1. 30 th January 2006 GfK NOP Custom Research Market Test – Initial Quantitative Results Market Need for The Law Society

2. GfK NOP 30 th January 2006 Custom Research Market Test – Initial Quantitative Results 2 Q10. How strongly do you agree or disagree that “Solicitors in England and Wales need a national representational body”? AGREE A national representational body is required by the vast majority DISAGREE 95% 4.5 4.6 4.3 4.7 91% 92% 88% Total ‘Agree’ Mean out of 5.0 ‘97% of Trainees ‘agree’

3. GfK NOP 30 th January 2006 Custom Research Market Test – Initial Quantitative Results 3 TLS meets all needs for a third of UK solicitors; ‘firms’ feel less well supported  Two-fifths of firms feel that TLS meets few or none of their needs Q9. Setting aside its regulatory role, would you say that The Law Society currently…? ‘Meets none or few needs’ - Private Practice = 26% - Employed Sector = 33% ‘Meets none or few needs’ - Wales = 57% ‘Meets all needs’ - Europe = 54% - Asia Pacific = 44% ‘Meets all needs’ - Sole Practitioners = 24% - 41+ solicitors = 13%

4. GfK NOP 30 th January 2006 Custom Research Market Test – Initial Quantitative Results 4 29% of UK solicitors claim to belong to another practitioner association Q7. Do you belong to any other practitioner groups? Which ones? Respondents commonly report belonging to:-  Association of Personal Injury Lawyers  Solicitors Family Law Association  Employment Law Association ‘Don’t belong to any other practitioner groups’ - Private Practice = 66% - Employed Sector = 87% ‘Don’t belong to any other practitioner groups’ - Europe = 84% - Asia Pacific = 96%  Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners  Criminal Law Association  Solicitors Association of Higher Court Advocates  The Law Society’s European Group

5. GfK NOP 30 th January 2006 Custom Research Market Test – Initial Quantitative Results 5 14% of UK solicitors claim to be ‘active’ members of a local law society Q7A. Are you a member of any local Law Society? Q7B. And have you attended any meetings of your local law society in the last 12 months? Base: All who are a member of a local law society: UK Solicitors 360, ‘Member of a local law society’ - Private Practice = 44% (16% ‘active’) - Employed Sector = 16% (5% ‘active’)

6. 30 th January 2006 GfK NOP Custom Research Market Test – Initial Quantitative Results Representational Focus for The Law Society

7. GfK NOP 30 th January 2006 Custom Research Market Test – Initial Quantitative Results 7 Future Representational Focus for The Law Society  When asked directly, solicitors believe that The Law Society should focus its future efforts in those areas which support the individual solicitor and the profession at large  Supporting solicitor’s in the course of their practice  Representing the interest of solicitors nationally  The development of law reform procedures which affect solicitors’ practices (e.g. civil justice procedures, use of home information packs) is also understood to be a key role for The Law Society forward-going  The trade-off exercise largely confirms this, with the 5 most important representational areas to focus on being:-  Representing the profession’s views to the Regulator regarding regulation issues  Advising on law reform procedures affecting solicitors  Representing individual solicitors in relation to regulatory issues  Promoting the image & skills of solicitors  Lobbying Government on issues relating to the profession

8. GfK NOP 30 th January 2006 Custom Research Market Test – Initial Quantitative Results 8 Future focus should be on the individual solicitor & profession at large, not the public FUTURE SCOPE & DIRECTION Strength of agreement (mean out of 5.0) UK SOLICITORS (925) FIRMS (300) INT’L SOLICITORS (100) STUDENTS (100) Primary focus of TLS in the future should be supporting solicitors in the course of their practice 4.24.54.14.5 Primary focus of TLS in the future should be representing the interests of solicitors nationally 4.34.44.14.4 TLS should be involvement in the development of law reform procedures, for example, in areas such as civil justice procedures and the use of Home Information Packs 4.24.34.14.4 TLS should be involved in the development of legal policy, in relation to new laws in areas such as terrorism and human rights 3.94.13.94.1 In the future, TLS should directly represent the case of individual solicitors in relation to regulatory issues 3.84.23.64.2 TLS should be actively involved in developing a Legal Defence Union to provide support and representation for individual solicitors involved in a legal dispute, even if this is with their own practice 3.63.73.44.3 One role of TLS in the future should be to represent public interest, even if this sometimes conflicts with the professions’ own best interests 2.92.73.13.5 Q11. How strongly do you agree or disagree that… Perhaps somewhat ‘idealistically’, students are more likely to support these areas

9. GfK NOP 30 th January 2006 Custom Research Market Test – Initial Quantitative Results 9 Representational Role – Hierarchy of Importance (Utility Scores out of 100) REPRESENTATIONAL ROLES UK SOLICITORS (925) FIRMS (300) INT’L SOLICITORS (300) STUDENTS (100) COMBINED UTILITY SCORE Representing the profession’s views to the Regulator regarding regulation issues 1 (65.4)1 (70.4)2 (63.1)5 (51.4)250.3 Advising on law reform procedures affecting solicitors2 (59.6)5 (59.9)3 (62.4)3 (57.8)239.7 Representing individual solicitors in relation to regulatory issues 4 (56.8)4 (61.3)7 (51.2)2 (62.6)231.9 Promoting the image & skills of solicitors5 (56.7)2 (68.3)5 (54.6)7 (48.9)228.5 Lobbying Government on issues relating to the profession 3 (59.5)3 (62.6)1 (64.6)10 (40.2)226.9 Promoting equality & diversity across the profession6 (50.9)7 (43.5)8 (47.5)1 (64.9)206.8 Advising on legal policy7 (49.7)9 (40.3)6 (52.8)9 (43.1)185.9 Developing a Legal Defence Union8 (47.2)6 (46.6)9 (36.0)4 (53.2)183.0 Providing advice to Government on legal issues9 (45.3)8 (41.7)11 (27.4)8 (47.3)161.7 Representing the public interest10 (34.4)10 (28.9)10 (32.9)6 (49.8)146.0 Representing & promoting the profession internationally, to open new markets 11 (24.4)11 (26.6)4 (57.6)11 (30.9)139.5 Q12. Conjoint pair-wise trade-off analysis exercise

10. 30 th January 2006 GfK NOP Custom Research Market Test – Initial Quantitative Results Delivery Mechanisms & Timescales

11. GfK NOP 30 th January 2006 Custom Research Market Test – Initial Quantitative Results 11 Q20A. In general, what would be your/your firm’s most preferred channel for receiving products or services from The Law Society in the future? The Internet is an appropriate delivery channel for the majority of the profession

12. 30 th January 2006 GfK NOP Custom Research Market Test – Initial Quantitative Results Membership Funding

13. GfK NOP 30 th January 2006 Custom Research Market Test – Initial Quantitative Results 13 Membership Funding (1)  The vast majority of UK solicitors (81%) feel that at least some of the representational areas warrant the levy of a fee paid by all solicitors  A word of caution – this falls to 72% amongst Firm representatives in firms that currently pay all of the PC fee for its solicitors  Representational areas most commonly thought appropriate to be covered by this ‘mandatory’ fee are:-  Representing the profession’s views to the Regulator regarding regulation issues  Representing individual solicitors in relation to regulatory issues  Developing a Legal Defence Union  Promoting the image & skills of solicitors  In respect of support services, 83% of UK solicitors and 72% of firms believe some should be funded via a fee levied on all solicitors  Support services most commonly thought appropriate to be covered by this ‘mandatory’ fee are focused on information & advisory services (i.e. online information resource, ethics advice & helpline, best practice guidelines)

14. GfK NOP 30 th January 2006 Custom Research Market Test – Initial Quantitative Results 14 £100 is a key ‘price point’ for both firms & individual ‘Firms’ experience a further step fall in uptake at £150 Individual solicitors show more sensitivity to the £200 threshold Q16A. Pricing questioning for ‘the fee to be paid by all solicitors and covering those representational and support services just identified’ Around three-fifths indicate that a fee of £100 to cover the key representational/support areas identified would be acceptable