were looking for and not getting were transparency on cost, transparency on process and responsiveness.

“The UK spends more online per head than any other country in the world,” Edwards said. “Travel, banking and food have gone online, so why not law?

“We’ve been talking for a long time about change happening. I think it’s here.”

Edwards said he thought the momentum was “unstoppable” and the result would be a “virtual legal village which never closes”.

A spokesman for LeO said the ombudsman would be considering which areas could be brought into a ‘voluntary jurisdiction’ in June, following a consultation on its draft business plan.

“Rocket Lawyer has expressed an interest in coming into such a scheme, should we set it up.”

Legal News desk contact: editorial@solicitorsjournal.com

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