Almost every article about what a law firm’s website must publish is written for firms regulated by the SRA. If your firm is in Scotland, that is the wrong rulebook. And the Scottish guidance contains one line that rules out the most common conversion tactic on legal websites.
This is a practical account of what each regime expects a website to publish about price, where the two differ, and what that means for how the pages are built. It is written for law firms and for whoever builds their sites. It is not legal advice. Your own compliance lead and regulator decide this for your firm.
Two regulators, two rulebooks
Solicitors in England and Wales are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Solicitors in Scotland are regulated by the Law Society of Scotland. Both have published expectations about price information on websites, and they are not the same document, the same scope, or even the same kind of instrument.
A firm that copies its pricing page structure from an English competitor is working from rules that do not apply to it, and may be missing the ones that do.
England and Wales: the SRA Transparency Rules
The SRA Transparency Rules apply to defined areas of work rather than to everything a firm does. For individuals that includes residential conveyancing, uncontested probate, immigration (excluding asylum), summary motoring offences in the magistrates’ court, and unfair or wrongful dismissal claims at the Employment Tribunal. For businesses it includes defending those tribunal claims, debt recovery up to £100,000, and licensing applications for business premises.
Where the rules bite, a firm must publish the cost (“the total cost of the service or, where not practicable, the average cost or range of costs”) together with the basis of charging, the experience and qualifications of those doing the work, “a description of, and the cost of, any likely disbursements”, the VAT position, what the service includes, the key stages and typical timescales.
Two further requirements are about the website rather than the price list. A firm must publish details of its complaints procedure, including how and when a complaint can be made to the Legal Ombudsman and to the SRA. And an authorised body must display “in a prominent place on its website… its SRA number and the SRA’s digital badge”.
Scotland: the Law Society of Scotland’s price transparency guidance
The Law Society of Scotland’s price transparency guidance is framed differently. It is guidance written in terms of what practice units “should” do, it is not limited to a list of named services, and it separates two moments: when a consumer is shopping around, and when they instruct you.
On the first, it is specific about the website:
“The consumer should be able to access price information without being required to supply personal data (such as names or contact details).”
“Where the practice unit has a website then price information should be published in a prominent location which is clearly signposted and without the need to provide detailed information to access this.”
That is the line worth reading twice, because it describes the exact pattern most legal websites use: a “get a quote” form standing between the visitor and any number at all. Under this guidance the price page is the thing, and the form is what comes after it.
The guidance leaves the form of pricing to the firm (hourly rates per level of fee earner, fixed fees, or “scenario fees or the price of a typical case”) and is prescriptive about VAT: prices for consumers “should be shown as VAT inclusive”, and where VAT-exclusive prices are given “it must be made clear that the price does not include VAT… along with the current applicable rate”. Language must be clear and understandable, avoiding legal terms where possible.
At the second moment, instruction, the guidance points at a rule rather than guidance. It notes that “mandatory compliance with Practice Rule B4 (Client Communication)” requires solicitors to put in writing an outline of the work, an estimate of the total fee or the basis of charging “including VAT and outlays”, legal aid details where relevant, who will do the work, and who to contact with concerns or complaints.
What this changes about the website
- Publish the prices, then ask. A price page that a visitor can read without typing anything is what the Scottish guidance describes, and it converts better anyway: the enquiry that arrives after someone has seen the figure is a qualified one.
- Decide VAT presentation once, and apply it everywhere. Consumer-facing prices VAT inclusive, or clearly marked exclusive with the rate. Half a site doing each is the common failure.
- Give each priced service its own page. Conveyancing, executry, employment advice and the rest are different buyers with different questions, and a single “fees” page serves none of them well.
- Build the regulator identifiers into the template, not into one footer somebody edits by hand, and make sure they are the right regulator’s.
- Put the complaints route where it belongs, with the detail your regime requires, rather than buried in terms.
- Date the figures. Published prices go stale, and a page quoting last year’s rates is your own site arguing against you.
Our solicitors page covers the rest of the site: practice-area structure, enquiry routing and what a rebuild involves. The companion post on where law firm enquiries stall deals with what happens after the enquiry arrives.
What we would not build for a law firm
- A price gate. “Enter your details for a quote” as the only route to a figure, on a Scottish firm’s site, runs against the guidance above.
- An SRA badge on a Scottish firm’s website. Wrong regulator, and it is the kind of detail a prospective client can check.
- A “fixed fee” headline with the outlays discovered later. Both regimes expect disbursements and VAT to be dealt with openly, and consumer law has its own view of a price that grows.
- Pricing copy we wrote ourselves. Figures, scope and what is included come from the firm and are published as given.
- A compliance claim we cannot evidence. Accreditations, panel memberships and quality marks go up only where the firm holds them.
Sources and method
- SRA Transparency Rules: the services in scope, the price and service information required, complaints publication, and the SRA number and digital badge.
- Law Society of Scotland, Price Transparency Guidance: publishing without requiring personal data, prominence, the forms price information may take, VAT presentation, plain language, and the reference to mandatory Practice Rule B4.
What this post does not do. Central Systems builds websites; we are not solicitors or compliance consultants, and this is not legal advice. It does not tell any firm which services its own regime captures, what its prices should be, or how its complaints procedure should read. It summarises two published documents and simplifies both: the SRA rules contain detail on conditional fee agreements and other matters not covered here, and the Scottish guidance has sections this post does not reproduce. It does not address Northern Ireland, licensed providers, or non-solicitor legal services. Rules and guidance are revised; the linked sources are authoritative and this page is not.
Questions firms ask us
We do not do any of the SRA’s listed services. Do we still publish prices?
If you are an SRA-regulated firm outside the listed areas, the price publication rules may not bite. But the complaints and badge requirements are separate, and clients still ask what things cost. Publishing is then a commercial decision rather than a regulatory one.
Is the Scottish guidance mandatory?
It is guidance and is written in terms of what practice units “should” do, while Practice Rules B3 and B4 are rules. How your practice unit treats that distinction is a question for your own compliance lead, not for us.
Can we show a range rather than a fixed price?
Both regimes contemplate it. The SRA rules refer to average cost or a range of costs where a total is not practicable; the Scottish guidance describes hourly rates, fixed fees or scenario pricing. What matters is that the assumptions behind the number are visible.
Where should the price information sit?
Prominent and clearly signposted, in the Scottish wording. In practice that means a route from the main navigation, and a price section on the service page itself rather than one buried fees page.
We have offices on both sides of the border. Which applies?
That depends on how each practice is authorised and by whom, which is a question for your compliance lead. From a build point of view, assume the site has to satisfy both and design the templates so each jurisdiction’s pages can carry what they need.
Does publishing prices lose us work?
In our experience of building these pages it filters rather than loses. The enquiries that disappear are the ones that were price-shopping; the ones that arrive have read the figure and want to proceed.
Can a client find your prices without filling in a form?
Send us your firm’s website. We will tell you what it publishes about price, how many steps it takes to reach a figure, whether the regulator details are right for your jurisdiction, and what is missing.