Where legal instructions come from, by area of practice

1 day ago
3 min read

Updated: 18 hours ago

Introduction

Firms tend to market themselves as a single entity, and instructions do not arrive that way. Conveyancing comes overwhelmingly from estate agents and brokers. Family work comes from recommendation and from search at a moment of crisis. Commercial work comes from accountants and existing clients. Probate comes from recommendation, funeral directors and previous will clients.

Those are four different acquisition problems with four different answers, and a firm-wide approach serves none of them well. It is also why a marketing spend that produces conveyancing enquiries appears to fail when judged against the family department.

The first useful step is finding out, department by department, what is actually producing work.

Where legal instructions come from should be measured per department

The blended answer is useless.

Record the source on every new matter. Referrer name where there is one, recommendation, search, repeat client, or panel. One field, filled in at opening. Make it mandatory in the case management system.

Report it per practice area. The pattern will differ enormously between departments, and averaging them hides both what works and what does not. Four tables rather than one.

Note repeat and connected instructions separately. A will client returning for probate is not acquisition, and counting it as such flatters whatever channel you are paying for. Count first instructions separately.

Professional referrers dominate most areas

Other professionals meet the client before the lawyer does.

Estate agents and mortgage brokers. For conveyancing this is the channel, and it turns on responsiveness rather than fee. A firm that answers the phone keeps the panel. Report progress to the agent as well as the client.

Accountants. Company work, disputes, restructuring and probate all reach accountants first. The referral runs both ways. Meet three accountants rather than thirty.

Funeral directors and financial advisers. Probate and estate administration flow through them, and the relationships are long-lasting. They also produce work for decades.

Existing and former clients are the underused source

Legal work recurs across a lifetime and firms rarely stay in touch.

A client is a client for decades. House purchase, will, family matter, probate, business. Most firms handle one and never contact them again. That is the largest wasted asset in the profession.

Contact past clients occasionally. A brief annual message keeps you retrievable. Nothing else is needed and almost no firm does it. A will review reminder is a legitimate reason.

Ask for the recommendation. After a matter that concluded well, plainly, once. Clients recommend solicitors readily and are rarely asked. Ask at the closing letter stage.

Handle the enquiry the way the client experiences it

Some legal enquiries are urgent and emotional.

Answer quickly and speak to a person. Family, crime and injury enquiries go to whoever responds first. Voicemail loses them entirely. Cover evenings for those departments.

Be clear about cost from the outset. Fixed fees where possible, or an honest estimate. Uncertainty about cost prevents people instructing at all.

Say what happens next. A step, a timescale, a named contact. Clients unfamiliar with legal process need the shape of it explained.

Professional conduct rules on referral arrangements, fee sharing and costs information vary by jurisdiction — check your own regulator's requirements before setting up any arrangement.

Conclusion

Measure the source of every instruction and report it separately for each department, because conveyancing, family, commercial and probate work arrive by completely different routes and the blended figure tells you nothing.

Build the professional relationships that dominate most areas — agents and brokers for property, accountants for commercial, funeral directors and advisers for probate — and remember these turn on responsiveness rather than price. Stay in touch with past clients, because legal need recurs across a lifetime and almost no firm contacts anybody twice. Then answer urgent enquiries with a person, be direct about cost, and explain the next step. Check your regulator's rules on referrals and costs before changing anything.