Outsourcing of legal work.

Outsourcing legal work is becoming increasingly popular with some legal firms. What this can mean is that you instruct a UK solicitor at around £200 an hour and he sends the work to be done by a lawyer in Delhi who you will never meet for peanuts.

Regulated by the Law Society?

The regulation of big corporate law firms is not "fit for purpose" and urgently needs reform, a report for the Law Society has concluded.

No win-No fee Accident Claims

The number of businesses entering the claims management market has risen by 60% in the past year, new figures show, while the industry’s regulator said solicitors were responsible for malpractice in personal injury claims-handling.

Solicitor Referral Fees.

Following a civil justice review a ban or cap on the controversial referral fees paid by solicitors for work introduced to them is being urged.
These fees are often paid by solicitors to insurance companies, accident claims companies or even to estate agents for work passed by them to the solicitors. Obviously this cost is then passed on by the solicitor to his client. It has been said that referral fees bring about.a lack of transparency , increased fees and conflicts of interest.
The Law Society of England and Wales is backing referral fees whilst the Bar Council of England and Wales said that referral fees "led to bad service and should be abolished".

Solicitor Firm Profits

Commercial law firms have a problem. Many of their clients are struggling to survive in the recession. However the profits of the law firms they instruct are soaring. Last year these profits exceeded £4 billion. Some partners in the large firms are taking home more than £1 million a year.
These astronomical earnings are becoming a source of embarrassment and present the dilemma of how to explain fees being charged to clients whose income has been severely reduced..

Pro-Bono and 'free' legal works.

Pro bono is normally meant to mean free legal work for deserving individuals who cannot afford to pay. It is something which the Law Society will say it applauds on behalf of solicitors. Indeed a recent recommendation is that law firms should keep up or increase their pro bono work in the midst of the economic crisis on the ground that, “with solicitors’ corporate social responsibility credentials taking on more importance for many clients, having pro bono work on the books is a vital marketing tool”.
What they are talking about is the equivalent of a self-interested introductory “free offer” incentive for potential future clients.It is sad if solicitor’s self interest should tar pro bono work with a self serving marketing brush that can only put this fine principle at risk.