What should I expect of my solicitor?

kev.s

when buying a second property, after my initial consultation with him, i never contacted him again, and i had great service, he was never off the phone and email with info..... get what you pay for i suppose... just chill out, it'll all fall into place

captainpants

heh. yeah, i just want to know the timeframe, whereas my husband is much happier rolling along with it. i think it might be a more female thing than a make thing...

we've got a fixed fee for the solicitor, unless things get complicated - funnily enough on friday afternoon I received an email from the solicitor letting me know the paperwork had arrived from the other side. I feel better now knowing that I have someone who is somewhat proactive and lets me know when things have moved along. The first solicitor didn't do that at all.

thanks for the input everyone.

timmyt

G_M wrote: »

If you've got any sense you've agreed a fixed fee for your conveyancing, fixed for legal yes, all lawyers do that, not overkill on client calling. every solicitor has inbuilt protection in terms of business. so adding on call charges doesn't come into it. I certainly wouldn't instruct Timmy to act for me if he was going to charge on a per hour/per call/per anything basis.

Obviously calling daily for no real reason is pointless and will p*ss the solicitor off, but if you've called, discussed an issue, agreed he'll call back next day with the answer or to advise you of Exchange date whatever, and he doesn't call - then yes, hastle him!

I'm with Littlebutterfly on this - though I don't think it's a male/female thing. I'm a bloke, but I too " want stuff DONE or they want to know WHEN you will do it"

good luck OP.

nomoneytoday

On the days I called my solicitors, "stuff moved along", when I didn't they remained static..
Their fixed fee was high enough to warrant me calling them daily towards the end of the processes IMHO

G_M

fixed for legal yes, all lawyers do that, not overkill on client calling. every solicitor has inbuilt protection in terms of business.

Timmy - I'd love to know what your legal definition of 'overkill' is in your T&Cs. If client calls you once a week? Twice a week? 3 times?

As I said in an earlier post: "Obviously calling daily for no real reason is pointless and will p*ss the solicitor off", but charging an anxious client on top of your fixed fee because he/she rings you a bit more often than you'd personally like? Outrageous!

timmyt

G_M wrote: »

Timmy - I'd love to know what your legal definition of 'overkill' is in your T&Cs. If client calls you once a week? Twice a week? 3 times?

As I said in an earlier post: "Obviously calling daily for no real reason is pointless and will p*ss the solicitor off", but charging an anxious client on top of your fixed fee because he/she rings you a bit more often than you'd personally like? Outrageous!

I don't get multiple calls, I sort the client out in a very clear manner, but other lawyers will charge more - as would I - if clients are high maintenance for the sake of it. All conveyancers have the daily caller, who wants us to do the Sellers work, or their own Agents work. Been there and seen the Legal Complaints service uphold extra charging. Nothing new.

Just be careful by nagging a lawyer, and make sure it is them that are slow. They are not paid to act like post biys and chase too much, that is the role of the Estate Agent to bring the deal back togther - which is why they get the big bucks and the lawyer the lowest (compare Agents surveyors and mortgage advisers). Usually the clients who argue about every penny want the most from their lawyer, and end up slowing everything down as the lawyer cannot then get other client's work done - and gets a backlog. Self-defeating.

<sebb>

timmyt wrote: »

you nag your lawyer and he will put your file to the bottom of the pile. FACT.

Shocking! I work in a profession, and I can tell you if I did this, I wouldn't have any clients (or a job) left!

Without clients, you wouldn't have a job. Treat them with the respect they deserve.

timmyt

<sebb> wrote: »

Shocking! I work in a profession, and I can tell you if I did this, I wouldn't have any clients (or a job) left!

Without clients, you wouldn't have a job. Treat them with the respect they deserve.

Respect works both ways. We hear it all the time where lawyers feel bullied and yet they simply do not have to take aggressive impatient and often rude clients. There is an art to managing expectations, which lawyers are seemingly going to need more and more.

I blame the tv and radio bosses, where presenters who remain role models are less intelligent than in the past - John Noakes- remember him, or any Blue Peter presenter. Now you have thickos without a BTEC between them, with terrible language speaking to the nations youth. No respect or manners is riddled in our society these days. So that coems over into business dealings. New skills for professionals are needed to handle them.

Oh well, it won't get any better.

<sebb>

timmyt wrote: »

Respect works both ways. We hear it all the time where lawyers feel bullied and yet they simply do not have to take aggressive impatient and often rude clients. There is an art to managing expectations, which lawyers are seemingly going to need more and more.

I blame the tv and radio bosses, where presenters who remain role models are less intelligent than in the past - John Noakes- remember him, or any Blue Peter presenter. Now you have thickos without a BTEC between them, with terrible language speaking to the nations youth. No respect or manners is riddled in our society these days. So that coems over into business dealings. New skills for professionals are needed to handle them.

Oh well, it won't get any better.

That's the thing though, if you are going to work in a client facing profession, you need to be able to deal with nagging/annoying clients. If you can't, you're in the wrong job. It's not easy, I'll give you that, and I often wish that I could be the client for the day. But at the end of the day, clients pay the bills which pay your wages, so they need to be treated with the utmost respect at all times regardless of whether they are able to return that respect.

timmyt

<sebb> wrote: »

That's the thing though, if you are going to work in a client facing profession, you need to be able to deal with nagging/annoying clients. If you can't, you're in the wrong job. It's not easy, I'll give you that, and I often wish that I could be the client for the day. But at the end of the day, clients pay the bills which pay your wages, so they need to be treated with the utmost respect at all times regardless of whether they are able to return that respect.

indeed they do, though I decide how I priorities my work, not them.