Keeping up appearances

‘George Bernard Shaw famously opined that all professions are conspiracies against the laity. Though one would hardly expect the Law Societies’ Gazette to subscribe to this view, research commissioned by the Solicitors Regulation Authority may explain why this canard-cum-cliche is so frustratingly enduring. One in five clients claim to be dissatisfied with the service they receive from a solicitor, yet it is clear that poor communication rather than, for example, incompetence or maladministration is largely to blame.