Public trust in Scottish solicitors remains high

New figures showing over 90% client satisfaction with Scottish solicitors represent a ‘huge vote of confidence’ in the profession, the Law Society has said.

Independent polling by Savanta ComRes showed that members of the public place high levels of trust in solicitors and said they are highly trained professionals.

The new research showed;

• 93% of people who had used a Scottish solicitor in the last five years had been satisfied with the service they received.
• 84% of all those surveyed said Scottish solicitors are trustworthy, up from 81% in 2018.
• 91% of all those surveyed recognised that Scottish solicitors are trained and educated to a high standard.

Ken Dalling, President of the Law Society of Scotland, said: “This is a huge vote of confidence in the Scottish solicitor profession.

“Solicitors provide advice and support people through some of the most important events in their lives. Buying a home, setting up a business, resolving a family or employment dispute; each will usually involve the work of a solicitor. This is why our members are expected to work to high professional standards and provide good service to their clients.

“These new figures show how solicitors are doing exactly that, with over 90% of clients saying they were satisfied with the service they received. It is also encouraging to see overall levels of public trust in Scottish solicitors increasing yet further and from an already high level. The polling results provide clear evidence of the profession’s excellent and well-deserved reputation.”

The Savanta ComRes polling also found that just over half of all respondents, 51%, were not confident that they could afford a solicitor if they needed one.

Ken Dalling added: “We know that cost, or the perception of cost, can be a major barrier to people getting the legal services they need. This is why we have worked with firms and provided guidance on proactively publishing likely fees so clients have a clearer idea on how much they will need to pay.

“However, this new polling data shows how careful we all need to be when it comes to the costs of legal services. It is one of the reasons we are concerned at some of the regulatory reform options currently being considered by the Scottish Government, changes which risk increasing the costs on law firms and the prices which clients have to pay.

“The last thing we need is those on low and moderate incomes being priced out of affording legal services because of unnecessary and bureaucratic regulatory structures. These are issues we intend to return to in our response to the government’s current consultation on reform."

Read the full results on the Savanta ComRes website.