solicitors and barristers how is business?

[andhessixfeetten]

I thought work would drop off a cliff two weeks ago (business lawyer) but thankfully so far it hasn't happened.

There are some pretty dramatic chances going on for the clients, some good and some bad, but so far their need for me seems steady.

How are others finding it?

City litigator here and still busy, albeit mainly on stuff that precedes the last couple of months. Getting quite a lot of force majeure type queries though.

Commercial property - busier than I have been for weeks. Few instructions been put on hold but majority of sales/acquisitions and lease management all still going ahead. Also still working on corporate and finance deals. Suspect it might be a case of getting existing instructions to the finish line then seeing what happens.

Commercial barrister - busy (though have been ill so not at full strength atm). Commercial/chancery litigation & arbitration continue, albeit by remote means.

The work I am busy with is long-standing stuff, nothing to do with the current situation.

:( criminal lawyers :(
Massive issue for us all

The barristers on this thread what are your Chambers doing about pupils? We are honouring our pupil offers for this year, but questions are being raised if we should hold off recruitment for next year (have done 1st round interviews)?

We have frozen recruitment (solicitor)

Family lawyer specialising in children, at a boutique family practice.
First week into lockdown was insane, all clients trying to change arrangements for contact to their advantage.
Since then, most non-urgent hearings have been adjourned, clients not engaging to try and keep bills down or they are busy with their kids, and new enquiries have dropped off. We do a lot of international relocation applications and all of that is obviously on hold.
Finance team is very busy getting everything revalued for settlements, and expecting divorce new enquiries to increase in the future after lockdown.
Not sure how it's going to pan out for me to be honest.
I have significant public law (care proceedings) experience where there are always vacancies, so worst case scenario I could locum for an LA

@StrawberryBlondeStar we are carrying on as normal re pupils. We are in the late stages of interviewing for Oct 2021 and expect to make offers as normal.

I'm a paralegal in PI. We have seen a small drop in work so far so but nothing massive and none of us have been furloughed. Some colleagues in motor claims and conveyancing departments have been furloughed. I'm finding that Claimants are very eager to settle at the moment.

@MeadowHay finding exactly the same.

One of the big problems my sols are finding is medical examinations though. Experts are not giving appointments and/or clients can’t get to them. Concerned everything may come to a grinding halt soon.

Our local solicitors if offering car side wills. Very macarbe.

Civil service solicitor - very very busy!!!

Employment. It's bonkers.

Childcare Solicitor Advocate - high street practice and it’s very busy (very difficult WFH whilst caring for young child), but better than being out of work.

I’m doing remote court hearings daily (up to 3 a day) and have trials listed from next week.

I’m not worried about my business at the moment - whole office (50) set up to WFH, with a rota of a small number of admin entering office premises. We’re expecting things to slow but hopefully we can see this through.

Big UK/International Law Firm. I am in Finance and Projects.

We have seen some transactional work speed up as people need completions/drawdown. But we have also seen a lot of transactions paused or completely fall over. There has been a lot of client contact, force majeure queries but these are generally not chargeable. Issues with registries being slow are also holding up being able to complete/fee transactions.

I am not optimistic. It isn’t a case of everyone losing jobs/being furloughed immediately. It is a sense that decisions will be put off, transactions delayed or not taken, and that slowing will have an effect on volume. Litigation will be settled and fresh litigation will be shelved as the appetite for risk diminishes. Corporate will be hard hit.

We have a strong insolvency team but it can’t carry the firm. Commercial real estate will be devastated. Employment will be fine for a while tho.

PI litigator, large firm. Steady at the moment, but all things that were in the pipeline before this kicked off. With the courts kicking everything non-urgent into the long grass there’s bound to be a drop off sooner or later. No chat of furloughs or pay cuts yet at my firm, but I expect it’s only a matter of time.

Sounds realistic Garter.

I share my trainee with corporate (venture capital/private equity) and she reports similarly. On the bright side I’m getting more of her time :)

I'm a residential development lawyer medium teir firm.

I've been furloughed. Apparently the work has fallen off a cliff.

I'm not sure if I'll have a job to go back to in 3 months.

@Blankscreen sorry to hear that.

PA in private client team. Just been furloughed but really hope it helps towards saving our jobs in the long term.

I am a solicitor with a “Schroedinger’s” job: technically neither employed nor self employed. There is no work so my income has stopped.

The information rights lawyers where I work appear to be quieter than normal, they turned something around for me within a couple days that would usually take weeks. I think information rights will be a delayed problem as knee-jerk risks businesses are currently taking in the crisis to share data and using tools like Zoom come back to bite them in the arse.

Consumer dispute resolution absolutely business as usual

Family lawyer in a small city. Ticking over with my existing work but basically putting finances on hold to await the economic impact. Only new enquires have been contact issues. Trying to avoid Court at all costs. We're anticipating a boom once lockdown is over, with new divorces and trying to get a handle on finance cases.

Employment Law - very busy indeed!

Local tribunal is shut for the duration and judges are doing some preliminary hearings by VC but not much, so court hearings will be really delayed. I was already representing people (beneficiaries) who had died waiting for their day in court so I think we will be looking at 2 year backlogs in London.