Solicitors Slate 'Supermarket Law'
The so called “Tesco law” of the Legal Services Act 2007 aroused a bit of bean-can protesting outside the High Court yesterday. Solicitors were protesting over their concerns that companies such as supermarkets or motoring organisations will now be able to own law firms or employ lawyers and offer legal services directly to their customers. Lawyers against the legislation have grouped together under a new brand QualitySolicitors.com which has 100 members. Individuals from the newly-formed organisation handed …
The so called “Tesco law” of the Legal Services Act 2007 aroused a bit of bean-can protesting outside the High Court yesterday. Solicitors were protesting over their concerns that companies such as supermarkets or motoring organisations will now be able to own law firms or employ lawyers and offer legal services directly to their customers.
Lawyers against the legislation have grouped together under a new brand QualitySolicitors.com which has 100 members. Individuals from the newly-formed organisation handed out cans of baked beans labelled: ‘Legal services by supermarkets is as ridiculous as lawyers selling beans.’
May 12, 2009
fear of competition pure and simple
May 12, 2009
do it cheap and do it badly – just like everything else, you’ll get what you pay for
May 12, 2009
Well at least Tesco will have top-draw indemnity insurance if they do cock things up.
May 12, 2009
Be interesting trying to get your conveyancing done through a ‘case handler’ in a call centre in Mumbai.
May 12, 2009
What are you worried about? There’s no suggestion that the actual solicitors will not need to be qualified – why will the ownership of a firm of conveyancers matter?
Solicitors doing more “repetitive” law are justifiably afraid of competition – supermarkets and others will be able to do their job more quickly, more efficiently and more cheaply. It’ll just mean that us solicitors will have to pull their socks up or get paid less – no bad thing, and the good ones will thrive on being able to differentiate their services. Can’t come quickly enough.
May 12, 2009
fair point
May 13, 2009
ownership will matter – it will mean less firms and greater concentration of fewer firms in fewer hands, removing any local assistance (harming the environment by greater mileage used by lawyers attending courts etc all over the UK from possibly one office or more likely call centre in a business park in Wolverhampton!) and much more importantly reduced access to justice for the individual. When Tesco, M&S, RBS, etc own all remaining firms, who will want to sue Tesco, M & S etc and even more importantly who will represent the individual in the ground-breaking cases that matter – Tesco, the banks….I don’t think so.
All is all a bad day for the average Joe, regardless of what you think about lawyers
May 13, 2009
Time for a new Law of Property Act, prescribed residential leases, new limitation periods, and TID that Tesco customers will understand. How about a new SDLT, this outdated tax needs modernising with radical reform!
September 2, 2009
As a UK lawyer, I believe that this is excellent news.
Lawyers fear this revolutionary change because they will have to become more efficient to remain competitive; therefore, becoming extremely specialised (niche barristers), amalgamate to become super law-firms (with or without non-lawyers) or disappear.
Cheap does not always mean a reduction in quality. 50 yrs ago the corner shop was king, now the diversity and value of products/ services offered to customers by supermarkets is over-whelming.
Tell the truth brother & sister lawyers – a lot of the work done in your chambers/ firm is completed by juniors, pupils, paralegals, legal execs (ie unqualified lawyers); particularly in conveyance matters or evidence gathering. Any change?
The movement of work via outsourcing can be advantageous and offer new challenges to an outdated profession. Oh wait, we did’nt like it when the Euro-treaties were ratified because that meant opening up our closed, island boundaries.
Come-on resistant profession – it is now time to join the 21st Century!