Valets, butlers, housekeepers. Lawyers and accountants as service providers in the market of legal services for SMEs in Poland

ABSTRACT This paper looks into the practices and meanings of legal services use by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Poland. Based on the results of extensive quantitative (n>7000) and qualitative (101 IDIs) studies, it finds that SMEs face significant access to justice barriers. While the studies find that apparent cost barriers cause this, they stress the limited complexity, time and organisational resources at SMEs’ disposal. Furthermore, the realities of small business in Poland and the wide use of private ordering often render legal services spurious. As a result, SME owners and managers adapt the legal services used to their businesses’ limited possibilities and most acute needs. In so doing, they appear to act rationally, with the view of maximising the economic output of their businesses. Despite the availability of lawyers, legal services are often delivered by accountants, and generally kept at a minimum. A typology of legal services used by SMEs created based on qualitative study results: “legal valeting”, “butlering”, and “housekeeping”, reflects this. Traditional home servants inspire these names and indicate the scope of service and the type of relationship between the professionals and service providers.