Reviewed by: Susan Sloman
Author: The Law Society
Publisher: Law Society Publishing
ISBN: 9781907698101
Price: £49.95

This is one of a series of six toolkits produced by the Law Society covering Client Care, Business Continuity Planning, Financial Management and Business Planning, Information Management, People Management and Risk Management.

Together they replace the Lexcel Office Procedures Manual (4th Edition) which contained in one volume a template for an office manual for Lexcel v4.

Departing from this format the Toolkits include compilations of sample policies, planning guides and checklists dealing with the different sections of the Lexcel practice management standard.

The new format has two advantages. Firstly, organising the material thematically allows firms to purchase Toolkits relating to the specific areas of the standard for which they require assistance, rather than for all of it.

Secondly, having separate publications facilitates prompt review and updating, as reflected in the second edition of the Lexcel Client Care Toolkit.

Not surprisingly the Toolkit series has generated considerable interest already. When the Law Society Bookshop advertised the first edition of the Lexcel Client Care Toolkit in 2010, the demand was so great that the initial print run was sold out before the publication date.

The first edition contained a comprehensive set of policies (client care, quality, equality and diversity); a complaints-handling procedure and accompanying checklists; a client complaint form, a client satisfaction survey; the Lexcel self-assessment checklist (which must be completed by a firm before an initial assessment); the Lexcel file and case management checklist (which may be used by an assessor during assessment); and sample client care letters and terms of business.

All of these documents appear in the second edition, updated in line with Lexcel v4.1, the changes arising from the introduction last October of the Legal Ombudsman, and the coming into force of the Equality Act 2010. Consequently practices which have the first edition may not consider the second edition to be as essential a purchase if they have already reviewed their office manuals to comply with these developments. The accompanying CD-ROM provides everything in electronic form so that it may be tailored easily by individual practices.

The sample client care letters and terms of business are a helpful starting point and readers are reminded that they should also refer to the Law Society’s practice notes on client care letters (2010) and cancellation of contracts (2010). As well as amending the templates to their particular requirements, practices must also give additional client care information if, for example, they enter into a contract for certain legal services in a client’s home, or the Distance Selling Regulations apply.

This will still be the case after 6 October 2011 when the current, prescriptive, 2007 Code of Conduct is to be replaced by the new SRA Handbook with its principles and outcomes.

Any period of rapid change presents a challenge to publishers, and the imminent developments in the regulation of the legal profession, together with the introduction next year of Lexcel v5, raise the prospect that a 3rd edition will be required in due course. However, as the Law Society has indicated, practices may be assessed against Lexcel v4.1 until 30 June 2012, so the 2nd edition should prove to be a practical and useful resource for those seeking v4.1 accreditation during the next 11 months.

Susan Sloman is an authorised Lexcel consultant and a non-practising solicitor

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