Legal Choices has always seemed a bit like Emmerdale to Obiter. We’re aware of it, and we know somebody must tune in to keep it on air, but we have yet to meet anyone who actually admits to watching it.

The legal information site, run by the legal services regulators (excluding, pointedly, the Bar Standards Board) is similarly mysterious. It exists – that much we know. But we have yet to find someone who has actually looked at it.

Yet look at it they must. The SRA this month released figures showing that more than 400,000 people (or more specifically, devices) have visited the site in the last year for information about lawyers. Videos linking to the Legal Choices website have been watched more than 1.7m times, while an online dictionary explaining common legal terms has been accessed more than 1.5m times since 2020.

The SRA was also less forthcoming about another aspect of Legal Choices: the cost. The site is paid for by regulated lawyers (not barristers) and it remains a mystery how much funding the regulated bodies allocate to it. There is nothing in the Legal Choices annual report and the SRA made no reference to it in its most recent budget document.

Obiter has asked for an estimate of costs and contributions but has yet to receive a number. We’ll be sure to update you when we get something.

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