Core Guidance v1 – Stable content

How Users Should Approach Legal Services

Put text here.

This page focuses on practical behaviour: how to reduce avoidable risk, improve clarity, and preserve evidence while working with a legal service provider.

Core principles

  • Be structured: treat your matter like a small project, not a conversation.
  • Stay factual: use dates, documents, and clear questions.
  • Protect evidence: confirm key points in writing and keep records.
  • Control tempo: do not reply reactively; take time to read and think.
  • Expect clarity: you are entitled to plain explanations of what is happening and why.

Understand the roles in the relationship

Put text here.

  • Lawyers advise and act; they do not own the decisions.
  • You remain responsible for instructions and for checking you understand.
  • Admin staff may communicate, but qualified supervision still matters.

Start well: what to get in writing early

Put text here.

  • Who is doing the work and who supervises it
  • What the next steps are and likely timescales
  • Costs: estimate, hourly rates (if relevant), what counts as “extra”
  • Key risks, likely delays, and what depends on third parties
  • How often you will be updated and by what method

Communicate like it may be reviewed later

Put text here.

  • Keep emails short, numbered, and outcome-focused.
  • Ask one question per bullet where possible.
  • Confirm important calls/meetings with a short written note.
  • Avoid emotional language; describe impact and risk instead.

Related Core Guidance: Communication Discipline · Tone and Behaviour

Keep your side organised

Put text here.

  • Save emails/letters promptly (PDF where helpful).
  • Maintain a basic timeline of what should happen vs what did happen.
  • Keep a simple log of contacts, promises, and deadlines.
  • Track costs against the original estimate.

Related Core Guidance: File Naming, Records, and Time Tracking

Be alert to early warning signs

Put text here.

  • Delays without explanation
  • Questions ignored or answered vaguely
  • Advice that changes without reasons
  • Costs rising without warning
  • Work passed around with no clear ownership

Related Core Guidance: When Things Start to Go Wrong · Identifying Failures and Transgressions

Use escalation proportionately

Put text here.

  • Raise issues early and informally first where possible.
  • If patterns persist, move to the firm’s formal complaints process.
  • Prepare evidence before escalating externally.
  • Escalation is not “being difficult” — it is a normal route when service fails.

Related Core Guidance: Preparing Evidence for a Formal Complaint · Poor Complaints-Handling Behaviour

Using tools safely

Put text here.

Core Guidance navigation

Select another Core Guidance page:

Back to top