Making haste slowly


Lawyers are frequently instructed by commercial clients at short notice and find themselves expected to provide advice to meet a pressing deadline.


It is hardly surprising that lawyers feel under pressure to respond as fast as possible to avoid the risk, whether perceived or real, that the client will take their business elsewhere if they are not quick enough. While often financially rewarding, this type of work carries the real danger that the formalities of taking proper instructions will be missed, or the firm's risk management procedures are overlooked in the haste to satisfy a client's demands.


The risk of making a mistake clearly increases in a pressurised situation with tight deadlines, so it is doubly important for lawyers to ensure that their risk management procedures are robust enough to operate effectively when time is short.


Whatever the nature of the transaction, always make sure that full instructions are taken. This allows the firm to establish exactly what the client wants and the timescale. Without this information, it is easy for expectations of service between client and lawyer to differ. When the instruction is verbal, record it in writing and send a copy to the client by way of confirmation. Equally, ensure that a formal retainer letter is agreed and sent to the client so there can be no doubt about what the firm will and will not be doing on the client's behalf.


Where there are other professional advisers involved, obtain copies of their retainer letters to establish whether there are any gaps in the advice being provided. Also, establish who is the lead adviser. This is more than a mere formality, as case law indicates that where more than one professional is involved, the solicitor is deemed to be in charge unless there is evidence to the contrary. Failure to clarify the situation could, theoretically, result in the law firm being held responsible for errors over which it had no jurisdiction.


The advice is to work fast, but to make sure that the detail is correct. Clients have a habit of only remembering problems after the event and not the pressure they put their legal team under to deliver quickly. As Suetonius, a secretary to the emperor Hadrian, said: 'festina lente', or make haste slowly.


This column was prepared by AFP Consulting, a division of Alexander Forbes Risk Services UK