What are Solicitors for?

This was effectively the question posed by Richard Susskind in “The End of Lawyers”. I cannot reach the heights of his intellectual prowess and in-depth knowledge but in these times of enhanced and increasing use of AI, online availability of all sorts of downloadable forms and precedents, it is worth asking.

Why?

Well, if the solicitor a client chooses brings nothing novel, new, imaginative or defining to the table then you may as well use the online stuff. It won’t be exactly what you need of course and you won’t get the benefit of a “legal eye” on it…but hey…it will be cheap and fast.

Cheap and fast won’t be good.

It won’t be personal either will it?

Is that necessary…really though?

Possibly. Probably.

But does the chosen lawyer deal with you, the client on a personal level? With remote meetings all the rage there is very little flesh-on-flesh contact so to speak. I forget the statistic but something like five seconds is the amount of time it takes to assess whether you want to deal with a person you meet in the flesh. It may even be a fraction of that but the point is that we want to deal with people like us.

That doesn’t mean exactly the same but we don’t want to have anything to do with people who make our hackles rise. Dress, demeanour, smile, handshake, scent can all contribute to desire to deal with someone. It is the same as going on a date. Some you want and some you don’t and the differential can be small…sometimes almost imperceptible…but it matters.

I am not much of an IT “hipster” but don’t think we yet have remote meetings at which we can physically shake hands with our screen appointee and we certainly can’t smell them – but you get my point…it is about recognising by connection that we want that person and no other or certainly in preference to one we spoke to yesterday.

Sure, you want your solicitor to “have your back” particularly if you are involved in some contentious matter. You might want bespectacled, pin-stripe suit and gruff aggressive voice. Arrogance, uncompromising manner and a big brand banner.

How about someone who listens? A person who shares your interests? A quiet persistent careful nature with dogged determination?

Either way it is about human impact and contribution. The right person for the job – not just the job. The job can be done by a machine. It is the personal that makes a difference…THE difference.

Just as you, the client, get to “beauty parade” solicitors by status, look, experience and so on, the solicitor gets to do the same.

Many solicitors are in it purely for the money – just as others in any number of other professions are. Many are not and those ones will be selective about whether you are worth a second date.

The relationship that is cultivated between a solicitor and client can be very intense. In litigation I have seen many clients in awful circumstances – personal, financial – and therefore at their lowest ebb. They are angry/annoyed/bruised/worried/dispirited/ashamed/anxious/ confident or a bit of all of these and a dozen more besides.

Is the job they say they want done the job they need to be done in the way they say it needs to be done? Or is there another way – simpler…more appropriate…safer?

Lawyers are inquisitive. They often don’t accept things at face value. They are naturally sceptical. Guarded. Careful. Some of that comes from not wanting to make a faux pas and get sued. Mostly though it is training and experience that brings that circumspection, foresight, anticipation – the checks and balances that will make things better.

I swear quite a bit…I just do. I do it when I am at home and out of the office. It is only words. Part of our vernacular. Some snotty person will say it displays a lack of command of the English language – a deficiency in my vocabulary. I shrug. It doesn’t….but even if it did..so what? I take no notice of such judgments.

I swear in the office. I swear in discussions with clients. Not in an aggressive combative way but just because it is one of the essences of me. Clients can rail against it and choose someone else…occasionally that has happened. I shrug.

Many smile. They are at ease with this. Swearing is everywhere. Clients swear. And after hearing me do it they do it too. My voice is authentic. I get their authentic voice in exchange. By this method there is a bridge built in our dialogue. A similarity which we use as a conduit through which we exchange views, information, advice, response, questions.

Personal.

That is what a solicitor is for. It matters.

It isn’t fast and it isn’t cheap.

This article is intended for general information only, applies to the law at the time of publication, is not specific to the facts of your case and is not intended to be a replacement for legal advice. It is recommended that specific professional advice is sought before relying on any of the information given. © Jonathan Lea Limited.