Solicitor reasonable response time to messages
Discussion
Hi
Second question of the day to the font of knowledge that is PH. What is a reasonable time-frame for a solicitor to repsond?
I had an email from my solicitor (in relation to divorce) at 3.50pm on Tuesday attaching a copy of a letter from my ex-wife's solicitor containing the usual load of nonsense and asking me to read the attached letter before discussing it with her.
I read it and phoned her at 4pm. Her colleague answered and said she was in a meeting but would pass the message on saying I'd phoned.
I hadn't heard back by 2pm yesterday so phoned again. Again she was in a meeting but her colleague said she would pass on a message again.
And I'm still waiting at 9.45am for this call.
Not a huge time length perhaps, but my solicitor only works a 4-day week, so unless I hear from her today, she'll be out of the office until Monday and by the time she's spoken to me and written a response, yet another week has been lost.
This isn't the first time this lack of communication has happened. Her four-day week combined with being out at court with other clients/in meetings/on annual leave means she's nigh on impossible to ever speak to within a few days.
I am expecting too much for my £240 per hour?
Thoughts welcome
Cheers
Second question of the day to the font of knowledge that is PH. What is a reasonable time-frame for a solicitor to repsond?
I had an email from my solicitor (in relation to divorce) at 3.50pm on Tuesday attaching a copy of a letter from my ex-wife's solicitor containing the usual load of nonsense and asking me to read the attached letter before discussing it with her.
I read it and phoned her at 4pm. Her colleague answered and said she was in a meeting but would pass the message on saying I'd phoned.
I hadn't heard back by 2pm yesterday so phoned again. Again she was in a meeting but her colleague said she would pass on a message again.
And I'm still waiting at 9.45am for this call.
Not a huge time length perhaps, but my solicitor only works a 4-day week, so unless I hear from her today, she'll be out of the office until Monday and by the time she's spoken to me and written a response, yet another week has been lost.
This isn't the first time this lack of communication has happened. Her four-day week combined with being out at court with other clients/in meetings/on annual leave means she's nigh on impossible to ever speak to within a few days.
I am expecting too much for my £240 per hour?
Thoughts welcome
Cheers
Mortgage_tom said:
I have got the impression over the years, that if its news your not going to like they post it on a Friday. That way when you receive it on Saturday morning you cant phone them about it. Your forced to wait until Monday and they hope you have cooled down by then.
Yep, that's about right. After many letters being sent I've told mine I only want stuff sent to me by email. Depends on how busy the solicitor is.
My wife is a lawyer in construction, and over the last few days she's been working 16 hour days to meet a deadline for something or other. On the way home last night she was on the phone to her mom apologising for not responding to emails, she's been snowed under and hasn't even triaged her inbox.
My wife is a lawyer in construction, and over the last few days she's been working 16 hour days to meet a deadline for something or other. On the way home last night she was on the phone to her mom apologising for not responding to emails, she's been snowed under and hasn't even triaged her inbox.
sgtBerbatov said:
Depends on how busy the solicitor is.
My wife is a lawyer in construction, and over the last few days she's been working 16 hour days to meet a deadline for something or other. On the way home last night she was on the phone to her mom apologising for not responding to emails, she's been snowed under and hasn't even triaged her inbox.
Yep - it's understandable every now and again. But when it's every time I try to get hold of her? Makes me wonder whether it would be better to have a less busy solicitor so they could spend more time and effort on my case? But if they're not as busy they're probably not as good. Dilemma. Or should there be someone else able to deal with my case whilst she's busy in court/with other clients etc? My wife is a lawyer in construction, and over the last few days she's been working 16 hour days to meet a deadline for something or other. On the way home last night she was on the phone to her mom apologising for not responding to emails, she's been snowed under and hasn't even triaged her inbox.
elise2000 said:
sgtBerbatov said:
Depends on how busy the solicitor is.
My wife is a lawyer in construction, and over the last few days she's been working 16 hour days to meet a deadline for something or other. On the way home last night she was on the phone to her mom apologising for not responding to emails, she's been snowed under and hasn't even triaged her inbox.
Yep - it's understandable every now and again. But when it's every time I try to get hold of her? Makes me wonder whether it would be better to have a less busy solicitor so they could spend more time and effort on my case? But if they're not as busy they're probably not as good. Dilemma. Or should there be someone else able to deal with my case whilst she's busy in court/with other clients etc? My wife is a lawyer in construction, and over the last few days she's been working 16 hour days to meet a deadline for something or other. On the way home last night she was on the phone to her mom apologising for not responding to emails, she's been snowed under and hasn't even triaged her inbox.
Could be a number of things, the solicitor might want to make sure they're on top of your case so will go and read their notes then come back to you. Or they're in the middle of a lot of other cases at the moment that are all going to court. It's rare, so I'm told, that a solicitor will pass you over to a colleague to speak if they're busy as things may get lost.
Once upon a time I hired a 'specialist' solicitor to defend me and I never once met her. Every time there was a court hearing she contacted another firm and got someone else to attend.
I even spoke to her at 4:00pm on the afternoon before one court date and ended the call with " I will see you in the morning then?" And she told me she would be there. The solicitor that actually turned up told me that she had called him immediately after hanging up on me .
If you find a good solicitor, stick with them !
I even spoke to her at 4:00pm on the afternoon before one court date and ended the call with " I will see you in the morning then?" And she told me she would be there. The solicitor that actually turned up told me that she had called him immediately after hanging up on me .
If you find a good solicitor, stick with them !
sgtBerbatov said:
I always think if someone is super busy then they're in demand, so must be good. If someone isn't busy it makes me question why they're quiet.
Could be a number of things, the solicitor might want to make sure they're on top of your case so will go and read their notes then come back to you. Or they're in the middle of a lot of other cases at the moment that are all going to court. It's rare, so I'm told, that a solicitor will pass you over to a colleague to speak if they're busy as things may get lost.
Yep could be any of that. However the lack of communication seems staggering to me considering the amounts they charge. It only take a matter of seconds to send a quick email saying "I'm in court, will call you tomorrow afternoon" of something. They could even ask their secretary to do that. Could be a number of things, the solicitor might want to make sure they're on top of your case so will go and read their notes then come back to you. Or they're in the middle of a lot of other cases at the moment that are all going to court. It's rare, so I'm told, that a solicitor will pass you over to a colleague to speak if they're busy as things may get lost.
elise2000 said:
Yep could be any of that. However the lack of communication seems staggering to me considering the amounts they charge. It only take a matter of seconds to send a quick email saying "I'm in court, will call you tomorrow afternoon" of something. They could even ask their secretary to do that.
The firm may charge that, the solicitor isn't getting that per hour.The research that goes in to specific cases doesn't get billed to the client, just the work that the lawyer does on the file. The wife can spend 4 hours of the day reading up different bits of paper relating to the case, but may only spend 30 minutes actually doing billable work.
If the communication is a problem then you have every right to raise it with the solicitor and their partner. They are doing work for you, but sometimes it's good to have an idea of what they're doing during the day so you don't come across as a complete knob.
sgtBerbatov said:
The firm may charge that, the solicitor isn't getting that per hour.
The research that goes in to specific cases doesn't get billed to the client, just the work that the lawyer does on the file. The wife can spend 4 hours of the day reading up different bits of paper relating to the case, but may only spend 30 minutes actually doing billable work.
If the communication is a problem then you have every right to raise it with the solicitor and their partner. They are doing work for you, but sometimes it's good to have an idea of what they're doing during the day so you don't come across as a complete knob.
No, I realise that. It's the firm I'm paying, but for that money you expect a vaguely decent level of communication! The research that goes in to specific cases doesn't get billed to the client, just the work that the lawyer does on the file. The wife can spend 4 hours of the day reading up different bits of paper relating to the case, but may only spend 30 minutes actually doing billable work.
If the communication is a problem then you have every right to raise it with the solicitor and their partner. They are doing work for you, but sometimes it's good to have an idea of what they're doing during the day so you don't come across as a complete knob.
I will be mentioning it when I phone them again in an hour. Assuming they haven't bothered to call me before!
Be careful, since the firm may well charge £24 for every email the solicitor receives and sends, even if they are just saying "I'm busy, will email tomorrow".
In terms of response time, it totally depends on the urgency of the issue. If this is just the normal back and forth as part of financial negotiations, then you may well need to wait a couple of days. You will be a lower priority than court hearings, domestic violence issues, child abuse / abduction, etc.
In terms of response time, it totally depends on the urgency of the issue. If this is just the normal back and forth as part of financial negotiations, then you may well need to wait a couple of days. You will be a lower priority than court hearings, domestic violence issues, child abuse / abduction, etc.
I’m a solicitor, and a very busy one, but I aim to reply to all emails and calls the same day, unless they are obviously not urgent. Sadly, most solicitors don’t make “client care” as much of a priority. That does mean though that, if you provide s good service, you stand out and are likely to get recommended.
Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff