Overview

The Legal Services Act could not be coming into effect at a worse time for many high street law firms – including many sole practitioners – coinciding as it does with the worst recession in postwar history. The Act has not only set the stage for wholesale, sweeping legal reform but comes into force at the end of over a decade of creeping liberalisation of legal services in areas from conveyancing to will writing. The speed and extent of change has left morale among high street law firms, including sole practitioners, significantly weakened. In a 2010 YouGov poll of 150 sole practitioners, 130 (87%) said they fear that the future of high street law firms is in jeopardy. The other findings of this poll are set out in more detail in this document. Click 'View Briefing' to access the full report.