Matthew Maxwell Scott, executive director of the Association of Consumer Support Organisations (ACSO) said:
“In its work over the period ahead the SRA should be encouraged to increase its levels of engagement with the wider legal sector and with a broader range of professional and consumer bodies such as ACSO. A more collaborative approach will help ensure the SRA is receiving adequate sector specialist input, support and challenge and can deliver against an agenda that is as well informed as possible.
“Technological and economic change is creating opportunities for consumers, with more savvy people benefiting from both an increasing range of services and from competitive forces which are driving value and improving many outcomes. However, there remains a significant proportion of people who because of various vulnerabilities need additional support.
“The FCA’s Financial Lives Survey estimates that 54 per cent of the UK population are vulnerable or potentially vulnerable, and both they and the Civil Justice Council have recently consulted on how such consumers can best be supported, the latter looking at their particular needs as witnesses in civil cases. It is our view that vulnerable consumers are of particular importance and should be a discrete focus of the SRA’s activities in the period ahead.
“While the consultation document states that “technology has the potential to completely transform the way solicitors and law firms work and how legal services are delivered”, this is something which is already happening. Technology and the application of artificial intelligence is the biggest driver of change across society as a whole, and while broadly beneficially to many, it brings with it the potential to exclude those without the right IT and literacy skills, as well as presenting problems with complex issues such as data protection, both for individuals and for groups.
“It is essential that in embracing technology for the delivery of legal services, as well as the provision of further information to enable consumers to understand their legal needs and how these may be met - and by whom - the position of those consumers who won’t be able use such technologies is understood.
“Technology and data-driven innovation will continue to disrupt the way in which legal services are delivered and how the legal system operates. This is something which should largely be encouraged and not feared. It should increase the competitiveness of the market, improve productivity and help address the information asymmetry which persists. However, and as this consultation recognises, the legal sector has so far been slow to embrace many of the opportunities this presents. It may therefore be putting itself at a short-term disadvantage in terms of broadening and depending its potential markets and in terms of delivering better consumer outcomes.”