When you need a solicitor: what to look for

Pick a solicitor who specialises in your exact kind of problem, check them on the SRA register, and get the fee structure in writing before you agree to anything.

Most people only hire a solicitor a handful of times in their life – and usually when something important is on the line. That’s a bad combination: unfamiliar territory, high stakes, and an industry that still charges by the hour for a lot of things. There are solicitors and legal firms listed on WotsItCalled, and the right one for you depends almost entirely on what you’re actually there to solve.

Specialism matters more than anything else

Solicitors are not interchangeable. A firm that’s brilliant at conveyancing might be useless in a boundary dispute. A commercial solicitor might never have drafted a will. Know the type of law you need:

• Conveyancing. Buying or selling a house. High volume, competitive pricing, lots of online firms. Quality varies – cheapest isn’t always fastest.
• Wills and probate. Drafting wills, administering estates, inheritance planning. Different firms specialise in simple vs complex estates.
• Family law. Divorce, separation, children, financial settlements. Emotional work – the right solicitor matters almost as much as the law.
• Employment. Settlement agreements, unfair dismissal, discrimination. Usually priced on a no-win-no-fee or fixed basis.
• Property disputes and boundaries. Litigation specialism. Different skill from conveyancing.
• Commercial and contracts. Business law, shareholder agreements, commercial leases. You want a business specialist, not a high-street generalist.
• Personal injury. Usually no-win-no-fee. Lots of advertising firms – the good ones win on service, not adverts.

A generalist high-street firm can handle the common stuff. For anything unusual or contentious, you want someone whose website talks about your specific type of case, not their “full range of legal services”.

Check them on the SRA register

The Solicitors Regulation Authority regulates solicitors in England and Wales. Their register is public and free. Go to sra.org.uk/consumers/register, search the firm, and check:

• The firm is actually regulated.
• Any disciplinary decisions on file.
• The individual solicitor you’ll be working with is also registered.
• The firm has professional indemnity insurance (they have to by law, but it’s worth seeing).

It takes a minute. It rules out anyone operating without regulation – and for legal work, that’s non-negotiable.

Questions to ask on the first call

1. How much experience do you have with this specific kind of case? You want years and volume. “I do a few of these a year” is different from “that’s 70% of my workload”.
2. Who will actually be handling my case? At bigger firms, the partner you meet might hand the work to a junior or a paralegal. Not necessarily bad – but you should know.
3. How are you charging? Fixed fee, hourly, conditional fee, or no-win-no-fee. Each has trade-offs, and the structure matters as much as the headline number.
4. What’s your estimate for the total cost? Hourly-rate work especially – get a real ballpark, not just the hourly rate.
5. What are the disbursements? These are the third-party fees on top of solicitor costs – court fees, search fees, Land Registry. Always add up to more than people expect.
6. How will you communicate and how often? Weekly updates? Only when there’s news? Some firms go dark for weeks and it drives clients mad.

Understand how they bill

• Fixed fee. Same price whatever happens. Good for conveyancing, wills, simple divorce. Read the quote for exclusions – there’s usually a list of “extras”.
• Hourly. £180-350 an hour is normal outside London. £350-600+ in central London. Every call, every email, every letter is billed.
• Conditional fee / no-win-no-fee. You pay nothing if you lose. If you win, they take a cut of the damages. Read the agreement carefully – there are often deductions you didn’t expect.
• Deposit on account. Most firms want money up front, topped up as you go. Fine – just know how much and when.

If the first meeting turns into a sales pitch and they won’t give you a clear number, that’s telling. Decent solicitors are used to being asked about cost.

Where to start looking

The solicitors and legal directory covers firms across every UK city. Warrington, Liverpool, Manchester, London. Most offer a free initial chat – use that call to ask the questions above before you decide.

Managing the process once you’ve hired them

Once you’re a client, the job isn’t done – being a good client makes a real difference to speed and cost on hourly work:

• Send documents in batches, not dribs and drabs. Ten emails with one attachment each is ten billable units. One email with ten attachments is one.
• Prepare for meetings and calls. Know what you want to cover, write it down in advance, get through it efficiently.
• Keep records of your own. Don’t rely on them to remember every conversation. A simple folder with dates saves fees later.
• Ask questions in writing when you can. Email is cheaper per minute than phone for most firms.
• Chase, politely, when things go quiet. Solicitors juggle many files. A weekly “just checking in” keeps yours moving.

None of this is about micro-managing them. It’s about being the client they actually want to work on – which ends up being the one whose case moves quickest.

The short version

• Specialism beats prestige. Pick a solicitor who does your exact kind of case often.
• Check them on the SRA register. It’s free and takes a minute.
• Ask who will actually handle your file – not just who you’re meeting.
• Get fees in writing, and make sure disbursements are spelled out.
• Free initial calls are normal. Use them to test tone, speed, and clarity.

WotsItCalled is a free UK business directory. No signup, no catch. Find the place everyone’s on about, or browse the full solicitors and legal services directory.