Your feedback

The request for solicitors to take part in a survey of views of the Society attracted almost 1,900 completed online questionnaires, resulting in the most comprehensive study of its kind undertaken by the Society.

“That amounts to an excellent response rate of 19%,” says Aileen Baxter, from the independent market research agency, Progressive, who carried out the research. “Compare that with standard business research, which might get a response rate of 5-10%. There was also a good mix of responses in terms of the profile of individuals and the sectors they represented. All in all, the feedback suggests a healthy level of engagement among solicitors in Scotland.”

Although the research was designed to be as user-friendly as possible, it included a comprehensive set of detailed questions that covered many aspects of the Society’s work. A free text section allowed solicitors to add personal comment. A number of themes emerged from the analysis of the responses.

“Overall, those who responded were broadly satisfied with the work of the Society but there were a number of areas where members think improvements could be made,” Baxter adds. “On the whole, professional representation appears to be meeting members’ needs, with strong support for political representation. But members expect more targeted support from the Society in future.”

Other headline findings include:

• All the services provided by the Society are considered important.
• Further work is needed to move members from “satisfied” to “very satisfied”.
• Gaps exist in awareness levels of some of the services, particularly CPD and traineeships.
• Services will only be accessed when relevant to particular members and so, while valued, overall usage can be low in some areas.

The top areas on which members feel the Society should concentrate in the future are legal aid, regulation, and improving perception of the profession with the public.

Awareness issue

In summary, says Aileen Baxter, there is work for the Society to do in raising awareness of the services it provides and understanding the opinions of members – conclusions acknowledged by the Society’s Chief Executive, Lorna Jack.

“The Society has carried out some important research in recent years,” she says. “For instance, on CPD and among Journal readers as well as in the form of individual studies, such as Women in the Legal Profession in Scotland and Profiling the Profession. But it is a decade or so since we asked for members’ views on the Society itself.

“Given that the profession is going through a period of unprecedented change and challenge, it was really important to gather their views. Ultimately, the purpose is to make sure we meet our commitment to provide relevant and effective services by making improvements where necessary. To do that, we need feedback from our members and I would like to thank all those who took the time to give us their views. The fantastic response from the profession perhaps suggests that such an exercise was long overdue.

Society marketing manager Angus Maclauchlan continues: “The results are largely in line with what we expected. We are conscious that there are many different voices within the profession. We have to reconcile the needs of those diverse groups and that presents a considerable challenge. But the research will make that significantly easier as we now know where to focus and have a better idea of who is looking for which service.”

Like Aileen Baxter, he recognises the overall satisfaction level while identifying that lack of awareness of services is an area which needs looking at. But he also highlights a number of individual issues. The positive findings include:

In terms of basic customer service, a total of 83% agreed or strongly agreed that staff dealing with enquiries were polite and helpful.

Very high levels of awareness and usage of the main information provision services – for instance, 99% awareness of both the Journal and website as well as 72% for the relatively new monthly e-bulletin. Satisfaction levels with sources of information were also high.

Very high satisfaction levels with continuous professional development, career development and the professional practice helpline.

Encouraging levels of awareness and satisfaction with the relatively new membership services, which aim to generate income and therefore lead to less reliance on the PC fee.

Developments

Commenting on the research, Neil Stevenson, Director of Professional Support at the Society, says: “It is reassuring that members think we are getting a lot of the basics right, although we need to look at how we can better represent individual solicitors rather than the profession as a whole. Likewise, while there is a general endorsement of our communication tools, other publications are less well known. We also see users are satisfied with career development but there are mixed levels of awareness about the services that exist, as there are in relation to services for those taking on trainees. Other areas we will be developing include providing an online legal library, black letter law updates and more online CPD. We are also already examining the viability of a more flexible PC fee structure.”

The results of the research will now be analysed in more detail. At the same time, the Society’s teams have been asked to identify where they believe improvements could be made. The research will be followed up with qualitative research to build on the quantitative survey. Angus Maclauchlan concludes: “In the past, we have relied to an extent on anecdotal evidence – this research, along with that still to be carried out, will give us a sound body of evidence on which to make decisions for the future. One powerful message that came through was that solicitors want us to provide a broad range of services from which they can select the ones they require.”

For charts and graphs please see printed magazine or download the December edition here.