Price over local reputation – surely not!

18^th July 2025

This month’s musings, whilst inspired by new Legal Services Board research into individual legal servicing pricing, actual questions one of the key findings.

The oversight regulator, and consequently the Solicitors Regulation Authority, have been trying to improve price transparency for years. This is therefore not new information and goes right back to the Competition and Markets Authority’s review in 2015.

One of the key findings at that time was that firms that published prices on their websites were often cheaper than those that did not. Whilst we can all argue that price should not necessarily be the principal factor for an individual choosing a legal services provider, we all know it is a major one.

The LSB commissioned a survey of more than 1,500 providers and specifically concentrated on the pricing of five common consumer legal services: conveyancing, divorce, power of attorney, applying for probate and estate administration.

Many of the findings were unsurprising – price transparency is improving but interestingly the spread in price variations has increased from the 2020 survey. One key reason for this, the LSB suggests, is the increasing influence of law firms offering services remotely, which might often be cheaper.

There seems to be a suggestion that consumers might shop around away from their own location because there are significant price variations from region to region. The contention is that a consumer in the south might buy a service remotely from Wales or the North of England, if that service can be accessed at a lower cost.

Whilst it is not hard to see the logic for conveyancing, I find it difficult to accept for estate planning and divorce, both of which, in my view, would be best handled by a solicitor and financial planner working hand in hand.

I am struck by the results of the well-respected tracker survey into how consumers choose their legal services provider undertaken annually by the legal Services Consumer Panel (LSCP). The 2025 edition has just been published and year on year, price, local reputation and the convenience of a local office are the top three factors in the choice of provider.

Indeed, nearly 50% of those in 2025 identified local reputation and 31% local offices as their key drivers.

Notably, the trend of ‘shopping around’ has surged from 22% in 2012 to 44% today, indicating a significant rise in consumer behaviour on the back of regulatory efforts to encourage this.

For the first time in 2025, consumers were surveyed on the significance of a provider’s regulation in their decision-making process. This emerged as the top priority, with 89% of participants selecting it as a key factor.

Therefore, the demand for qualified and properly regulated individuals or firms is immensely important, a sentiment strongly endorsed by members of SIFA Professional.

It is this reality of human preference for local and a respected personal touch, which makes me question seeking cheaper services from elsewhere remotely.

It is also why I have always stressed the importance of enhancing a local reputation for our SIFA Professional members. This could be by writing in local publications or supporting community sports clubs or charities.

Because if we accept the tracker survey, which interviewed over 3,000 people, then if consumers prefer to deal with local law firms with an excellent reputation, by extension surely they will wish to be referred to financial planners who meet the same criteria.

From a client perspective, many problems and needs will require collaborative advice, whether it be legal with tax, or legal with financial planning or indeed both. Certainly, the more complex issues must surely be best addressed with personal, face-to-face joined-up advice.

I firmly believe the LSCP research over the LSB suggestion’s – for such advice, clients will still prefer respected and properly qualified advice local and convenient to where they live or work.

SIFA Professional has, for over 30 years advocated joined-up local collaboration and you can locate a SIFA Professional financial planner in your region here.