Last month the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the organisation responsible for making sure that markets operate fairly and competitively, and in the interests of consumers, businesses and the wider economy, announced an investigation into the legal services sector.

In its ‘market study’ the CMA raised concerns over the affordability and standards of legal services provided by UK firms. Thompsons Solicitors, responding to the study in its capacity as a UK-wide firm specialising in personal injury and employment law, told the CMA that many of its concerns can be traced not to the behaviour of professional solicitors but to policies introduced by this and the last government.

Government threatening quality of legal services

Gerard Stilliard, head of personal injury strategy, said it is essential that, when reaching its conclusions, the CMA takes into account government legislation which has decreased competition and stifled the ability of firms to provide a high quality legal service to the public.

“We have witnessed that the policy of this government, and of the coalition before it, seriously affects the ability of lawyers to offer quality legal services to those who need them most, including those seriously injured in accidents that were not their fault or sacked from their job due to the unlawful actions of employers”, said Mr Stilliard.

Consumer choice squeezed

“The introduction of fixed costs has led to many firms dropping out of the market, reducing consumer choice and concentrating legal services in a smaller number of larger firms. For those still doing the work, it is difficult to provide a service to clients which is of an appropriate standard when the government went into a cabal with the insurers to cook up fixed costs that bear no relation to the costs of running a case unless the insurers roll over. Meanwhile, the MedCo Portal for road traffic accident cases has undermined the value of solicitors by forcing lawyers into a lucky dip system rather than allow them to use their expertise to choose the medical expert most appropriate for the client.”

He continued: “As a result of changes such as these that only suit the insurers, we have witnessed many firms closing down, unable to compete with the massive resources of the insurers who have no incentive to behave well when they know the claimant lawyer is stuck on fixed costs.

Access to justice under attack

“Heedless of the devastation their changes have already wreaked, the government’s proposed rise in the Small Claims Limit to £5,000 threatens to weaken the industry yet further. By restricting access to independent professional legal advice, this change - were it to come in - would critically undermine people’s fundamental right to access justice in cases with a value that hard working people would consider a huge sum of money.”

The CMA is expected to publish its interim findings in July and its final report in December 2016. Thompsons’ full submission to the CMA’s study can be found at http://www.thompsonstradeunionlaw.co.uk/information-and-resources/competition-and-markets-authority-legal-services-study.htm