Law firms lose almost half of potential new clients by mishandling telephone enquiries and most show ‘zero’ sensitivity to a client’s needs, a ‘secret-shopping’ exercise has found.

Some 33% of calls to firms were disconnected before they reached a legal adviser and 44% of those which were put through went to the wrong person. Hybrid firms, which include alternative business structures and umbrella-branded firms, performed worst, the report found.

The report is based on 100 ‘secret shopping’ telephone calls made to large regional and hybrid firms enquiring about: a property matter, making a will, a business startup or an employment issue. Callers used a ‘multi-point customer experience assessment’ to rate the quality of each firm’s response.

The study was commissioned by Cxinlaw, a business which helps law firms deliver a better client experience and stands to gain from such findings. However, it received the endorsement of Professor Stephen Mayson, director of the Legal Services Institute, who said: ‘Some will dismiss this report as yet another lawyer-bashing survey. That would be a mistake. It shows the stark reality that too many law firms are their own competitors, turning work away and into the arms of others. It also shows exactly what needs to be worked on - not acquiring expensive resources, but changing attitudes.’

Some 45% of callers concluded that they would not engage law firms because of their ‘below average to poor service’ and would also tell others to avoid them. The allegedly poor service is reflected in the finding that 72% of legal advisers ‘scored zero’ or showed ‘little ability to empathise, build rapport or deal with objections sensitively’.