The Law Society has called on its members to share their experience of carrying out unbundled legal services as the Solicitors Regulation Authority considers a campaign to promote the practice.
The regulator has hailed unbundling – in which the client carries out some tasks in a matter – as a way to increase access to justice. However Chancery Lane has raised concerns about the risks faced by solicitors offering unbundled services. In particular, it believes that offering these services could impact on solicitors’ ability to obtain professional indemnity insurance and that premiums could rise substantially because of the risk of a claim if a client makes an error on one of the unbundled tasks.
The Society is asking members interested in sharing their views on unbundled legal services to email Campaigns@lawsociety.org.uk by Friday 17 November. A roundtable will also be held in the New Year to gather more views.
Society president Nick Emmerson said: ‘Recent research has highlighted the benefits of unbundling for consumers. As such, it is important that the Law Society better understands how members are delivering unbundled services and the risks and benefits. We are particularly interested in how they are managing their liability and the extent to which these services are expanding their client base and increasing revenue.
‘We encourage members to share their views to help us understand how we can best support them in delivering unbundled services going forward.’
This article is now closed for comment.
