As a new legal services provider enters the market, Jon Robins investigates how the profession is responding to change
In the week that saw the emergence of Brilliant Law, the most exciting development in the newly liberalised world since the last one, a “super-survey” revealed the not very surprising picture that life for much of the incumbent profession was far from brilliant.
Research published by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), Law Society and Legal Services Board (LSB)—heavyweight “both literally and metaphorically”, according to a Law Society Gazette editorial—concluded that recession and structural changes were “combining to create a turbulent environment” for the solicitors’ profession.
Triple whammy
No news there, then. The Gazette suggested a profession coping well with an “unprecedented triple whammy” and “making a pretty good go of it”. Well, that’s one way of reading it.
The report’s authors described the position of private practice firms’ as “increasingly precarious”. “The recession has had a significant impact on demand for legal services,” said Professor Pascoe Pleasence, Dr Nigel Balmer and Professor Richard Moorhead. “Changing fee structures, increased competition, changes to ownership
