Playbook, law firm
Getting to the right building on the right day
A firm with more than one office rarely has the same work in each of them, and a client who chooses the nearest one can arrive at a building where nobody can help. Worse, a large share of these questions are not about the firm's address at all: somebody with a hearing has confused the solicitor's office with the court, and the two are usually not on the same street. Both of those are worth getting right in writing, because the failure costs somebody a morning.
Why this is not the general answer
The handling pattern for location and parking holds across every trade. What follows is the part that does not.
- Departments are split across offices in most multi site firms, so the nearest address is often the wrong one, and a client turning up for a signing at a building with no private client team gets nothing done.
- Original identification and signing appointments have to happen in person somewhere specific, which makes this the one question where the address genuinely matters rather than being a courtesy.
- Many visitors asking where to go mean the court and not the firm, and a hearing venue is set by a listing notice the firm did not issue and the assistant must not interpret.
- Older town centre offices are frequently in converted or listed buildings where the accessible entrance and the meeting rooms are not in the obvious place, so the arrival instructions matter more than the postcode.
How it arrives
- which office is your family department in
- is your office in the same building as the county court
- where do i park to come and sign my will
- can i bring my id to whichever office is nearest
- is there a car park near you
- do i go to you or straight to the court on the day
What has to be indexed for this to work
| Each office with the departments it actually houses | Not a list of addresses and a list of services in separate places. Put the departments on the office, because the question is always which one do I go to and a visitor cannot cross reference two pages on a phone. |
|---|---|
| Arrival instructions per office | Which entrance, which floor, whether there is a lift, whether the door is on a side street, and where to report. Converted buildings defeat street level directions, and this is the paragraph that prevents a client ringing from the pavement. |
| Parking and public transport near each office | Nearest car park, whether any spaces are for clients, permit restrictions on nearby streets, and the walk from the station. Signing appointments have a fixed time and somebody circling for a space arrives late for a witnessed signature. |
| A plain statement that the firm is not the court | One short passage saying that hearing venues are on the notice a client received, that they differ from the firm's offices, and who to ask if the notice is unclear. Without it the assistant will answer venue questions from the contact page. |
The reply
Our private client team, which is where a will signing happens, is at the office listed on our contact page as the one handling wills and probate [1]. It is worth checking that before travelling, because our offices do not all hold the same departments. The nearest public car park and the walk from it are set out on that page [2], and the accessible entrance is on the side of the building rather than the main door. If your question is about a court hearing rather than about coming to see us, the venue will be on the notice you were sent, and it is not our office.
It answers with the department rather than with the address, because that is the mistake this question actually produces. Warning about the split before giving directions is deliberate: a client who reads only the first sentence still goes to the right building. The last line exists because a meaningful share of these messages are about a court and answering them with a solicitor's postcode is worse than not answering.
Where it stops
The trigger. The visitor asks where their hearing is, whether they have to attend one, or wants confirmation that they are expected at an office on a particular day.
I cannot confirm anything about a hearing or check whether you are expected. The venue will be on the notice you received. If you want the team to check, leave me your name, an email and the matter reference.
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 tell somebody which court to attend or what time to be there, because that comes from a listing notice the firm did not write.
- Never confirm that a client has an appointment, or where, since the assistant cannot see any diary.
- Never give one office address as the firm's address when departments are split across buildings.
- Never say identification can be posted or emailed when your policy requires originals produced in person.
Questions
- How much of this is really a location question?
- Less than half, in most firms. The rest is a client working out where the department is, or confusing the office with the court. Material that answers only the address will send the assistant confidently past both.
- Can it tell somebody whether their hearing is going ahead?
- No. It has no access to a court list, a case management system or your diary, and a wrong answer here means somebody misses a hearing. It says the venue is on the notice and hands the question to the team.
- Is parking detail worth the space on a firm's site?
- For signing and identity appointments it is, because those have a fixed time and a person who cannot park misses a witnessed signature rather than a casual visit. Write it per office, since a city centre office and a market town office have nothing in common here.
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 location and parking in generalWhich entrance, where to park, the step free route, the nearest stop. Genuinely useful information that is almost never written down well.
- Reasonable adjustments at a firm, and where they stop being administrativeInterpreters, home visits and large print are arrangements a firm can make. Whether somebody can give instructions is a legal question.
- 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.
Try it on your own material
Upload a document or point it at your site, paste one line of HTML, then ask it something only your business could answer.