Volume

Whether action or reaction, the effect of these lawyers' relationship with legal aid remuneration was the same; all three firms utilised the organisational practice of discontinuous representation to constitute themselves as volume businesses.

This research was established upon a hypothetical dichotomy between Radical and Sausage Factory firms, taken to represent, respectively, client-centred and profit-centred approaches to practice. One of the key aspects of this characterisa­tion was that Radical firms put their clients first - providing consistency and ample time - while Sausage Factories pay no heed to these considerations as they priori­tised profits - using discontinuous representation to chase ever greater volume. In selecting firms for this research, I had hoped to establish firms from either side of this divide. It should now be clear that, once in the field, there was little means of readily discriminating between the firms in this manner. All exhibited a factory approach, as evinced by quotes such as the following:

Compared to how it used to be, it’s like a factory these days. You don't spend that much time with people, just deal with them as quickly as possible, rush it all through.

(Nadine, partner, Swining MacSage, INT)

We can only survive by taking a factory approach, and I think the quality will go. We just churn out case after case.

(Catherine, solicitor, Radford Hope, INT)

Is it a factory now? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!

(Bobby, partner, Sosig and Sage, INT)

However, while achieving the same ends, the particular makeup of each varied.

There’s no room for idealism in the job, business imperatives get in the way.

(Ed, senior partner, Swining MacSage, IC)

Swining MacSage was the largest firm and sent the greatest number of lawyers to the Magistrates' Court, where they also had the longest client lists. Lawyers tended to be assigned to clear particular courts each day. As well as the Magistrates' Court work, though, Swining MacSage was the only firm to have delineated their practice into three distinct departments, with one dedicated exclusively to Crown Court matters and another to police station calls. In achieving this, they utilised the largest amount of unqualified clerks. Accordingly, Swining MacSage was widely regarded as the most efficient practice, viewed admiringly by administrative personnel and part­ners at both Radford Hope and Radcliffe and Musk for their appearance as a fully functioning business entity. This was reflected in the following quotes:

You’re going to see how a firm should be run; a business. You come back and tell me what it’s like. I’ve heard all kinds of stories. They just get on with things there, in-out, no messing about, and everyone knows what to do. That’s how we should be run.

(Harriet, secretary, Radford Hope, IC)

I don’t know what to make of them over there - they get through an awful lot of work. I think you’re going to notice some real differences in how they deal with clients; they can’t hang around. I imagine we’ll seem pretty laid back in comparison!

(Leo, senior partner, Radcliffe and Musk, IC) Perhaps the most distinctive feature of Swining MacSage was the manner in which they used their demarcated constitution and large lawyer numbers. They allowed the organisational practice of discontinuous representation to be fully institution­alised.

We do have more lawyers, and I want to make sure they’re used to our advantage. Volume has to take precedence over client continuity. It might be beneficial if the solicitor knows the case. That can definitively save time in getting reacquainted with it over a quick skim through of the morning of the hearing. Although sometimes that doesn’t even happen! Often you just pick up a case and get on with it. It doesn’t make sense to wait around.

(Ed, senior partner, Swining MacSage, IC) Lawyers, then, worked together and took cases from one another at various stages during the process. However, this did not always lead to harmony within the offices, as in the following example:

[Lawyer One] Can you take [Court] One for me? I’m going to be stuck with this Closure [Order application].

[Lawyer Two] Laura [solicitor] just gave me her duty to finish off. So I’ve got that with [Courts] Six, Seven and Eight as well. You’ll come over if it finishes early?

[Lawyer One] I don’t know how long it will be take.

[Lawyer Two] Great. I’ve been shafted.

(Thomas and Dick, partners, SwiningMacSage, OR) This notion of lawyers taking clients from one another, though, was not restricted to Swining MacSage. It also represented the defining feature of Radcliffe and Musk, in particular through the lack of antagonism and, rather, their fostering a ‘team’ mentality. This was outlined by, senior partner, Leo and can be seen as embodied in, solicitor, Shelly:

We work as a team. I’m very conscious to put that across.

(Leo, senior partner, Radcliffe and Musk, IC)

Let's go check how the troops are doing. See who needs help.

(Shelly, solicitor, Radcliffe and Musk, IC)

Radcliffe and Musk were slightly smaller than Swining MacSage. However, they still sent significant numbers to the Magistrates’ Court and dealt with only marginally fewer clients.

Regulars are usually fine with the system that we operate... the message is: ‘You won’t always see me, but we work as part of a big team’. Of course, there will always be clients who prefer one solicitor or another but as long as they are aware that we cannot promise that, this overcomes the problem.

(Leo, senior partner, Radcliffe and Musk, EM)

There was a second policy that the senior partners attempted to imbue within their lawyers at Radcliffe Musk, labelled ‘trawling’, as can be seen in the following:

Have you been trawling? I have and picked one up already. Let’s go and make sure the rest are on the lookout too.

(Donna, solicitor, Radcliffe and Musk, OR - to Leo, senior partner, mid-morning)

You’ve seen what I’m like, always on the look out for work. It’s not poaching; trawling [laughs].

(Leo, senior partner, Radcliffe and Musk, IC)

Radcliffe and Musk, then, also prided themselves on being efficient and maximising their volume of clients as Leo, senior partner, espoused:

I realised long ago that the only way to make money in this business is by being highly organised and efficient which is something that I always try to instil in my employees, mostly successfully I think. We always keep a very keen eye on the finances.

(Leo, senior partner, Radcliffe and Musk, EM)

The other firm in this study, Radford Hope, presented something of a contrast to Swining MacSage and Radcliffe and Musk. They were smaller and sent a lesser pro­portion of their lawyers to court where, once ensconced, either one or two lawyers were expected to manage a greater share of clients themselves. Lawyers from within and without Radford Hope were conscious of this distinction, and the extent to which it left those at court to fend for themselves, as reflected in the following quotes:

I bet you notice a real difference.

(Leland, solicitor, Radford Hope, IC)

It’s totally different here [to Radford Hope]. Everyone lends a hand.

(Audrey, solicitor, Swining MacSage, IC) I look at what they [RadfordHope] do, and I just don't understand how they can function as a business. They can't do enough cases with just one or two solicitors at the courts.

(Leo, senior partner, Radcliffe and Musk, IC) Radford Hope did not handle a significantly smaller number of clients than the other firms, though, meaning lawyers felt over-burdened with heavy workloads. This situation was epitomised by the fact that they lost half their lawyers in the year between my pilot study and the research proper. Over the course of the participant observation, a solicitor departed, another went part-time and even the one taken on during this period had left by the time of the formal interviews.

The remaining lawyers did not feel that they had enough staff to handle the num­ber of cases expected of them by senior partner James, who was seen as out of touch as he was rarely at the Magistrates' Court. There was a great deal of discontent at these conditions, as seen in these quotes:

[Lawyer One] This is a nightmare day; monster of a list and we're duty solicitor and there's only two of us. There are about 15 [cases] and Youth Court and then there's the duty, which will be a nightmare.

[Lawyer Two] This keeps happening more and more.

(Harold, partner, and Norma, solicitor, Radford Hope, OR)

[Lawyer One] I was there until half past six last night. I had 16 cases, most of them sentencing. They were waiting for me to lock up. Then when I got back, the office was locked.

[Lawyer Two] I always take the key these days, just in case. You know what it's like here! (Catherine and Leland, solicitors, Radford Hope, OR) Radford Hope were characterised as somewhat chaotic within the city's legal com­munity, with some justification.

Can you believe it? Someone is going to find out they've got a trial this afternoon. This is what happens at Radfords. It's chaos here. Can you imagine, though, the client - someone's spent lunch time preparing for his trial? Incredible. I can't wait to read your book! This is what it's like, you couldn't make it up. It'd be funny if it wasn't so bad [laughs]!

(Leland, solicitor, Radford Hope, IC) Though the chaotic approach of Radford Hope lacked the finesse of the other firms, it presented similarities in the use of discontinuous representation to achieve vol­ume; the only difference was in the spread of representation. All three firms func­tioned as, more or less, efficient factories.