UK Conveyancing Market – IRN Legal Market Briefing

The UK Conveyancing Market Briefing 2019 is an annual Legal Market Briefing from IRN Research and provides an overview of the UK conveyancing market which has witnessed a period of fluctuating trends in the last few years.

In 2018 as in 2017, IRN Research estimate that the residential conveyancing market declined as the number of property transactions and the number of individuals using conveyancing services fell back compared with 2017. Price pressures, i.e. more fixed fee options, have also been impacting on market value growth. In 2018, the UK residential conveyancing market decreased in value by 2.8% on 2017.

The number of residential property transactions also decreased in 2018 by 2.4% compared to 2017 and this followed a decrease of over 1% in 2017. Provisional figures for the first half of 2019 point to an even larger decrease in 2019. Residential property transactions decreased by 6.6% in the first half of 2019 compared to the same period in the previous year. A possible solution to the Brexit confusion in Autumn could help to improve prospects in the latter part of 2019.

The briefing (37pp, PDF), is available directly from IRN Research, priced at £200. UK sterling price is plus VAT so total price is £240.

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Clinical Negligence Market 2019 – IRN Legal Market Briefing

The UK Clinical Negligence Market Briefing 2019 is the second edition of an annual Legal Market Briefing from IRN Research and provides an overview of the UK clinical negligence markets.

The clinical negligence market is estimated to generate over £650 million in gross revenue for law firms in the UK, with gross revenues having risen over the three years up to 2016/17. However, in the latest year, revenue has slipped. Despite efforts to cut the costs of clinical negligence claims, IRN Research still expects that the market will grow in the next year although growth is likely to slow from 2020/21 onwards as changes to the market are introduced, for example fixed recoverable costs for some claims, more mediation, and the rapid resolution and redress scheme for birth injuries.

The briefing (39pp, PDF), is available directly from IRN Research, priced at £200. UK sterling price is plus VAT so total price is £240.

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UK Personal Injury Consumer Research Report 2019

The Personal Injury Consumer Research Report 2019 is the second annual edition of this report from IRN Research (branded as Orchard Reports) offering insights into consumer behaviour, perceptions, brand awareness, and opinions. This report is based on responses from 503 consumers involved in a personal injury or clinical negligence incident.

The latest consumer research findings from IRN Research suggest that awareness of the leading personal injury (PI) brands has increased over the year as these brands aim to increase their presence in the market.  A majority are aware of three brands and these are either leading CMCs or legal marketing groups which spend heavily on TV advertising and online marketing: National Accident Helpline, Accident Advice Helpline, and InjuryLawyers4U. Awareness of Admiral Law and First4Lawyers is just under 50%.

The leading established law firm brand, in terms of consumer awareness, is Cooperative Legal although it has reduced its involvement in the PI market. Close behind are Irwin Mitchell and Slater & Gordon.

However, while these brands aim to increase their use another finding shows that 43% of individuals would be willing to submit their claim to an online claims portal and complete the process themselves. There is less enthusiasm and some concerns amongst individuals about representing themselves in court, dealing with court forms, and negotiating a financial settlement with the defendant.

The Personal Injury Consumer Research Report 2019, and the detailed dataset of all survey results with a demographic analysis is available directly from IRN Research, priced at £1,500 (plus VAT).  Discounts for report purchase only, dataset only, or purchases of extracts.

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UK Medico-Legal and Insurance Market 2019 – IRN Legal Market Report

The UK Medico-Legal and Insurance Services Market Trends Report 2019 is the third edition of an annual Legal Market Report from IRN Research. It provides an overview of the UK market for firms that provide medical expertise (ME) and rehabilitation and allied medical services (RAMS) to the legal and insurance sectors.

While the market has continued to grow in recent years, the rate of annual increase is slowing. Competition for market share is intensifying as is the competition for medical expertise and medical skills. In this environment, some of the smaller players have been forced out of the market, forced to merge or been taken over by larger rivals. At the same time, some of the established mid and low-end market players have sought to move up market into the higher margined catastrophic injury sector.

While IRN Research still expects that the mid and upper segments of the market will grow over the coming years, the prospects for the low-end of the market (i.e. soft tissue, whiplash type injuries from road traffic accidents) looks poor. New legislative changes from April 2020, are likely to make a severe dent on this sector of the market, which will call into question the long-term viability of RTA-focused operators and some of the smaller MedCo medical reporting organisations.

The report (87pp, PDF), is available directly from IRN Research, priced at £200. UK sterling price is plus VAT so total price is £240. 

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UK Wills, Trusts & Probate Market 2018 – Consumer Research Report

The latest consumer research findings from IRN Research show that only 37% of adults have made a will, and an estimated 2 million adults made a will in the last 12 months. The wills market is skewed towards older age groups with over six out of ten adults in the over 55s age group having made a will.

The Wills & Probate Consumer Research Report 2018 is the second in a series of new reports from IRN Research (branded as Orchard Reports) on the legal services market and offering insights into consumer behaviour, perceptions, brand awareness, and opinions. This report is based on responses from 1,034 consumers including 379 that have made a will, and 291 that have been involved in estate administration (probate).

The Wills & Probate Consumer Research Report 2018, and the detailed dataset of all survey results with a demographic analysis is available directly from IRN Research, priced at £2,500 (plus VAT).
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UK Legal Services Consumer Research Report 2019 – Consumer Research Report

The latest consumer research findings from IRN Research show that a majority of adults have used a law firm/solicitor in the last five years, but use of other legal services providers is also growing.

A clear majority find it difficult to differentiate one law firm from another but over three-quarters would be influenced in their choice of law firm by price information on a law firm website, i.e. when choosing between law firms they would choose the one giving clear price information on their site (New price transparency regulations have been introduced requiring law firms in some practice areas to publish prices but some law firms have yet to comply).

The UK Legal Services Consumer Research Report 2019 is the third in a series of new reports from IRN Research (branded as Orchard Reports) on the legal services market and offering insights into consumer behaviour, perceptions, brand awareness, and opinions. This report is based on responses from a national sample of 1,207 consumers.

The UK Legal Services Consumer Research Report 2019, and the detailed dataset of all survey results with a demographic analysis is available directly from IRN Research, priced at £2,500 (plus VAT). Discounts for report purchase only, dataset only, or purchases of extracts.

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UK Family Law Consumer Research Report 2019

The Family Law Consumer Research Report is the 2019 is a new report from IRN Research (branded as Orchard Reports) offering insights into consumer behaviour, perceptions, brand awareness, and opinions. This report is based on responses from 304 consumers that have been involved in a divorce or civil partnership dissolution in the last five years.

The  consumer research findings  show that almost a third of individuals involved in a divorce or civil partnership dissolution decided to deal with the proceedings themselves from start to finish. Another 10% started proceedings themselves but then used a solicitor or law firm to complete the process. The largest group still used a solicitor/law firm from start to finish.

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UK Residential Conveyancing Consumer Research Report 2019

The latest consumer research findings from IRN Research show that law firms and solicitors continue to be the preferred choice for conveyancing advice and experience and relevant qualifications are what a client looks for most in an advisor. Price is also important but is not the main choice criteria. A majority – 55% – do shop around when looking for a conveyancer.

The Residential Conveyancing Consumer Research Report 2019 is the latest in a series of reports from IRN Research (branded as Orchard Reports) on the legal services market and offering insights into consumer behaviour, perceptions, brand awareness, and opinions. This report is based on responses from 562 consumers that have purchased a residential property in the last two years.

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Before-the-event Legal Expense Insurance 2019

This report considers how many consumers have Before-the-event (BTE) legal expense insurance (LEI) cover, how this cover was taken out and how individuals owning such insurance approach insurance buying in general. BTE legal expense insurance is defined as insurance providing cover against the cost of legal expenses associated with bringing or defending a legal action, including the policyholder’s own legal fees and the other party’s cost should they lose.

For this report, IRN commissioned research from MIS Group’s UK panel. The research was structured so that 2,051 consumers aged 18+ were asked if they owned an insurance policy. This generated 503 individuals who owned BTE legal expense insurance.

One quarter of consumers say they own before-the-event (BTE) legal expense insurance (LEI).   With 25% of adults owning, this means around 13 million adults are aware they have LEI cover. Legal expense insurance ownership tends to be biased towards consumers who are: Male; Aged 35+; from the AB social grades; and have net monthly household income of £2,000 and above: i.e. mature, affluent men. The BTE LEI market is primarily an add-on market. Only 11% of individuals owning legal expense insurance took out a separate standalone policy.

LEI policyholders are confident, self-reliant insurance buyers. Compared with consumers not owning LEI, LEI policyholders are significantly more likely to be Intrepid insurance Buyers: 48% of LEI policyholders are Intrepid Buyers, compared with 26% of consumers who do not own LEI. Intrepid Buyers are consumers who are very confident about buying insurance and also very self-reliant. They tend to have significant levels of insurable risks which are covered with relatively high levels of insurance cover. These consumers find it easy to go into the market and buy insurance.  Most consumers in this group want to complete part or all of their customer journey online.

When selecting insurance, LEI policyholders pay more attention to the cover on offer (rather than just the price) compared with consumers as a whole, and are more cover focused compared with other consumers owning insurance (but who do not own LEI). Moreover, when selecting insurance, LEI policyholders also show a stronger preference for buying from well-known insurance brands, compared with consumers as a whole and compared with other consumers owning insurances (but who do not own LEI insurance).

This report (41pp) and the detailed dataset of all survey results with a demographic analysis is available directly from IRN Research, priced at £300 (£360 including VAT).  Discounts for multiple report purchases, report only, dataset only, or purchases of extracts are available.

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