Most firms don’t scan everything onto computer. It would take too long and be too costly. Finding your file from 8 years ago would take time and cost. They’re too busy to bother. It’s quicker just to ask you. It’s your house where are your copies? 
ftfy
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These are the firms that make mistakes perhaps?
I’m frequently impressed with what a fantastic, value-for-money service firms of solicitors give.
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Unfortunately, legal firms tend not to be terrible profitable. There’s no budget to invest in technology.
Your £650 fee for conveyancing pays for a an office, receptionist, secretary, junior and Solicitor plus all the other overheads. There’s nothing left over for anything else. Compare the fee to what the estate agent charges.
Solicitors are one of the few things left where you can still ring up, speak to a human, speak directly to the person dealing with your file, leave a message, get some sense, not have to deal with a call centre etc etc. Compare that to insurance companies or banks.
It’s far from perfect but that’s how it is.
You are my favourite person. I’ve always liked you.
Haha, bore off.
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In a solicitor’s office? Feck off, pull the other one…
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There’s a huge difference between big firms and small. The ones I worked with would charge a trainee at £600 per hour and the only time you got anything done was when you worked with the really smart person. Who was really smart. But small scale law is surprisingly low profit, especially when compared to that.
We all make mistakes. In my experience whether they scan or not won’t affect the number of mistakes. It’s no arbiter of quality.
There are some proper amateurs and rogue Solicitors about and some real quality professionals.
I wonder how much it would cost to get a Magic Circle partner to take personal ownership of your conveyancing. I doubt you could get it done for less than £10k, probably several times that.
When I went to a few solicitors regarding POA for my Dad and a simple question about wills the difference was astonishing. Resonable size practice in bed with Age Concern (they were the ones referred) qouted £1200, the firm we got to do a very good job and were recommmended by a family friend charged £600.
I didn’t bother getting a quote from the third after the numpty (sorry family law specialist) said to me, “… it is quite straightforward to amend a will, it is called a … erm ,erm”
Me “A codicil?”
Them “Ah yes that is it”
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Bless them, it must be a vocation then?
(Or they’re just not very efficient at running a business).
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Unbelievable. Still, we can rest secure in the knowledge that Ms. Hoare will undoubtedly be whelping out a replacement as soon as she can.
I didn’t say they weren’t profitable, just not very profitable.There’s a difference between an owner paying himself a salary and having a sufficiently profitable business to be able to spend tens of thousands buying IT or upgrading the office (to become more efficient). They pay themselves and there’s not much left over for development.
They could become more profitable (efficient) by sacking all the support staff but they don’t want to turn into the sort of business where you speak to someone in Bangalore or worse are on hold or can’t get through.
My last two firms were top 100 firms, one a Mayfair firm and the other one was at one point sold for £30 million. Both have had or are having tough times. Likewise, high street firms are having difficulties.
I’m not sure what businesses are truly profitable these days. A lot of businesses seem to operate on wafer thin margins. There are very few areas where it is easy to make money.
Inadvertent nail on head.
Multinationals. Tradesmen. (Holiday companies also ought to be doing all right out of the latter.)
VB
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Yup, Coca-cola, McDonalds, Nestle, Unilver, Google, Facebook, Amazon. How depressing.
Yeah, a bloke running a high street practice might, if he’s lucky, pay himself £70k. Outrageous!
A lot are probably only paying themselves £50k. You can earn £40k as a ticket inspector on the Valleys line. (a paralegal I used to work with left to become a ticket inspector). He’s now training to be a driver. Best move he could have made, he’d never have earned over £30k at the law firm (he was probably on £25k).
So why do so many people study law then, if it’s not going to give them a living?