3

First Contact with the Solicitor

Okay, so now you have done your due diligence and are about to contact the selected solicitor.

It is critically important that for this meeting you either take notes yourself or bring a good note-taker. These notes may be referred to a lot later on, particularly if the relationship with your solicitor sours.

Before the meeting, open a file to record all correspondence that will be exchanged once the solicitor has been engaged. Retain a copy of all documentation you hand over to the solicitor. If they are original documents indicate them as such. There may be witnesses you need; contact them and ascertain if they are willing to give evidence. Gather names, addresses, mobile numbers, email addresses, dates, incidents, etc.

Make a checklist of all the issues you need to discuss with the solicitor. At the conclusion of the meeting, check the list to ensure you have covered all the points.

The first meeting is exploratory. You are there to ascertain for yourself that this solicitor is who you want. You will be weighing them up and they too will be weighing you up. First impressions are very important. Most first meetings or consultations are free but be sure to check this at the time of first contact. Don’t be afraid to enquire if the solicitor has had cases similar to yours in the past and how much experience they have in the relevant area.

Solicitors are human like the rest of us and come in diverse personalities. While as a group they tend to be conservative, some would be more conservative than others. This you will see from the initial meeting and you need to decide whether you think you can work with this person. Will they be running your case or another solicitor in the firm? If the latter, you need to meet that person. Will your personalities work or clash?

Things to Watch Out For

Attentiveness

Is the solicitor a good listener, are they taking notes, are they punctual, have they devoted uninterrupted time to this consultation and not allowed the consultation be disturbed with phone calls, texts and emails? An exception to this would be a litigation solicitor, where their time often overruns with cases running late and so on, but this should be explained from the outset.

A Presumption that You Are Already a Client

If this is the case you need to put the brakes on and remind them that this is an exploratory meeting.

Vagueness on Questions Asked

Not getting clear answers is a worrying signal. You must emerge from the meeting with a clear understanding of the issues raised.

An Over-Enthusiastic Lawyer

Most solicitors are conservative so if you come across an over-eager one, beware.

If you ask the solicitor at the exploratory meeting what are your chances of success having outlined the case, most solicitors will be careful in their response; so if you come across one who gives you the feeling it is an open and shut case it’s time to move on to the next name on your list. There are too many unknown factors in litigation to consider before predicting success. There is nothing wrong in saying you appear to have a good or strong case but so early in the process anything more is reckless and misleading.

Fees

Fees can be a thorny issue so it is best to tackle it early to avoid any misunderstandings later. It would be good to state at the start that your budget is limited so you need to know exactly what the costs will be and how they are structured. Many solicitors charge by the hour. Partners will charge more than assistant solicitors. You need to know who is handling your case (it is not necessarily the person you meet at the introductory meeting). On being told the hourly rates you need to ask if one solicitor or more be involved. If you get an answer like ‘it is not envisaged more than one will be required’ you need to get clarification on this as that answer leaves the door open to another solicitor joining the team and your fees escalating. It is reasonable to enquire into the role of apprentices and if you are paying for them.

If the solicitor says they can only estimate the fees this would be a concern and needs further probing. You need to know the fee exposure you will be incurring.

Normally, upfront advances of fees should be avoided but in the current climate it may not be unreasonable if the sum sought is reasonable and in the form of a deposit.

Don’t get too hung up on comparing hourly rates among law firms; a highly experienced specialist may charge a higher rate but they are more likely to get the work done more quickly. The key point here is to get an estimate of how many hours the job will take.

If the notes taken at the explanatory meeting estimate the work is to be done in, say, fifty fee-paying hours and you get a bill for considerably in excess of that you will have the notes of your exploratory meeting to dispute the increased fee. The solicitor will have to justify the significant increase in fee. With what had been agreed at the initial meeting, unless the solicitor can show they alerted you to the increase in fees, they will have a difficult job in justifying the increase and even less chance of getting it.

When the solicitor has been engaged it can be useful to agree a staged payment of their fee. This is good for the solicitor but better for you as you will avoid a big bill at the conclusion of the work and will be able to stay on budget as the work progresses.

In litigation you need to be aware that if you lose you will be paying your costs and the other party’s costs. Weigh this up before taking a case.

In addition to fees, solicitors often charge for ‘outlay’ such as couriers, phone calls, photocopy-ing and stamps so at this meeting ask about these items too. Some firms may cover these costs in their overhead but it is another cost you need to know about.

At the conclusion of your exploratory meeting you have to feel confident that this solicitor will be competent to handle your work. You also need to be completely satisfied with the fee structure. (See Chapter 6 for more on fees.)

Statutory Obligations of Solicitors

Solicitors are compelled by section 68 of the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 1994 to write to prospective clients after meeting them, setting out their terms of engagement, fees and so on (see Appendix II). This is an important statutory requirement and the Law Society provides their members with a template of letters and forms their members can use to comply with this legislation. If a law firm does not send out such a letter it is in breach of the law.

The new Legal Services Bill will also introduce significant changes to the legal profession. The Bill is currently going through amendments but the outcome, when made into law, will alter some of the ways the legal profession currently operates. Until the Bill finally becomes law, we don’t know which provisions in the Bill in their current form will survive. (See Appendix IV.)

Communication – Setting the Ground Rules

At this first meeting, enquire what the solicitor’s practice is regarding communication with clients on cases. You will want to avoid weeks or months of no news so this needs to be clarified with your solicitor at the outset. If this is agreed then there won’t be a need for endless phone calls seeking to know what is happening. Litigation has certain stages in processing the court documents so explaining the time scales for these should not be a problem.

There should be an agreed arrangement that phone calls or emails will be responded to. There is nothing more frustrating than chasing up a lawyer who does not return phone calls.

You should also raise the query as to what will happen to your case if the solicitor gets involved in another, big, case. This happens, so there needs to be a contingency plan which will meet your needs and not leave your case less prioritised.

You should discuss at this meeting the question of a problem arising between you and your solicitor and what procedures they would recommend to deal with it. Hopefully no problems will arise or if they do they can be cleared up quickly, and if you have a good relationship with your solicitor then it will be resolved. However, in the instance of a serious matter you could enquire whether they would be open to arbitration. Most good solicitors would not oppose this method. However, my experience is that solicitors don’t like others looking into how they run their business so if there is a resistance to arbitration they need to have some acceptable procedure in place to deal with the complaint or breakdown in the working relationship.

So many problems arising in the course of working with your solicitor can be resolved by an upfront exchange at the initial meeting and agreeing procedures to deal with any problems arising in the future. You don’t want a falling-out with your solicitor, a stand-off with virtually no communication between you and the hassle and additional cost of changing solicitors.

Lastly, you should raise with the solicitor the issue of whether your case will involve briefing a barrister and what that entails for you. A barrister is obliged to give a written estimate of fees prior to undertaking work unless this is impossible due to the urgency of the matter. As most barristers’ work involves litigation, this can become complex and hard to genuinely pin down an exact cost.

Clients’ ‘Do’ List

Clients’ ‘Don’t’ List