I saw a post on LinkedIn during the week about conveyancers working nine to five; or rather a post asking if conveyancers work nine to five?
I will be honest and say I do not remember the last time I worked a nine to five day. I cannot remember the last time I finished early for a family event and did not panic about the number of emails I was going to receive while I was out of the office for an hour.
It may be the same in most jobs but I am directing this to all conveyancers out there. We do an amazing job – we deal with emails during the day; two to three hundred a day is not unusual. We deal with all manner of phone calls, ranging from estate agents wanting an update to clients crying because the sale of their house has fallen through just before completion.
We have many roles and it is sometimes difficult to remember that we are lawyers, advising the public on the largest purchase or sale in their lives. Most of us work very long hours, dealing with phone calls and emails during the day and then doing the ‘proper’ legal work in the evenings, early mornings and weekends.
I know many of you reading this do not have control over the fee structure and what your charges are, but please mention to those who do that we are now coming into the busiest time of the year with all of those who want to move house before Christmas. Firms are already putting on their email footers the last day for completions before the Christmas break. And then after Christmas, we will have another stamp duty ‘break’ ending in March. We are going to be very busy and working long hours. Clients are going to be stressed and need us at our peak.
Mention this to the estate agents you deal with – ask them not to request daily updates – as we need to do the work and still have time to do our Christmas shopping! And if you find yourself being able to increase your fees, do it now – it is the costs we quote now that will determine what our work loads are like in the New Year.
This is written by a real high street conveyancer who wishes to remain anonymous. Read more in Today’s Conveyancer every week.
