Agencies for Law Firms in the United Kingdom

For seven areas, yes. The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s transparency rules, in force from 6 December 2018, require prices and service information if the firm publishes that it works in any of them. They are residential conveyancing, uncontested probate, summary motoring offences, immigration excluding asylum and unfair or wrongful dismissal at employment tribunals. The last two are debt recovery up to £100,000 and business licensing applications.

A total cost, or an average or range if a total is not possible. The firm must explain the basis of its charges, including any hourly rate or fixed fee, highlight likely disbursements and their costs, and say whether VAT is included. For conditional or damages-based fees it must explain when the client may have to make payments. All of it must be clear and easy to understand.

What the quoted price includes, and anything a client might reasonably expect that it leaves out. The firm must also give the key stages and their typical timescales, and publish the qualifications and experience of whoever does the work and of their supervisors. A web page that shows only a headline fee does not meet the rules.

It runs random web sweeps of firm websites and publishes reports on what it finds. Its page says a firm with no website must have the information available on request in other formats. An agency building a solicitor’s site should ask the firm to name the practice areas it advertises, then check each against the list.

Yes. Its Fees pages list guidance, dated 30 September 2024, on how to engage with online reviews and how to use comparison websites. They also list a voluntary code of conduct for digital comparison tools in the legal services market. Ask the agency to read that guidance before it manages reviews or listings for a firm.