Catherine Dixon, Chief Executive of the Law Society of England and Wales, today referenced Economic Insight’s report Unregulated legal service providers – Understanding supply-side characteristics, commissioned by the Legal Services Board (LSB), in the Commons Justice hearing on legal services regulation. We undertook both qualitative and quantitative analysis for this in depth study of the supply side characteristics of unregulated providers in the wills and estate administration, divorce and intellectual property areas. Our research encompassed 45 interviews with unregulated providers, reviews of 250 unregulated providers’ websites, analysis of the LSB’s legal needs surveys (small business and individual), discussions with 11 regulatory and representative bodies and a desk-based review of existing literature, Companies House data and online customer review sites. The report details the characteristics of unregulated providers in each area and also considers the benefits and risks that they present to consumers.
Our report and infographics can be downloaded from the publications section of this website.