Comparison & Review Websites

Comparison and Review Websites

the sRa are running trials with some comparison and review websites, and are currently of the opinion that engaging with these types of companies can be beneficial to solicitors and the public alike.

comparison and review websites have grown massively over the last few years, and now cover most consumer products and services, some more successfully than others.

If I am looking for a tradesman to do some work in my house or office, I will often turn to a review site, and will likely call a tradesman with positive reviews. I bear in mind that some reviews may have been posted by friends and relatives, others possibly by competitors, but overall, reviews can be extremely helpful in this scenario.

Similarly, if I am looking for something like a fridge or washing machine, or a mobile phone contract I would at least check with one or more comparison sites, to check both the product and the supplier, including price and availability etc.

I have mixed feelings, however, when it comes to solicitors. I run a practice specialising in consumer credit litigation. I am the only firm I am aware of dedicated to this area of law in the UK, so perhaps my view is not entirely representative, but I will expound anyway:

There are a number of comparison and review websites operating in the UK already. The SRA list the following as being part of their ‘pilot scheme’.

• Trustpilot • The Law Superstore • Review Solicitors • Legal Utopia • Really Moving • REVIEWS.io • Solicitor.info • Chawker • Search4legal • Redefine legal

I have checked for my company, to see what is listed on each of these sites, bearing in mind that these are just the ones the SRA has identified. Joannaconnollysolicitors, when it should be Joanna Connolly Solicitors, the address and telephone number are correct. It shows that we have no Trustpilot reviews, which is correct. It categorises us as Legal and Government and states that we claimed the profile in August 2019 both of which are incorrect

The Law Superstore website has a number of articles on a range of legal topics, such as divorce, employment etc. It gathers information from the visitor and can send the leads to registered solicitors for them to provide quotes. This is a chargeable service. There does not appear to be any simple ‘Find a solicitor’ option and, the vetting process to become registered is handled by the company themselves.The Law Superstore was taken over by Really Moving in 2017 Pioneering price comparison site Law Superstore taken over | News | Law Gazette

Review Solicitors list my firm under the legal entity rather than the trading name, and again have no reviews. Interestingly, Yell rates Review Solicitors as 1* with reviews of the site stating that they accept negative reviews without verification, and then charge £299 per month for the ability to push these down. I have not verified this personally. Trustpilot rate them at 1.7* with 92% of reviews rating them as ‘bad’.

Legal Utopia is an app on Apple & Android phones. You can sign up for free, but there are paid options for enhanced content etc. It has a ‘Find a Solicitor’ feature which seems to show all solicitors, although again mine is listed as the legal entity name not the trading name, along with address & telephone number etc.

Really Moving specializes in property & conveyancing, and there is a charge to become registered in order to receive leads from the website. As stated above, this company owns The Law Superstore.

Reviews.io is another subscription based service which costs from £29 per month to £399 per month. Reviews can only be posted by invitation, which leaves a question mark as to how representative they are.

Solicitor.info is the only site that appears to check the legal ombudsman and SRA disciplinary records in its details on solicitors. It is funded by advertising and lead generation. It also found my firm under the correct name.

According to Chalker, there are no solicitors in Liverpool, so I didn’t get very far with that one. Also, there don’t appear to be any reviews of the site itself.

Search4legal states clearly that they use SRA data, and the site finds my firm under the nontrading name, but with correct name and address information. There is no information on the site as to who operates it, and there do not appear to be any fees.

Redefine legal is no longer in operation, and their website has the following notice: ‘Redefine Legal has been unfairly forced to permanently close.’

So, most of the sites have basic information on solicitors’ firms, probably based largely on the basic SRA data, and then use their own algorithms to rate and categorise solicitors. How accurate is this? On Review Solicitors, for example, there are 206 solicitors in Liverpool, only 63 of whom have reviews and are ranked accordingly. A company called A1 Solicitors, with no reviews would rank 64 out of 206, while a company named Z9 Solicitors, would be ranked 206 out of 206. While it’s reasonable to list solicitors without reviews in alphabetical order, they should not be attaching a ranking for those companies, as this is highly misleading.

The same website lists my firm as being 44th out of 71 firms locally and 2,379th out of 3,928 globally in Commercial Property. As I don’t do commercial property, I am not sure where they get these figures from. I am not happy putting my data in the hands of a number of companies, none of whom are regulated. Of course, even if I don’t provide

any information to these companies, they are still allowed to use my data and manipulate it as they wish. These companies are profiting from my data, but I have no say in the matter. Some of the sites attempt to verify the person posting the review, but not all.

So should I ensure I am listed with all of these sites? Am I expected to ask my clients to post reviews on all of these websites? Should I be paying fees where applicable to ensure the best ratings?

In my case, the answer is no. For one thing, as I specialise in an unusual area of law, these sites are unable to correctly categorise what I do, hence they are unable to match me to appropriate visitors. If I were doing conveyancing, it might be a different matter, as the competition must be significant – but is it feasible to have to work with all of these companies, and is it even possible?

Is it reasonable to spend time chasing clients to leave reviews, reviewing the reviews, answering poor reviews, dealing with the aftermath of negative reviews because a client isn’t happy with the result – where does it end. In many areas of law, there can be a winner and a loser. Litigation is an example, if both sides are represented by solicitors, one side will lose, and generally be less than happy. The same might apply to contentious probate or family and divorce cases. While the client that has lost a case, or not done as well as they would have wished, may appreciate that it is not the lawyer’s fault, that is not always the case. The solicitor could come under fire unfairly. If posted on a review site, the solicitor is bound by client/attorney privilege and thus unable to adequately respond. The client can make accusations which the solicitor is unable to defend.

I am not against the idea in principle, quite the opposite, as such a system would undoubtably benefit clients. However, I am not sure I want to join a scheme administered by companies operating for profit, who are neither held to account nor regulated in any way. I would be happier if any scheme were to be developed for the legal

profession by either the SRA or the Law Society.

How do the sites rate on comparison and review sites themselves? The answer is almost exclusively badly, although perhaps that is to be expected.

Perhaps more interestingly, how does the SRA fare on these sites? On Trustpilot, the only review I could find, the SRA has 1*, with 99% of reviews being bad, which is perhaps an indication of the problems of such systems. Solicitors Regulation Authority Reviews | Read Customer Service Reviews of www. sra.org.uk (trustpilot.com)

If you want to have an input to this debate, contact the SRA – there is more information, including videos by the pilot scheme companies on the SRA site SRA | Customer reviews | Solicitors Regulation Authority

Joanna connoly Vice Chair SPG