the legal needs of small businesses in england & wales...legal services board 21 • accessing...
TRANSCRIPT
The legal needs of Small Businesses
in England & Wales
Robert Cross
Research Manager
Legal Services Board
OECD Equal Access to Justice Roundtable
6 July 2018
Overview
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• Context for the LSB
• Findings of the 2017 survey
• Implications
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Regulatory structure
Legal Ombudsman
Legal Services Board
Legal duty to promote the regulatory objectives
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1. Protecting and promoting the public interest
2. Supporting the constitutional principle of the rule of law
3. Improving access to justice
4. Protecting and promoting the interests of consumers
5. Promoting competition in the provision of services
6. Encouraging an independent, strong, diverse and effective
legal profession
7. Increasing public understanding of the citizen’s legal rights and
duties
8. Promoting and maintaining adherence to the professional
principles
Source: LSA 2007
Market segmentation 2011 onwards:
The types of consumer
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All consumers
1. Legally aided individuals
Ethnicity, Socio Economic group Income, Age
2. Privately paying individuals
Ethnicity, Socio Economic group Income, Age
3. Small Businesses FP/NFP, Size
4. Large Businesses FP/NFP, Size
5. Government Central, Local, Quasi
Assumed
increasing
sophistication
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Small Businesses in the UK
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History of LSB funded research in this area
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2017 - The legal needs of small
businesses 2013-2017, Turner &
BMG research, survey YouGov
2010 – LSB Regulatory Information
Review 2011 – Legal Advice for Small
Businesses - Qualitative research – AIA 2012 - A methodology for conducting
research into SMEs’ use of legal
services – Pleasence, Balmer,
Blackburn & Wainwright. 2013 - In Need of Advice? Findings of
a Small Business Legal Needs
Benchmarking Survey Pleasence &
Balmer, survey YouGov. 2015 - The legal needs of small
businesses - An analysis of small
businesses’ experience of legal
problems, capacity and attitudes,
Blackburn, Kitching, & Saridakis,
survey YouGov.
Overview
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• Context for the LSB
• Findings of the 2017 survey
• Implications
The LSB funded survey 2017
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Problem incidence
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Problems not uniformly experienced
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Large societal impacts
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Responses to problems
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‘Rational inaction’ but…
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Using advisors
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Views on law and lawyers (1)
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Views on law and lawyers (2)
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What drives advice seeking? LSB analysis
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Overview
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• Context for the LSB
• Findings of the 2017 survey
• Implications
Our conclusions
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• Accessing justice is more than accessing dispute mechanisms.
• Legal need surveys of small businesses provide a basis to capture some aspects of small business legal and justice needs.
• Similar to individuals barriers include:
• Problem framing
• Perceptions of costs
• Further, “The courts are on the periphery of everyday justice”
• Reforms that do not change how legal services are provided beyond dispute mechanisms may have a limited impact.
• Regulation of the legal profession has a role to play in improving access.
Forthcoming reforms in England & Wales
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• “we have found that the legal services sector is not working well for
individual consumers and small businesses. These consumers
generally lack the experience and information they need to find their
way around the legal services sector and to engage confidently with
providers. Consumers find it hard to make informed choices because
there is very little transparency about price, service and quality”. Legal
services market study Final Report 2016 – Competition and Markets
Authority
• Regulators action plans implementing reforms 2018/19
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