Client care

Legal project management has received an unexpected boost from people working from home as a result of Covid-19 but law firms are keen on formal standards for it, according to a study.

A law firm in Wiltshire is offering a ‘Wills through a window’ service as law firms look for ways to execute wills validly amidst a spike in demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Law firms and other advisers are often organised so they only see a legal problem that needs to be resolved, rather than take a ‘whole person’ approach to clients, the head of a well-known legal charity has said.

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.