A recent report has called for legal service comparison websites to sign up to a voluntary set of standards.
The Legal Services Consumer Panel approached 16 comparison websites on the premise of wanting to make a will or find out the costs involved in buying a property. Overall the panel members had a positive experience but they warned that some sites offered insufficient information for the consumer to make an informed choice.
Chair of the Panel, Elisabeth Davies, said: “We are calling on website operators to demonstrate their commitment to consumer protection by signing up to some common sense good practice standards.”
The report recommends that in order to provide better access to legal services and to allow for greater competition, comparison websites should give details of a solicitor’s specialism and access to his or her professional register.
Only when there is a uniform agreement of what information to include or exclude can these sites offer a true comparison of legal services.
