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Lexcel - the Law Society's Practice Management Standard

Lexcel are you ready to apply?

What is Lexcel?	Why have Lexcel?
How do I get Lexcel?	How do I keep Lexcel?
How do I prepare for Lexcel?	How do I know if I'm ready?
How much will it cost to get?	How much will it cost to keep?
What should I do next?	Contact Uncommon Solutions

What Is Lexcel?

Lexcel is the Law Society's Practice Management Standard. It is widely recognised and there are now more than 600 accredited organisations.

However, compared to more than 14,000 law firms in the UK, it is still the case that relatively few firms have Lexcel accreditation. More details are available on the Lexcel website.

A key feature of Lexcel is that it involves regular external assessment.

Why Have Lexcel?

Being able to put the Lexcel quality mark on your brochures and web pages gives excellent differentiation and adds to client confidence.

Furthermore, most of what Lexcel requires is already required by the Law Society/Solicitors' Regulation Authority and is what you would want for the proper governance of your firm. The rigour of Lexcel will help you to control systems and to avoid spending time and money unnecessarily on complaints, claims and excessive insurance premiums.

Perhaps most importantly, it will help you to protect and develop your valuable reputation.

External assessment is key to Lexcel. This provides not only quality assurance, but also an awareness of potential problems and a source of practical ideas for solutions. As well as demonstrating enhanced assurance of quality to clients (and prospective clients), the Lexcel accreditation can provide useful reassurance to the regulatory authorities, for example in the case of a complaint or allegation of malpractice/inadequate professional service.

How Do I Get Lexcel?
There are several options as to how to approach this. The main initial decision is whether to enrol in the Law Society's Commitment Scheme for preparation and a pre-application assessment or simply prepare and, when ready to apply, arrange an assessment with the selected Assessment Body.

We can help you throughout the process, from initial planning to accreditation and beyond.

How Do I Keep Lexcel?
Once you are a Lexcel accredited practice, it is necessary to have a full reassessment every three years. This is equivalent to the initial assessment and involves file reviews, reviews of administrative systems and interviews with a selection of fee earners and others.

In the intervening years, a much shorter and simpler version of the assessment is conducted, so that there is some form of external assessment of your practice at each anniversary of your accreditation.

How Do I Prepare For Lexcel?
The Lexcel Standard itself is not a very large document and so it can be read and considered quite quickly. However, there is a great deal of guidance and interpretation behind it. Detailed knowledge of this can avoid wasting time or proceeding too quickly and incurring assessment expenses unnecessarily.

The best approach is to obtain professional help from somone with a thorough understanding of Lexcel. This will, of course, involve a cost, but a relatively small and very worthwhile cost. Our own system is very quick to identify those areas where you have no problems, those where you are definitely not compliant and those which are more questionable (either because of the way systems are structured or because of more sporadic implementation).

This empowers you very quickly to decide whether Lexcel is currently for you (given the size of any initial rift between you and compliance) and leaves you with a clear list of areas which to address and on which to concentrate, proceeding to the next stage when ready.

How Do I Know If I'm Ready?
There is a great deal of guidance available from the Law Society and others. It is quite possible to work your way through this and decide how ready you are and when to apply, but it is much quicker and easier to obtain the guidance of someone thoroughly familiar with the machinations of the application and assessment process.

Needless to say, we can offer such assistance and are delighted to do so. If you have consulted us, we shall be able to tell you exactly which areas are likely to cause problems for you and when you are ready to apply with confidence.

How Much Will It Cost To Get?
This very much depends on the size of your firm (in the same way as the cost of ongoing accreditation and assessments) and also how far you are from compliance at the outset. It will be possible to give a detailed esitmate of costs at a very early stage in our discussions.

How Much Will It Cost To Keep?
The costs of maintaining Lexcel depend on the size and nature of your firm, but they will involve a subscription to the Law Society each year and a fee to the external assessor each year. For a medium-sized practice, this may involve expenditure of around £1,500-£2,000 per annum, at current rates, with a heftier cost every third year.

What Should I Do Next?
If you are interested in becoming Lexcel accredited, the best and quickest way to proceed is to consult a specialist, such as Uncommon Solutions.

We shall be able to advise you very quickly what it will entail for you to achieve the Lexcel standard, how much it is likely to cost and how beneficial it will be, given the size, structure and culture of your practice.

If you have got this far, we would strongly recommend an initial user-friendly consultation.

With excellent experience of obtaining accreditation (and of improving systems for firms whose procedures have not been optimally set up at the outset) and with close links with the Lexcel office and Assessment Bodies, we are ideally placed to give the practical advice which you need.
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