ABSTRACT
The delivery of legal services today looks very different from the way things were in even the fairly recent past, and the legal profession has been required to adapt to series of major changes –– the most recent of which arose as a result of Legal Services Act 2007. The Solicitors Regulation Authority produces monthly statistics on numbers of solicitors and law firms. The June 2019 report quotes 195,660 solicitors on the roll and 146,718 holding a practising certificate. The Legal Ombudsman (LeO) is an independent, consumer-focused ombudsman scheme set up to resolve complaints about lawyers in England and Wales. The LeO deals with complaints about members of the various legal services within the ambit of the Legal Services Board. It also runs a remuneration scheme for anyone dissatisfied with their solicitor’s bill. This is currently subject to major changes that reflect cost of legal education and financial risk that has to be taken by those who engage in it.
