Regular readers will know that I am an advocate of law firms getting their acts together as businesses, but this is not to say that solicitors should in any way give up the particularly high service standards set for the protection of clients’ best interests.In fact, the high standards the profession has set itself in practice could set solicitors apart from many companies out there in the commercial world when law firms end up swimming more freely with them.

Take, for example, these, in my view, distinctly customer-unfriendly provisions that I came across recently buried in the online terms and conditions of a domain name, web and email hosting company:

‘All hosting, email and dedicated server accounts are subject to a 12-month minimum contract term… Customers will automatically be charged again at the end of their pre-pay period unless confirmation of the wish to close has already been received… Fees charged on a pre-pay basis (together with account set-up fees, where applicable), are non-refundable… After the minimum contract period, customers may cancel any package by contacting the Customer Care team…

‘Note to solicitors: If you wrongfully threaten legal action against [the company] on behalf of your clients your correspondence will be passed on to our solicitors who will invoice you for the time spent dealing with your case.’

This, to me, roughly translates as: ‘We say that you sign up for a minimum 12-month contract period, but you can only cancel after the minimum period. You will be billed automatically on the anniversary of the contract start, so by the time you cancel we will have taken from your account (without any prior warning) next year’s subscription, so your minimum contract period is really two years. We won’t refund the second year’s subscription even if you have no use for the service any more.

‘And don’t try seeking legal help, because if you do we threaten people with the risk of paying our solicitors’ fees for dealing with correspondence, even without a court order, as you are bound by our contract terms.’

This is not a question of regulation – the company’s website states that its code of practice is approved by Ofcom. But there is a broader conclusion to be drawn. As firms venture down commoditised or packaged routes, online terms and conditions will become increasingly prevalent. Licensed subscriptions to legal services could well emerge, and there will naturally be a desire to make the e-commerce model as slick and automated as possible. However, therein also lies the risk of alienating clients by going too far – as in my view is the case here.

Yes, let’s compete with big business, but let’s also show the world that there is a better way and that our clients, not our pockets, remain our overriding concern.