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Marie-Emmanuelle Schiltz said at the 22nd RIAD congress: "Empowered customers with high expectations are set to be a game-changer for the legal services market. And legal protection insurers are best placed to meet the needs of this new generation of internet savvy, self-directed customers."
Professor Richard Susskind, a guest speaker at the event, and author of 'The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services', noted that the global economic downturn is accelerating customers' desire "to secure more legal services at less cost". It is also increasing the recognition that many current working practices are "unjustifiably inefficient", and that "if legal protection insurers have an appetite to diversify, I can indeed see them having a legal process management capability".
In this more demanding and price-conscious climate, legal protection insurers have been quick to bring a new generation of legal services products to the marketplace. Professor Susskind said that, while "the legal world adapts more slowly than most other sectors", legal protection insurers have developed lean management processes. Today's legal services customer demands greater efficiency and shorter response times, he added, and customers want more control over the management of their case.