Small high street retailers and ‘corner’ shops have long since suffered at the hands of the giant supermarket chains and other national retail brands. Ever increasing product ranges and out of town retail parks putting paid to many small businesses and making life a struggle for those that carry on.
Now it seems local high street solicitors could be next to suffer at their hands.
Although law firms are not usually high on the agenda when it comes to public sympathy, many are in fact small businesses like any other.
The ‘fat cat’ perception in the mind of some people is a long way from reality for many high street lawyers.
Between them local law firms employ many local people and are not only an important cog in the wheel of the local economy but provide an invaluable personal service for local people in times of crisis in their lives.
These small and medium sized law firms are now under threat as a result of the implementation of The Legal Services Act. Previously only qualified Solicitors and Licensed Conveyancers could own law firms but the act has opened up the legal market, making ownership of law firms available to anyone who can meet the new regulations.
Most legal commentators believe with good reason that Co-operative, Asda, AA, RAC and HBOS to name but few will begin offering the type of law that are traditionally offered by local high street solicitors. Throughout the country there is concern that smaller law firms will not be able to compete with the marketing power of the national brands and may go out of business.
A number Bradford and Keighley solicitors however, determined not to take this situation lying down and have joined together with Nationwide Solicitors Alliance (NSA) who have members in over 140 locations nationwide to market their services jointly.
NSA Chairman Steve Battarbee said ‘the supermarkets may advertise legal services locally but it is likely that the work will be done in out of town legal ‘factories’ where the quality is unknown and there will be little face to face communication. The local economy will suffer too if this happens.’
In a recent survey by Pollster ComRes, commissioned by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, found that 83% of people who had used a solicitor in the last five years were satisfied with performance and 69% of respondents agreed that they would be concerned about the quality of service offered by these organisations.
Battarbee continued ‘There is a wealth of legal talent available locally and we intend to ensure that this is not overlooked in the barrage of publicity the public will be subjected to.’ Calling one local number will connect the public to a wide range of legal services that will be available on their doorstep from experienced local law firms with a proven track record.
In addition local members of the Alliance will be adopting local agreements aimed at shortening the conveyancing process.
The local solicitors participating in this new initiative are Read Dunn Connell, Turner & Wall, Prolegis Solicitors, McManus Seddon, Turners Solicitors, Downey & Co and Patel & Bhatoa.
Many people nowadays prefer to use local services and NSA’s Bradford and Keighley lawyers believe accessing legal services should be no different. They believe they are going to make it much easier for the public to find the best local law firms.