Nearly half of solicitors are “impossible” to get hold of after 5pm

from Solicitors' Journal

A poll of 2,000 consumers found that 47 per cent of people were unable to contact their lawyer out of hours.

Only 38 per cent of clients said their solicitor was easy to get hold of in the evening, with the rest saying it was “rare” to get through after work.

Dan Watkins, director of the solicitors’ network Contact Law, which carried out the survey, said: “It is still a concern that nearly a third feel that they have to chase their solicitor to speed things up.

“Some clients are doubtless being unrealistic in this regard…but inevitably a good proportion of these instances will be down to solicitors genuinely being slow to respond.”

While more than half of clients said they were happy with the progress of the case, almost a third said they felt they needed to be “on their solicitors back” to make sure the case was being dealt with promptly.

 The point here is that if you are only doing the bare minimum and treating the profession like a 9-5 you will not compete with the younger generation never mind the rising world economic powers. 


I know a lot of cranky ancient lawyers believe that as time goes by generations are getting weaker and soppier but I look at my generation (graduating early - mid 2000s) and there is no contest. We have older lawyers who rely on secretaries, refuse to use tech, can't manage and just hope throwing money at people will get results. They still believe in the liquid lunch and the ability to knock off when they feel like it. 


The lawyers I work with hit the gym for an hour or two pre work get into the office at 8 and leave at 7-8, have blackberrys and smart phones and tablets crammed with kit and having gone through the hell of the babyboomers latest attempt to fcuk the world economy are under no illusion of what the alternative to being employed and getting work in from clients is. 


It's no contest. If you even can't be contacted after outside of 9-5 your client will come to me.