More than 28,000 people responded to an online survey by the two organisations, ‘Legal needs of individuals’, making it the largest ever survey of legal needs in England and Wales.
However, only 16% of respondents who had experienced a contentious legal issue perceived the issue as ‘legal’ in nature. This affected whether or not they sought legal advice. Those who did seek professional legal advice were more likely to feel they achieved a fair outcome than those who didn’t (66% compared to 53%).
LSB Chair Dr Helen Phillips said the survey ‘reveals a significant access to justice gap. For a variety of reasons people do not always seek legal advice. Many fail to identify the issues they face as being legal in nature. They perhaps class it as a housing issue or a financial problem or put it down to bad luck. This means they then don’t seek for the right kind of help’.
While 92% of respondents believed legal aid was a good thing, an astonishing 85% of those with a household income below the means test threshold did not think they would be eligible for legal aid.
Nine out of ten respondents were satisfied with the service they received from their solicitor, compared to 74% from unregulated providers. 84% felt their solicitor provided value for money. Only one in five respondents had shopped around when choosing a legal service.
Defective goods or services accounted for about one quarter of legal issues experienced by respondents, while 14% suffered anti-social behaviour by neighbours, 11% bought or sold property, 11% made or changed a will and 11% had employment issues.
Simon Davis, President of the Law Society, said the research ‘brings home the need to build better public understanding of legal issues and clear, accessible pathways to get professional legal advice’.
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