Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Key definition

Efficiency definition

What does Efficiency mean? Efficiency, in legal practice, means delivering the same or better outcome with fewer resources (time, money, people), or increasing outputs from the same inputs. It is a descriptive term used across public law, procurement, regulation and litigation rather than a single statutory concept, though it features in Best Value and audit frameworks that emphasise the “three Es”: economy, efficiency and effectiveness. In England and Wales the Local Government Act 1999 imposes a Best Value duty; Scotland has the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003; Northern Ireland has the Local Government (Best Value) (Northern Ireland) Order 2006. In Ireland, the Public Spending...

Conveyancing client onboarding and retention improvement: business case, pilot results and firm-wide implementation plan

Published by a LexisNexis Practice Management expert

Precedents

1 Executive summary

This report explores why 35% of new Clients leave within the first fortnight after instructions. Undertaken in May and June 2025, the work draws on statistical Data from a range of sources. A cross-party team of fee earners, personal assistants and support staff, headed by FLS (Conveyancing Partner), delivered the Research. The objective was to locate present process bottlenecks, determine their causes, and set out practical fixes. The principal recommendations are:

Standardised email signatures for all staff, including direct contact details;
A review of all standard letters currently issued to clients;
Development of a standard call script for personal assistants when speaking with new or potential clients;
A review of the current mobile phone provider, with a possible move to an alternative provider.

Comprehensive details of these proposals appear below. If adopted, initial roll-out could begin within two weeks.

2 What is the problem and what does it cost?

The problem

Delays at the outset of the new client process are triggering complaints and causing the loss of business...

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Beth Pipe , FCIPD

OnLive Learning

Beth is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (FCIPD) and has spent over 25 years specialising in Learning and Development. During that time she has worked across a broad variety of different industries and has, for the past 15 years, worked closely with a number of well known law firms; this has involved putting in to place systems and structures to encourage, enable and track the effectiveness of learning activities. Adept at face to face course delivery, and always enjoying excellent feedback, Beth is also accomplished at online delivery and created OnLive Learning in response to the challenges presented by the 2020 Covid-19 restrictions.Beth has written extensively for LexisNexis on subjects such as Performance Management, Managing Change and Stress Management. Away from her training delivery she is a published author writing about local history, hiking, wildlife and the outdoors and is...

Web page updated on 22/05/2026

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