To expect a quote from solicitors the same day?

[Marshpillow]

Genuine question, I don't know how quickly these things work. Called solicitor this morning to get a quote to remortgage, left a message with a lady on reception, not yet heard back from them.
DH dealt with them last time we used them and they were painfully slow in responding, is this normal and I just have to suck it up, or is it reasonable to expect to have had a response by now, for a quote?

Yes, there are more junior staff (legal execs / paralegals) who run files (with appropriate supervision) but never, ever secretarial staff.

My mother was a legal executive and I don't think her job was any different to the solicitors in the firm she worked for. She certainly didn't receive or require any supervision from the solicitors to do her job.

brokenhearted55a I was making the point that legal executives aren't necessariy "junior staff" who require "appropriate supervision" from a solicitors as stated by Mandy214 (the person I quoted).

I didn't say the solicitor did nothing, I said that clients do not realise how much of the work is done by unqualified support staff and how little is done by the solicitor. Obviously I cannot speak for people who work at other firms as I can only go on what happens where I work.

The partner I work for has five or six client meetings a day. This obviously does not leave much time for either speaking to other clients on the telephone or seeing clients when they call into the office without an appointment, which happens frequently. He dictates certain letters but in most cases he just says "do the usual" on the dictation and I then write the letters, he checks them and they go out to the clients.

Clearly unqualified staff should not be doing certain things but unfortunately it is not quite as clear cut as that when you are a lowly PA/secretary. I don't have the luxury of saying no to doing certain aspects of my job. I don't earn very much but it's the only job that I have at the moment.

Also there are varying levels of seniority for legal execs. The pp meant junior legal execs clearly. Not all.

Whether or not she meant to she gave the impression that all legel execs are junior staff who require supervision.

I do appreciate that all firms are different but I work in a very small high street firm with four fee earners/solicitors. Included in the four fee earners are two partners and I work for one of those partners. Maybe it's just this firm as I haven't worked in another firm before.

The solicitor that I work for is lovely but lazy. He forwards most of his email messages to me so that I have to phone clients and not him (particularly the ones that he hasn't rang back and who are cross with him for not returning their call). He drafts Wills and the more complex inheritance tax forms and dictates letters for the more complicated Will files. I do all of the powers of attorney, more straight forward probate applications and Court of Protection forms. I see clients and I talk to clients on the phone. If I stopped doing that then I don't know what would happen because there isn't anyone else in this office who does this type of work. The other solicitors do either conveyancing or litigation and don't know anything about private client work.

I have no idea why anyone would think that I would lie or exaggerate what my job involves. It is very poorly paid (just above minimum wage) and I have no reason to make things up. Maybe it's wrong but unfortunately that's how it is here. I'm sure it's different at other firms.

I totally believe what you are saying theworkofsatan.

I have witnessed this in every firm I have worked for (the last 30 years).

Thank you, that's really appreciated. I don't know why it's annoyed me so much that people think that I'm making it up. It's not LA Law, it's a back street solicitors with crappy equipment and outdated systems. I'm not saying that solicitors don't do anything, just that they don't do everything and a lot of work is given to support staff. I don't see what is inflammatory about that.

Im a PA at a top 20 law firm. I have been a legal sec/pa for about 25 years. I agree completely with theworkofsatan and pilates

And I do take the point regarding indemnity insurance. For example a couple of years ago one of the secretaries completed a house sale. They didn't notice that there was a second charge registered against the property and as a consequence we (the firm) had to pay off the second charge which was about £15,000. Who got the bollocking? The fee earner who had let his secretary do completions whilst he was on holiday.

However the partners/other solicitors didn't cover that person's work when he was off and just expected the secretary to deal with everything when her immediate boss was on holiday. Everyone else was "too busy" It's outrageous but unfortunately it happens all of the time.

Litigation solicitor here and it would be absolute madness in my firm for secretaries to be giving advice. Sometimes my secretary drafts basic letters for me - eg a letter to the court enclosing a form for filing or letters to the client enclosing the bill - and I check them, but there is no way she would draft a letter or email that contained any advice.

Some areas lend themselves more to the secretaries getting more involved - eg in conveyancing it is not unusual for secretaries to complete land registry forms, sdlt forms etc. In litigation it's a no go.

I think it completely depends upon the area of work. For the most part, conveyancing is template/ procedure driven work and so many pas/ secretaries do act on their own initiative to a certain extent. Our case management system flags up what may need to be done next, for example when exchange has taken place, and my secretary will prepare the documents accordingly.

I always like to speak to potential clients, it gives me a chance to get background info and to provide a detailed estimate accordingly.

For wills/ probate and LPA work, a lot is left to the secretaries but mostly it is preparing forms for the solicitor to check. It's time consuming work but as long as clear instructions are given, an experienced secretary should be able to get on with it without too much difficulty.

My secretary has been doing the job for 40 years, she could have easily become a solicitor herself if she wanted to, she is a tremendous help to me and a great second pair of eyes. I would be absolutely lost without her.

Fleurchamp I wish there was a 'like' button for your post. I love seeing people who appreciate their secretaries and the work they do.

Seriously, I have 100 things to do and that's before you call has come in for a quote. As well has the 20 other phone calls that have come in.

I hate email with a passion as now people expect even more instantaneous responses. Not everyone and everything can be dealt with immediately. Unless you can invent a time machine.

In my office the secretaries are support staff. They do not, and to be honest cannot, do the work of the fee earner.

If they are slow then use another solicitors. Don't give more business to a badly run business.

theworkofsatan I do all of the powers of attorney, more straight forward probate applications and Court of Protection forms.

Presumably you use standard forms which are on the system and fill in the details, rather than drafting them from scratch though? Which is more of a secretarial function than something you need to be a lawyer for. And when you "give advice" you are not for instance advising on the recent case law on real burdens or the impact of the direct effect of a recent EU regulation, but giving quite general advice?

Your other example (of the holiday mistake) is so typical of many small firms. There is very little management of caseload. Good file management systems are designed to prevent this happening.

I'm not a private client or conveyancing solicitor, certainly for the latter, at uni 15 years ago we were all being told it was a dead end field of work to go into it, as most solicitors doing it would be eventually be replaced by paralegals/legal executives, as there was very little money in it.

I'm not suggesting that I advise on case law etc. That's beyond my knowledge and I wouldn't do that. I would love to work somewhere where I could get away with merely taking messages and typing letters as they are dictated but where I work I couldn't get away with that. I'm expected to know the files, how the law works in general terms, to correct mistakes in my boss's dictation so that he doesn't end up saying something that is factually incorrect ( like telling a client that on the second death there would be no inheritance tax payable on a £20,000,000 estate as he did today). It isn't just mindlessly typing letters and filling in forms.

I think it is the sweeping generalisations that I object to. If a firm allows staff who are not legally qualified to give advice / draft letters of advice then this is a matter for them, their management of risk and compliance. I would hate any member of the public, who dont have a high opinion of lawyers to start with, to think that it is the norm for secretaries and PAs to be doing a solicitors work. Its most unusual in my view.

And yes, I think that all fee earners should be supervised. Whether thats a legal exec or a junior partner, they are still supervised. Obviously not on a daily basis or even a weekly basis depending on how senior you are, but there are usually regular 1 to 1s where a partner will review live file and various "triggers" - settlement offers / issue of proceedings (certainly in a contentious specialism) where partner approval is required for those steps.

Shit, workofsatan, I'm not doubting what you say but that is quite shocking! You should definitely be being paid more for what you do, and your boss sounds like he's going to be on the wrong end of a negligence claim any minute, and probably his insurers would tell him to get lost. It's completely different at my place, job roles are strictly segregated and even a newly-qualified solicitor would not give legal advice to a client straight off the bat; they would clear it with someone more senior.