New research commissioned by CRL and undertaken by IRN Legal Reports on unregulated legal services providers in the UK calls for action to protect consumers and for a sector-wide discussion on how consumers can be best protected from unregulated providers. The research is a literature review of comprehensive analysis of relevant data published over the last decade.
CRL commissioned this research due to growing concern around the operation of the market, where unreserved activities (i.e. those not identified as reserved activities under the Legal Services Act 2007), can be provided by unregulated persons and the potential safeguarding risks that this presents to consumers. Examples of unregulated legal services include areas of critical concerns to consumers such as will writing and estate administration.
Whilst unregulated providers take a relatively small share of the total legal services market, the research found that the unregulated sector is growing, with more Litigants in Person taking on legal issues, particularly via digital legal portals and AI legal content. The research also found that some consumers of legal services do not understand the distinction between regulated and unregulated providers, putting them at risk.
Previous research into unregulated legal services has resulted in recommendations for tighter control. However, there have been no major initiatives to expand regulation into the sector, or to create mandatory accreditation via a register of providers.
In publishing this research, CRL hopes to prompt a legal sector-wide discussion around this important issue, potential approaches to regulation, and the best way to inform consumers of the regulatory status of different providers.
CRL has shared this research with the Legal Services Board and the Legal Services Consumer Panel and plans to hold a roundtable discussion with interested stakeholders in 2025 to examine how the issues raised in the research may best be taken forward.
Commenting on the research, Jonathan Rees, CRL Chair commented:
“I hope this study will help promote a wider debate on the future of legal services regulation. CRL’s view is that we need to move to a system of regulation that is based on risk not title, and one where consumers understand who is subject to regulation, and its limits. Consumers need to be helped to choose the right legal provider for them, not be confronted with an array of competing acronyms and titles.”
