The client who rings for an update: what those calls really cost

The call is not the cost #

Break down what happens when a client rings to ask how their matter is going.

1. Somebody takes the call

   Often not the fee earner.

2. A message is left

3. The fee earner comes back to it later, and opens the file

4. They read back far enough to be confident nothing has changed

5. They check whether anything arrived in the last fortnight that has not been actioned

6. They form a view on what to say, and ring back

7. They return to whatever they were doing

   And spend a few minutes finding their place again.

The conversation might be four minutes. Everything around it is not.

What the complaints data says about silence #

The Legal Ombudsman reported the following for 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026.

Together, communication and delay accounted for 46 per cent of complaint types.

What makes that useful rather than merely alarming is what it implies about sequence. A client who is being told what is happening is much less likely to escalate a delay, because a known wait is a different experience from an unexplained silence.

The complaint category that leads the table is the one a firm can address without changing anything about the legal work at all. More on the full picture is on why clients complain.

What the rules ask for #

The SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors states the standard in one sentence.

It also requires the best possible information about the likely overall cost both at engagement and as the matter progresses. The Code of Conduct for Firms requires "an effective system for supervising clients' matters" and that firms keep records to demonstrate compliance with their regulatory obligations.

Three things that are knowable without opening a file #

Most firms could answer these from data they already hold, and most cannot answer them quickly.

• Which matters have had no outbound client contact in a set period

  A date comparison across the file list.

• Which matters are blocked on the same third party

  A grouping, which also tells you when one phone call could unblock five files.

• Which matters have had something arrive that nobody has actioned

  The most expensive gap of the three, because it is the one that turns into a delay complaint.

None of those questions require legal knowledge to answer. All of them require legal knowledge to act on. That is the line worth drawing before deciding anything.

Rules and judgement, separated #

The trap is assuming that because the second column is sensitive, the first column has to be done by the same person in the same way. In most firms the fee earner is doing both, and the first column is what fills the day.

What we are not saying #

It is not, and anything that reaches a client under the firm's name is the firm's responsibility for accuracy, confidentiality and tone. Client confidentiality under the Code of Conduct applies to every channel, and the firm has to satisfy itself on that before anything goes out.

What the evidence supports is that the administrative half of client communication, which is noticing and timing, is mechanical, and that it is the half the complaints data says is failing.

If you want a rough figure for what reconstructing file status costs your firm each week, start with the cost of admin time calculator, then let the audit count the real thing.