Research on the benefits of early professional legal advice

Research undertaken by Ipsos-MORI in collaboration with the Law Society Research Unit shows a clear statistical link between getting early legal advice and resolving problems sooner. Key findings include:
  • On average, one in four people who receive early professional legal advice had resolved their problem within three to four months. For those who did not receive early legal advice, it was not until nine months after the issue had first occurred that one in four had resolved their issue.
  • At any stage in the issue, people who did not receive early advice were 20 per cent less likely than average to have had their issue resolved.

The results are based on econometric analysis of data from the Law Society/Legal Services Board Legal Needs Survey 2015/16. The research is being issued as a part of the Law Society’s Early advice campaign.

UCL Access to Justice and Legal Services Conference 2018

The results of the analysis were also presented at the UCL Access to Justice and Legal Services Conference 11-13 June 2018. The presentation slides - Econometric analysis of the benefits of early legal advice - can be downloaded here (PDF 368kb).

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