Solicitors

[user1485851222]

House buying, selling is already an awful process in Britain. So why do solicitors, stop dealing with other solicitors the week before Christmas, i.e. 18th/20th December and not return until sometime week commencing 6th January, 2 weeks where nothing progresses. Ridiculous.

Because they can, because its always been that way, and they don't really fancy working over Christmas. Not much of a service, but I can't see it changing.

They are entitled to take annual leave like everyone else. Some will have worked right up until Christmas, others will have finished the week before. Some will be back today and others back on Monday. Like most other corporate workplaces that don't conduct front-line activities really.

Because people instruct conveyancers based on price which means most conveyancing teams are made up of poorly paid unqualified staff supervised by one or two solicitors paid 1/20 or less of the wages of commercial solicitors.

I have no doubt solicitors working on high value transactions kept working with maybe Christmas Day off. If residential conveyancing solicitors were paid the same, no doubt they’d work the same schedule.

As a solicitor, why aren't I allowed to take annual leave?

I'm not a conveyancer but I am a solicitor who also wants a break at Christmas.

I’m not a conveyancer but I’m a trainee solicitor in a firm (one exam until qualification) and I want a Christmas break. My office shuts down for almost 2 weeks over Christmas and it’s a much needed break for us all.

It's got nothing to do with salary and everything to do with the whole industry slowing down. The courts close, some firms close, barristers stop working.

Estate agents close, vendors may be on annual leave. Unless there is something incredibly urgent is a 2-week delay really that big of a deal? (And often, if there is truly something urgent, somebody will pick it up).

Conveyancing is one of those things that strikes me as very good value for money. I’m surprised it’s not pricier. My solicitor picked up on something that saved me ££ back in 2005. She was worth her weight in gold.

To your question….It’s possible that the large law firms with multiple branches ensured that there was cover in all departments including property on 24th and 27th Dec I guess. If I were going to be completing in late Dec or early January I’d probably use one of those for that reason only. Not sure though.

Conveyancing solicitors are so cheap. We went with somebody who is comparatively expensive but is still no more than £2k. The searches and disbursement make things seem expensive but actually, for the work, you're probably paying less than £100 an hour. (Which is cheap for a soldier).

Or even a solicitor! 😂

Presumably most people aren’t mad enough to try to move during that period, so why shouldn’t they close then?

The week before Christmas is actually pretty busy for house moves believe it or not! It wouldn't be my top choice personally.

Certainly us mortgage brokers and most Estate agents that I am aware of do not have a 2 week complete shut down unlike many of our conveyancing connections.

I didn't say you weren't allowed, my point is, I pay the solicitors branch, so if my solicitor goes on holiday for 2 weeks, someone else within the branch should carry on with the job in hand.

The Courts are closed on bank holidays only. There are fewer Court hearings as the Judges take leave but the Courts are open.

All High Court judges and court of appeal judges were away from 20/12 to 11/01.

I'm not a criminal solicitor so don't know anything about that. The fact is that things slow down at this time of year. Including solicitors. It's really the only time of year it happens - historically people like barristers wouldn't work in August (and you'd see a similar slow down in civil courts) but that doesn't happen to the same extent anymore.

I think it's perfectly reasonable for pretty much any business to be closed during a holiday period. These are human beings, not AI-bots and no-one is going to die because some legal documents don't get drafted while they take time off. It's not like Christmas comes as a surprise, it's very easy to plan your life knowing most people in the country won't be working for this two week period.

That only works for larger solicitors that have multiple conveyancers who can cover for each other. And it's only really useful if everyone in the chain is using a large firm who can do this. All it takes is for one person to be using a one-man band and the concept falls apart as your solicitor might fire off an email but there's nobody at the other end to act on it.

It’s completely normal for not only solicitors, but many other businesses to close for 2 weeks over the Christmas period

Its just one of those things

It hasn't always been that way. I was a solicitor for years, and most firms were open between Christmas and New Year, although some people did chose to take leave then. But there was always someone in the office to deal with urgent stuff ( there was rarely anything that couldn't wait, tbh). But it's Christmas, it's not only solicitors who might be on leave, they are dependent on estate agents, surveyors, banks, lenders, the Land Registry, HMRC, local authorities, insurers, managing agents and a variety of other information providers, all of whom are likely to be run on skeleton staffing if they are open at all.
And it's the "one man bands" referred to by another poster who are usually open the longest and work the hardest, margins are so slim they often can't afford to pay a locum, and there has to be someone available for emergencies.