Chair's Blog


Legal Services Consumer Panel cautiously welcomes SRA review of consumer protection in the light of Axiom Ince

As legal services consumer panel members we have been horrified by the picture emerging about the closure of the law firm Axion Ince. The full scale of the number of consumers affected by the collapse of the firm is not yet known, but in December 2023 the SRA said it expected thousands of claims to…

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Responsible technological innovation that improves access to justice

I joined the Legal Services Consumer Panel in April 2019 and immediately began to contribute to a Lawtech paper which was subsequently published in May 2019. That paper encouraged legal services regulators to be more proactive on Lawtech. The report emphasised the importance of responsive regulation, incentivising providers to innovate, and adequately protecting consumers. We couldn’t…

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A Digital Swansong

Marlene Winfield OBE has spent her career giving a voice to users of public services, including for the last six years as a member of the Legal Services Consumer Panel, where she has made a huge contribution through her expertise in consumer engagement, understanding of what has worked (or not worked) in other sectors –…

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Law in the time of Corona

Every single person reading this blog post has been touched in one way or the other by the Coronavirus. Its disruption will continue to be felt long after we have beaten it. Right now, we must first focus on taking care of ourselves and each other by staying indoors whenever possible. And second, we must…

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A Christmas Carol for Legal Service Users (with apologies to Mr Dickens)

Christmas Past: Over the past year we faced the spectre of significant reduction in the protection available to those using the services of solicitors, with the proposed SRA reforms to their rules on PII.  We were also experiencing some frustration with the slow pace at which the CMA reforms on transparency were being taken forward….

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Disappearing Lawyers – Are Advice Deserts stoppable?

Those who follow the legal press will be familiar with recent stories of legal aid reducing, ‘advice deserts’ growing, and specialist lawyers becoming thin on the ground. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures illustrate the problem within just one area. In 2012/13, 82,554 social security cases had legal aid help, compared to just 443 in 2017/18….

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