Solicitors' case loads - what are they like?

moneyistooshorttomention

It may well be that standards levels to be one have gone up in recent years (ie since I wondered whether to retrain as one and was deemed suitable to do so years back). Perhaps its all part of the "need O levels for an unskilled job, need A levels for a low-level job, need a degree for a very ordinary job" syndrome of recent years. I'm just judging by what standards were needed when I could have become one and maybe things are very different to "my day" in that respect, but I have no way of knowing.

Personally, I would rather have paid the size of bill I was expecting and got the solicitor I was expecting...but assume that what happened is these days many other people are expecting to pay not much more than conveyancers charge and many solicitors have changed the way they operate accordingly.

I was personally very surprised to receive a quote that was less than twice the price I had paid many many years ago...as I had thought it would be a lot more (courtesy of inflation).

Yorkie1

Tancred wrote: »

A Chartered legal executive is a qualified lawyer, just like a solicitor, and can earn a very good salary. Don't belittle legal executives! if you insist on a solicitor you will be charged accordingly.

See edit above - just to point out that there are many grades of legal executive, and only the top level (Fellow of CILEx) is a qualified legal executive lawyer albeit not a solicitor or barrister.

Best to double check the grade of CILEx membership if they are a legal executive.

Tancred

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

It may well be that standards levels to be one have gone up in recent years (ie since I wondered whether to retrain as one and was deemed suitable to do so years back). Perhaps its all part of the "need O levels for an unskilled job, need A levels for a low-level job, need a degree for a very ordinary job" syndrome of recent years. I'm just judging by what standards were needed when I could have become one and maybe things are very different to "my day" in that respect, but I have no way of knowing.

Personally, I would rather have paid the size of bill I was expecting and got the solicitor I was expecting...but assume that what happened is these days many other people are expecting to pay not much more than conveyancers charge and many solicitors have changed the way they operate accordingly.

I was personally very surprised to receive a quote that was less than twice the price I had paid many many years ago...as I had thought it would be a lot more (courtesy of inflation).

A solicitor is not necessary for conveyancing tasks. If you do get allocated a solicitor you will likely get a spotty young graduate, not a senior, partner etc. Conveyancing is low profit margin work for solicitors - simple as that. What is more important is the experience and specialised knowledge of the person doing the job, not how many diplomas are hanging off their wall.

Senior lawyers tend to go for T&M work, which is far more profitable as they charge by time.

Tancred

Yorkie1 wrote: »

See edit above - just to point out that there are many grades of legal executive, and only the top level (Fellow of CILEx) is a qualified legal executive lawyer albeit not a solicitor or barrister.

Best to double check the grade of CILEx membership if they are a legal executive.

I was of course referring to a fully qualified legal executive. I don't agree that there are many grades of legal executive - you are either one or you aren't. If you are not qualified then all you can be is a law clerk.

A legal executive is similar to an accounting technician in the accountancy profession.

Prothet_of_Doom

It's the old classic, of touch time verses waiting time. If you were to walk the system with the paperwork, you would realise that everything sits in a queue 95% of the time. And most of the touch time isn't being done by a solicitor, but a lower qualified member of staff.
I'd love to apply my lean manufacturing experience to a conveyancing process. 24 cases is only 2 weeks of touch time, so no real excuse for it taking 10 weeks.

moneyistooshorttomention

...and then there's the one about your legal person awaiting answers to questions that you think maybe...just maybe... they should have asked in the first place (considering the information you had given them at the outset about this particular property) and not be holding up proceedings now awaiting those answers:wall:.

Gotta have the blinkin' answers, so I cant tell them to forget about awaiting the responses:(

Am wondering if they have a checklist of points they are supposed to run through at the outset for non-standard (but far from uncommon) types of property and, if not, why not?

Buyers shouldn't have to say "Have you thought of.....?". That's what we are paying them for.