This article first appeared in The Institute of Professional Willwriters Journal, Summer 2023, Issue 313
The Legal Services Board is committed to ensuring that people and small businesses in England and Wales can access high-quality legal services that meet their needs. Achieving this demands a culture where lawyers and law firms respond promptly to complaints and use them to improve their services. Providers should also proactively seek feedback – good and bad – from clients and learn from it to design consumer-focused services that support them to be more competitive.
We have published new research shedding light on the challenges consumers face when complaining about legal services. As the oversight regulator of legal services, the remit of our work is focused on reserved legal activities. However, this research has insights for everyone across the sector, including professional willwriters. In this article, we will explore the key findings and the recommendations made to improve complaints processes.
The research involved 45 consumers who had either complained about legal services or had reasons to complain but refrained from doing so, (“silent sufferers”), in the last two years. Additionally, input was gathered from 10 professional stakeholders, including regulators, lawyers, the Legal Services Consumer Panel, and the Legal Ombudsman. This range of perspectives enabled us to consider the real-world implications of potential changes.
Consumers voiced their concerns, urging legal service providers to embrace empathy, transparency, and continuous improvement in their services. Participants emphasised the significance of empathy as a core part of an effective complaints resolution process. As willwriters will be acutely aware, those seeking legal advice are often in vulnerable situations. They may be thinking about plans for the end of their life or dealing with the death of a loved one. In such circumstances, a breakdown in the client-lawyer relationship can further compound the difficulties they are facing. Therefore, legal providers need to put themselves in the shoes of the complainant, fostering an empathetic approach to managing consumer expectations and responding to their issues.
Participants also emphasised the importance of continuous improvement in legal services. Providers were encouraged to embrace a culture of actively seeking feedback from clients, both positive and negative. Suggestions put forward included:
- Letting clients know they welcome feedback – communicating this at the start of the client-provider relationship and repeating this message throughout the relationship.
- Providing opportunities for hearing feedback – including proactive and routine surveys; calls from the provider early on in the relationship and at the end to find out how the client-provider relationship is (or isn’t) working. It was felt that this communication should be from someone other than the individual providing the legal services.
- Training staff to identify dissatisfaction – ensuring all staff are aware of the provider’s process for dealing with dissatisfaction; equipping staff with the soft skills required to ensure clients are met with empathy when they raise issues.
- Monitoring feedback to identify (and rectify) common sources of dissatisfaction – participants recognised that it was not just a case of inviting feedback, providers needed to monitor it to spot the patterns and identify opportunities for improvement.
Participants also suggested presenting complaints information in more accessible and innovative formats; for example, video, animation, illustration or using diagrams. Adopting user-friendly ways to provide information can enable consumers to better understand and navigate the complaint process more effectively.
The research delved into the possibility of incorporating soft skills as a fundamental component of ongoing professional development for lawyers. By enhancing the emotional intelligence and empathetic capabilities of legal professionals, they can better connect with their clients, address concerns with greater sensitivity, and provide more supportive legal assistance.
Our research highlights the pressing need for legal providers to actively seek client feedback, set clear expectations, and incorporate soft skills into professional development. This will enable legal firms to foster more positive client experiences. We aim to help create transparent, fair, and accessible complaints processes that effectively meet consumers’ needs.
Drawing on this research and other evidence, the LSB is intending to revise its requirements and guidance on first-tier complaints for regulators and introduce a new statement of policy, with a 12-week consultation to commence this month. We are sure others across the sector with a role in designing and delivering effective and fair complaints-handling procedures will also find the requirements and guidance useful. Together, we can create a legal services landscape that prioritises the interests and well-being of consumers and the public. Sign up to our newsletter for updates on our work.
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