Playbook, law firm
Reasonable adjustments at a firm, and where they stop being administrative
Most requests here are straightforward and the answers are publishable: a ground floor room, an interpreter, papers in a larger typeface, a visit rather than a journey. One is not. When somebody asks whether a relative can speak for them, or whether a solicitor will take instructions from a family member, the question has left the territory of access and entered the question of who is entitled to give instructions at all. That distinction is invisible unless the material draws it.
Why this is not the general answer
The handling pattern for accessibility requests holds across every trade. What follows is the part that does not.
- Taking instructions is the whole job, so an adjustment that changes who speaks or how instructions are recorded is not a scheduling matter, it is a question about the retainer itself.
- Home and hospital visits are a normal part of will and probate practice rather than an exception, which means a firm usually has a real answer here, including whether a charge applies for the travel.
- Signing formalities can require witnesses who meet conditions, so an adjustment to a signing appointment has to work around requirements the firm did not set and cannot waive.
- Whether a person has the capacity to give instructions is assessed by the solicitor, sometimes with a medical opinion, and no assistant may touch it even when the request is phrased entirely as an access one.
How it arrives
- can a solicitor come to my house to do my will
- do you have a sign language interpreter
- can my daughter speak to you for me
- is there step free access to your meeting rooms
- can you send the papers in large print
- my father is in hospital can someone visit him there
What has to be indexed for this to work
| Adjustments you can actually provide, listed plainly | Ground floor or accessible rooms, hearing loop, interpreters and how much notice they need, documents in larger print or another format, longer appointments. List what you do provide rather than a statement of intent, because a visitor is deciding whether to travel. |
|---|---|
| Your home and hospital visit position | Which departments offer visits, how far you travel, how much notice you need, and whether travel is charged and at what rate. This is genuinely useful and almost never on a firm's website, so it sits in the assistant's material or nowhere. |
| Who may attend, and in what role | Whether a companion or family member can sit in, and the point at which their presence changes things, including where a solicitor would want to see the client alone. Write this as your policy, so the assistant describes it rather than reasoning about it. |
| A short statement that authority to act is a separate question | One passage saying that a relative speaking on somebody's behalf, or acting under an authority, is a matter for the solicitor rather than an arrangement reception can make. This is the sentence that stops the assistant treating a capacity question as a room booking. |
The reply
We do carry out home and hospital visits for wills and probate work, with notice, and our published terms set out whether travel is charged [1]. Meeting rooms at that office are on the ground floor and we can arrange an interpreter if you tell us in advance which language [2]. On your other question, whether we can take instructions from you on your father's behalf is not something I can arrange, because it is a decision for the solicitor rather than an appointment detail. Leave me your name, an email and a note of what is needed and the team will call you.
It gives the practical answers in full first, since those are the ones that decide whether the person travels, and it does not hedge them. The turn is signposted plainly rather than buried, so the visitor can see that one part of their question was answered and one part was moved. It says the solicitor decides, which names the person rather than leaving a refusal hanging.
Where it stops
The trigger. The visitor asks whether somebody else can give instructions for them or for a relative, mentions an authority to act, or describes a relative who is unwell in a way that touches on capacity.
Whether instructions can be taken from somebody else, or under an authority, is a decision for the solicitor rather than an arrangement I can make. Leave me your name, an email and a short note and the team will call you.
It stops answering before it guesses, says who will pick it up, and asks for the one thing that makes a reply possible. Nothing about it reads as a dead end.
Never say this here
Out of bounds
- Never say whether somebody has the capacity to give instructions or to sign, because that is assessed by a solicitor and sometimes by a doctor.
- Never agree that a relative may instruct on another person's behalf, whatever authority they describe.
- Never promise a home or hospital visit on a date, since that is a fee earner's time and a decision about the work.
- Never say an adjustment is available at an office where it is not, when a visitor is deciding whether to make the journey.
Questions
- Why treat a family member asking questions as more than an access issue?
- Because in this trade it usually is. The message often starts as a request for a larger typeface and ends with somebody wanting to instruct on a parent's behalf, and the two need completely different handling. Keep the authority statement in the material so the assistant has something to match against.
- Can it arrange the interpreter or the visit?
- No. It cannot book anything or write into a diary. It says what you offer and how much notice is needed, then takes a name, an email and the request so your team can arrange it.
- Should visit charges be published?
- Yes, and in your own words. A family arranging a will for somebody in hospital is deciding quickly and often at a difficult moment, and finding a travel charge later is the kind of surprise that turns into a complaint about the firm rather than about the fee.
Keep reading
- Everything for a law firmFee structures, consultation terms and onboarding checks are answerable. Anything applied to a caller's own facts is legal advice.
- Handling accessibility requests in generalTwo different things arrive as one message. A published accessibility statement answers the first. The second is a request, and it needs a person.
- Cancelling a solicitor, and what the retainer says about itEnding a retainer is not cancelling an appointment. The client care letter sets the terms, work done stays billable, and papers may be held.
- Three different requests that all arrive as can I have my money backA balance in the client account is the client's own money returning. An abortive fee is not. A disputed bill is a third thing entirely.
- The questionnaire behind a corporate client's instructionPanel onboarding, outside counsel guidelines and data terms come from a client's buyers, not from consumers, and none can be agreed in a chat.
Try it on your own material
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