Questions to ask a solicitor

Questions about the work

1. Who will handle this day to day, and what grade are they?

Good: a name, a grade and a supervisor. “Sarah, an associate with six years’ experience, supervised by the head of department.”

Bad: “one of our team”. It means nobody has been assigned, and it usually means the person who answers your calls will change.

The grade matters because it sets the rate. The government’s guideline rates for court costs put a solicitor with over eight years’ experience at £295 an hour in a National 1 city such as Manchester or Bristol, and a trainee or paralegal at £142. Plenty of legal work is properly done at the lower grade.

2. How many matters like mine did you handle last year, and what usually goes wrong in them?

The second half is the real question. A solicitor who has run fifty of these can tell you the three points where they derail. One who describes the process in order has read the same guide you have.

3. What is the realistic timescale, and what controls it?

You want the dependency, not the number. “Eight to twelve weeks, and the variable is how fast the other side’s solicitor returns the draft” is an answer. “It varies” is not.

Questions about the money

4. What will this cost, and what is that figure based on?

A fixed fee, or an hourly rate with an estimate of hours. For six consumer services, including conveyancing, uncontested probate, immigration applications and unfair dismissal claims, the firm has already published a price under the SRA Transparency Rules, so the quote and the website should match.

5. What is not included?

Disbursements are the gap between the quote and the bill: court fees, search fees, Land Registry fees, counsel’s fees, expert reports, and VAT at 20 percent. A £1,200 quote that excludes £600 of searches is not a £1,200 quote.

6. How is time recorded, and how is it rounded?

Most firms bill in six-minute units. A two-minute call is one unit. Ask whether emails are billed individually, because forty short exchanges is four hours on that basis.

7. What would make the price change, and will you tell me before that work starts?

The answer you want is a commitment to a conversation before the extra work happens, not a clause saying costs are subject to change.

8. How often will I be billed?

Monthly, at stages, or on completion. Interim bills keep the number visible; a single bill at the end is where the surprises live.

Questions about how the firm will work with you

9. How will you keep me updated, and how quickly do you reply?

Some firms commit to a response time in writing. That commitment is worth more than a promise of dedication.

10. Who covers my file when you are away?

Long matters outlast holidays, parental leave and job moves. A named second person is the answer.

11. What do you need from me, and when?

Client work is the hidden cost of legal work. Identification, bank statements, a chronology, a schedule of assets. Getting the list on day one is the cheapest thing you will do, because the alternative is being chased at an hourly rate.

12. How do I complain if I need to?

Every firm regulated in England and Wales has to publish its complaints procedure and tell clients how and when they can go to the Legal Ombudsman. A firm that fumbles this question has never thought about it. The route and the deadlines are worth knowing before you need them, not after.

Extra questions by type of matter

Buying or selling a house

• Are you on my lender’s panel? A firm that is not means the lender instructs its own solicitor and you pay for both.
• Who handles the file when the searches come back, and how quickly do you raise enquiries? Delay in a chain is usually enquiries, not searches.
• Is the quote fixed if the transaction becomes leasehold, or if it falls through? Abortive fees are the surprise in a failed purchase.

Divorce or separation

• Are you a member of Resolution, and do you hold the Law Society’s family accreditation? Both are audited, unlike a description of yourself as a specialist.
• Will you push for mediation first, and what does the first mediation meeting cost? Court is the expensive route and the last one.
• What does a financial order typically cost from start to finish, including the barrister if we need one?

Probate and estate administration

• Do you charge a percentage of the estate, an hourly rate, or a fixed fee? A percentage on a house-heavy estate is the most expensive of the three.
• Who applies for the grant, and who deals with the tax return? They are separate jobs and sometimes separately charged.
• What happens if a beneficiary disputes the will? You want to know now whether the firm can act on that or hands it to someone else.

Employment

• Is my employer paying your fee under a settlement agreement, and what does that contribution cover? Anything above it is yours.
• What is the deadline for my claim, and has it already started running? For unfair dismissal it is three months less one day from the dismissal date.
• Will you handle the tribunal hearing yourself or instruct counsel?

How to compare the answers

Ask two firms, not one, and compare the answers rather than the totals. Two quotes at £1,400 and £2,100 tell you nothing until you know that the first excludes searches and assigns a paralegal, and the second is a fixed fee with a named solicitor.

Then ask for the written version. It arrives as the client care letter, which is the document that binds both of you, and every answer above should appear in it. Anything that does not appear was a conversation, not a term.

What changes in Scotland and Northern Ireland

The twelve questions work everywhere. Two of the answers change.

There is no equivalent of the SRA Transparency Rules in Scotland or Northern Ireland, so published prices are rarer and the fee conversation carries more weight. And the complaints answer differs: a Scottish firm should point you to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, and a Northern Irish firm to the Law Society of Northern Ireland, rather than to the Legal Ombudsman. A firm that names the wrong body has told you something about how closely it follows its own rules.