by Professor Nigel Balmer, Research Director, Legal Services Research Centre
Late last year the Legal Services Research Centre published the first research from our Legal Understanding and Lawyer Use (LULU) survey. One important thing the LULU survey did was to look not just at disputes, but also non-contentious justiciable issues - which are often transactions associated with buying and selling homes or estate planning. These are commonly overlooked in legal needs surveys, but without them, it is hard to fully appreciate the reach of law and legal services. They also throw up some fascinating differences that we expand upon in this short paper by Prof Pascoe Pleasence and I.
Transactions and tribulations
The differences were stark. Non-contentious matters are typically shorter, better understood, more confidently handled, and resolved through a narrower range of legal services, notably private solicitors. They are often perceived as technical and transactional in nature, and assistance can look much like car maintenance: necessary, but routine, expert services that keep life running smoothly, and typically leave customers satisfied.
In contrast, disputes (contentious matters) last longer, are less well understood, less frequently perceived as ‘legal’, are often intertwined with wider life problems and navigated within a more complex service ecosystem. They generate greater effort, yet less resolution, and are approached with greater uncertainty and less support. They are more akin to car crashes: they transcend the transactional and reach deep into people's lives, with assistance typically received viewed far less positively.
Why it matters
For decades, legal needs surveys focused almost exclusively on disputes and problems, (contentious matters) leaving a significant gap in understanding how people experience and navigate non-contentious legal transactions. Through this paper and our ongoing LULU survey research we hope to start filling this gap and considering what it might mean for service design and delivery.
This begs the question, how might we better understand and transplant the elements that underpin success from non-contentious to contentious matters. Lessons can flow both ways. The transparency (including around pricing), focused service delivery, and efficient pathways that characterise services for non-contentious issues could inform improvements in how we handle disputes. Equally, even routine transactions need strong communication and expectation management to maintain satisfaction.
The opportunity is to bring the best of both worlds together: the efficiency and clarity of the transactional, with support that meets the complexity of the relational. Understanding the whole picture can create new opportunities to design a system more responsive to, and more in line with diverse needs and capabilities.