One - 503 - something for nothing

One of the curious things about being a barrister is trying to work out where to draw the line on 'aftercare' or freebie assistance.  Yes yes I know a note of the hearing is included in my brief.  But what about advice on next steps?  I always throw that in (even if it involves legal research) because I know (and pardon the insult any solicitors who are pro-active) that with the majority of solicitors, once the hearing is done the case is forgotten about until the next time a hearing or a deadline rolls around.

If there is something constructive to be done that will require more than a couple of days ahead of the next deadline, I like to highlight it.  Especially if that something is making an offer to the other side that might get the damn thing settled, or getting the client to bring in some piece of evidence they mentioned in court that could be a gamechanger.

But what happens when that solicitor you gave a pointer on next steps to calls you up (or emails you) three weeks later asking whether they're doing it right?  What if they aren't and you need to spend another 20 minutes clarifying what you meant?  Or what if they did that and now they need advice on how to react to a response on the other side?  Just how many of these exchanges are covered in your brief fee, and at what point do you say 'you'll have to have a word with my clerks'?

For me it tends to depend on my relationship with the solicitor.  If they have given me positive feedback, and show appreciation for me going the extra mile, I will continue to do so on the basis it's likely to give me brownie points.  If they seem to take it for granted, well, sooner or later they're going to find little half hour charges appearing on their bills for follow up work.

The reason this came to mind today is that as I walked to work I contemplated calling a solicitor on something still in my diary for next Wednesday to confirm that it really had settled as per the draft consent order we'd finalised together last week.  Since the last hearing I'd thrown in some advice on proposed terms of settlement, and tweaked the wording of the draft order produced by the other side.  All in all about 45 minutes had been spent reading bits and pieces of correspondence and fiddling with terminology.  The solicitor had said absolutely lovely things about how he'd appreciated my assistance by email, and I came to the conclusion that I'd tell my clerks that there'd been a half hour or so but I was content not to bill.  Imagine my surprise when my clerks instead approached me and said they'd heard lovely things from said solicitor and could I give them a note of my time spent, as he wanted them to bill him for it.  Talk about feeling appreciated.