Brokers remain fundamental to clients making the right Legal Choices

Published: 03/02/2014

Legal regulators including the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and the Council of Licensed Conveyancers have recently announced the launch of Legal Choices – a ‘one stop shop’ for advice, information and sign-posting to other sites also containing legal information. Legal Choices aims to ‘demystify the legal profession’.

‘Survey after survey report that the general public find accessing legal services daunting’ commented Eddie Goldsmith, Senior Partner at property solicitors Goldsmith Williams ‘and my own experience is that many people are initially wary of lawyers, unsure of how the legal process works and concerned about the potential costs of accessing legal advice.

Despite more than thirty years of advertising legal services, public perceptions of lawyers haven’t really moved on from these views so this initiative is to be applauded for helping to break down those barriers.

I hope that when people have browsed this new site they gain the confidence to take their legal enquiry further. Once they do I believe they may be pleasantly surprised with the support they receive from the legal staff they deal with and the quality and transparency of information they can access. I know mine is not the only firm to invest significant time and effort in developing client friendly marketing collateral such as videos and infographics for clients and prospective clients.

However, brokers too have an important role to play in addressing their clients’ legal needs. Their clients rely on them to recommend a suitable law firm to take their conveyancing instruction – one which can offer expertise in the legal service they are looking for and at the right price.

So Legal Choices, whilst a very welcome step forward in demystifying the legal profession, can never replace the invaluable contribution brokers make in ensuring their clients select the right law firm for them.’

Legal Choices can be found at: www.legalchoices.org.uk

Content correct at time of publication