It was a huge pleasure to meet many people from across the sector at our recent EDI event hosted by Clifford Chance. On the theme of From evidence to action: Tackling the EDI challenges in the legal sector, the discussion on how the sector can continue to drive change ranged widely, from mentoring programmes to targeted recruitment, with a strong focus on both lived experience and better evaluation of which of the many initiatives which exist both within and beyond the legal sector have real impact on real lives.
A video of the event is available online if you missed it or would like to re-watch it.
Time for a step change to improve diversity in the sector
The focus on driving a more diverse and inclusive legal services profession needs now to be at the top of the agenda for all legal services regulators. There is indeed a long way to go until we achieve our goal of ensuring that everyone who wants to pursue a career in law can do so regardless of their background. We are working towards consulting on a statutory policy statement to increase the pace of progress. However, in light of the insights gleaned through our research, events, annual conference, and stakeholder meetings, it seems real change will occur only through fundamental challenge to existing structures and models.
When the Board met in person on 18 July 2023 we considered our appetite for regulatory interventions that could challenge and perhaps even disrupt the status quo of the practices, processes and cultures that may be limiting progress towards a diverse profession. For example, that the ‘billable hour’ contributes to a culture of working long hours, to the detriment of some groups. There is also growing evidence suggesting a systemic issue in embracing reasonable adjustments for disabled lawyers. And the question needs to be addressed whether the current system for securing pupillage at the bar is sufficiently transparent in terms of outcomes.
We spent considerable time discussing how ‘radical’ change might need to be. We were in strong agreement that it is time for us to step up our approach, and we will go on to consider specific actions. Collaboration on a broad front is of course essential and we are keen to consider how we can maximise the role of regulation in achieving the vision of a legal profession that reflects the society it serves. Our executive team are now developing a menu of options that reflects our appetite.
Since that meeting we have published our annual report for 2022/23, covering our second year of delivering the Reshaping Legal Services strategy. It sets out what we are doing to ensure that regulation plays its full part in delivering better legal services for consumers. In particular, it outlines how we have continued to build momentum in our efforts to encourage an independent, strong, diverse and effective legal profession.
Using consumer feedback to improve legal services for all
Further to our conversation on this issue at the June Board meeting, we considered the next steps in our project to ensure that consumer feedback is used to improve legal services.
We want to ensure regulation protects consumers from harm and that redress is available if things go wrong. When someone is dissatisfied with a legal services provider, they can complain directly to the provider. This is called a ‘first-tier complaint’. We are preparing to consult on our revised requirements and guidance to improve first-tier complaints handling.
In the discussions, Board members focused in particular on ‘silent sufferers’ (legal services users who are dissatisfied with the service they have received, but do not complain) and the importance of ensuring that people are not put off from making a complaint where they have reason to do so. We believe anyone should feel free to do this without fear of an adverse reaction. The Board also agreed that it was important to get positive feedback about legal services as well as details of negative experiences, and these should be shared for others to learn from. We look forward to hearing stakeholders’ views through the consultation, which will launch later this summer.
In addition, we have started to build what we hope will become a coalition of stakeholders with an interest in this area, with a view to agreeing some shared aspirations and commitments in respect of improving consumer redress more broadly. Invitations have been sent to representative bodies, regulatory bodies and consumer support organisations.
Achieving adequate financial protection arrangements for consumers
In relation to our workstream focused on improving financial protection arrangements for consumers, our aim is to ensure there is a proper degree of financial protection for consumers that is both sustainable and affordable in the long term. We reviewed the findings of the analysis we jointly commissioned with the SRA from Frontier Economics to find the factors that drive variation in premiums for professional indemnity insurance (PII).
It found a variety of factors, including firm size and branch of practice, particularly property law. The executive drew conclusions that a lack of transparency was limiting the ability of firms to identify and respond to risk, and that the one-size-fits-all model adopted by some regulators for their PII arrangements may well not be delivering best value for firms or consumers.
We place importance on sharing the analysis widely. We noted that negative outcomes from a poorly functioning PII market could include a lack of competition, barriers to new entrants, and a failure to innovate.
The executive will share the findings widely with the legal and financial regulators, encouraging them to consider its findings and the implications for their markets. We will also develop a paper setting out insight and options to support the regulators when considering their financial protection arrangements.
Implementing solutions for consumers to access regulatory information
We considered an update paper on our work to identify the options for a service or tool that collates regulatory information into a single place. This work will help ensure that the public benefits from easier access to regulatory information, which in turn can help consumers to better engage with the market so that they can readily identify legal services that best meet their needs and their means. We considered a report compiled by PA Consulting which recommends a way forward for making regulatory information more easily available to consumers.
The report recognises how existing activities, such as the Can you trust your legal adviser tool accessible via Legal Choices are one route to making more regulatory information available. It is essential that regulators continue to work together, and at pace, to enhance the availability of regulatory information for consumers. The Board believes it is essential for all regulators to agree the way forward for this work, and I will be writing to all regulatory bodies to this effect.
The next Board meeting is on 12 September and will take place in Cardiff, where we will also host an event at the Senedd on 13 September. We much look forward to meeting a wide range of people in Wales with a role to play in reshaping legal services to better meet the needs of society.