Trust 'breakdown' fear

A quarter of the public think their legal advisers are 'positively untrustworthy' and half say they are arrogant, incompetent, slow or dishonest, according to research carried out for RAC Legal Services.

The Law Society hit back, saying that its own research conflicted drastically with the findings, with 83% of clients rating their solicitor as good or very good.

The survey - conducted by ICM, which telephoned 1,000 people - also revealed a split between the sexes' attitudes to their lawyers.

Women are 13% more likely to see their solicitor as trustworthy than men, and10% more likely to consider their bill to be acceptable value for money, the research found.

The survey is seen as part of the RAC's high-profile campaign to reform practice rule 4 and enable its employed solicitors to offer their services directly to the public.

Full details of the poll will not be made available until November when it will be presented to the Lord Chancellor's Department (LCD) along with other research carried out by the RAC in response to the government's consultation on reform of the profession, which includes possible changes to rule 4.

Law Society chief executive Janet Paraskeva said: 'The Law Society has already publicised its commitment to open up the legal services market and we are exploring how this may be achieved without risk to consumer safeguards.

'We are aware that the RAC is one of several companies who view the legal services market as potentially very lucrative.

However, the Law Society's priority is, as always, to ensure that any changes leave the consumer properly protected.'

Jeremy Fleming