Client care

Law firms are making follow-up calls to only 9% of the people that contact them, a mystery shopper survey has found, with conveyancing teams performing better than private client and debt recovery.

Solicitors’ firms that adjust the way they present information to disabled people – and make explicit how they can accommodate their needs – will see the business benefits, a major study has found.

Legal advice privilege attaching to communications between a company and its lawyers survives the dissolution of the company, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

Reputation and trust remain more important to winning new business than price, despite the push for greater transparency, according to a massive client satisfaction survey.

A third of consumers are now accessing legal services online while telephone-based services are declining, new research has found. However, the proportion shopping around is still relatively low.

A large majority (77%) of consumers are more likely to use law firms that publish their fees online, a major survey has found. A smaller majority (58%) would be prepared to use freelance solicitors.

A solicitor has failed in a libel action against the consultant of another law firm over comments made about her and her practice on Facebook.

Solicitors must think beyond the drafting of non-disclosure agreements and confidentiality agreements to the “impression created” by them, a panel of experts has warned.

More than 40 leading property developers and freeholders – but no lawyers as yet – have signed a government-backed pledge that highlights the duty of conveyancers to act in the best interests of clients.

The clock on a possible ban on referral fees from lawyers to estate agents has started running after new guidance on disclosure was published by National Trading Standards.