Client updates for solicitors: an update rhythm that works

The way to keep clients updated without eating fee-earner time is to update them on a fixed rhythm, before they ask, in a few plain sentences: what has happened, what happens next, and when they will hear again. Most chasing calls are a client asking whether anything is happening. A scheduled update answers that before the phone rings.

This is the fourth handover in where enquiries get lost between reception, fee-earners and billing: the one between the fee-earner's work and the client's understanding of it. It is part of our series on revenue operations for law firms. Here we go into the method in detail.

Why do clients chase their solicitor for updates?

Because silence looks like inactivity. The fee-earner knows the file is moving: the other side has been chased, the searches are ordered, counsel has the papers. The client sees none of that. From their side, three weeks without contact looks the same as three weeks of nothing, and people with a legal problem are rarely relaxed about nothing.

So they ring. The fee-earner is in a meeting. A message is taken. The fee-earner rings back later, often between other things, and spends ten minutes explaining that there is nothing new. Both sides come away slightly worse off: the client still anxious, the fee-earner a little behind.

The Legal Ombudsman's 2025/26 complaints data shows how often this ends badly. Poor communication was the most common complaint type at 24 per cent, followed by delay and failure to progress at 22 per cent. Not every chasing call becomes a complaint, but most complaints about communication start as unanswered questions.

What does the SRA say about keeping clients informed?

The SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors does not set an update schedule. It sets principles. Paragraph 8.6 requires that you give clients information in a way they can understand and ensure they are in a position to make informed decisions about the services they need, how their matter will be handled and the options available to them. Paragraph 8.7 requires the best possible information about cost, at the start and, when appropriate, as the matter progresses. Paragraph 3.2 requires a competent service delivered in a timely manner.

How those apply to a particular matter is a question for the supervising solicitor and the COLP. The operational point is that the Code is about the client being able to understand what is happening, which is exactly what a regular update does.

How often should a solicitor update a client?

There is no universal answer, and anyone who gives you one is guessing. What works is a rhythm the firm chooses by type of matter and then keeps. A starting point, offered as our suggestion and not as a rule or a benchmark:

• Fast-moving matters (a live dispute near a hearing, an urgent immigration deadline, a completion week): whenever something happens, and at least every few days.
• Steady matters (a typical conveyance, an uncontested probate, most employment matters): every fortnight, and whenever something material happens.
• Waiting matters (a probate waiting on the Probate Registry, a claim waiting on the other side, anything paused on a third party): every three to four weeks, even if the update is that the firm is still waiting.

Two principles matter more than the exact frequency. Every update ends by saying when the next one will come. And the firm keeps that date, whether or not there is news. The second update, delivered on the day it was promised, does more for the client's trust than any number of calls returned promptly.

What should a client update say when nothing has happened?

This is the update most fee-earners skip, and it is the one that matters most. A useful "nothing yet" update has four parts:

• What the firm is waiting for, and from whom. "We are waiting for the buyer's solicitors to reply to our enquiries."
• What the firm has done about it. "We chased them on Tuesday."
• What happens next. "When we have their reply we will send you a summary and ask you to confirm two points."
• When the client will hear again. "We will update you by Friday the 26th either way."

That takes a minute to write, answers every question the client would have rung to ask, and is honest. It does not predict outcomes or give advice the fee-earner has not decided to give.

Who should send client updates?

In most firms, the fee-earner sends them when they remember, which means rarely. A better split, which firms of any size can adopt:

• The fee-earner decides the content of anything that involves judgement: what a development means, what the client should consider, any advice.
• Someone else sends the routine updates. A secretary, paralegal or assistant can send "we are still waiting, we chased on Tuesday, next update Friday" from the file, with the fee-earner copied. Supervision arrangements for who may say what are for the firm to set.
• The system keeps the schedule. A diary reminder per matter, or a task in the practice management system, set at the moment each update is sent for the date promised in it.

The aim is that the fee-earner's time goes on the updates that need a lawyer, and the rest still happen.

A worked example

The figures here are invented to show the effect. They are not a benchmark and describe no real firm.

A residential conveyancing team of four fee-earners runs about 120 live files. Before changing anything, they count a fortnight of incoming calls and find that about 90 were clients asking for an update, each taking around eight minutes of someone's time when returned, plus the time spent taking the message. That is roughly twelve hours of fee-earner and support time a fortnight spent answering the same question.

They introduce a fortnightly update for every live file, sent by the team's two assistants from a short template, with the fee-earner adding a line where something has changed. Writing 120 updates a fortnight, at two to three minutes each, takes the assistants around five hours. Update calls fall, and the calls that remain are more often about something that genuinely needs a fee-earner.

The saving in that invented example is modest in hours. The larger effect is on the client's experience and on the fee-earner's day: fewer interruptions, fewer messages to return, and fewer clients who feel ignored.

Which channel should updates use?

Whichever the client reads, agreed at the start. For many clients that is email. Some prefer a text saying an email has arrived. A few want a call. Ask when the matter opens, record the answer on the file, and use it.

Three cautions. Confirm the contact details and that it is safe to use them: in family matters especially, a shared inbox or phone can put a client at risk. Be careful what goes in a text, which can be seen on a locked screen. And make sure anything sent is saved to the file, whichever channel it went through.

What should never be in a routine update?

• Advice the fee-earner has not given. A routine update reports status. Anything that changes what the client should do comes from the solicitor.
• Predictions dressed as facts. "Completion will be on the 30th" when it depends on a chain. Say what it depends on.
• Blame of the other side. It rarely helps and sometimes ends up in front of a judge.
• Promises the firm is not organised to keep. The next-update date is a promise. Set one you will meet.
• Costs surprises. If costs have moved, that belongs in a proper costs update, not a line at the bottom. See paragraph 8.7 of the Code.

How do you start an update rhythm this month?

Five steps, in order, none of which needs new software.

• Count a fortnight of update calls. Every incoming call or email that is essentially "any news?". This is your baseline, and the number that will persuade the team.
• Pick a rhythm per matter type. Write it down in one line each. Agree it with the supervising partners.
• Write three templates. Something has happened; nothing has happened yet; we need something from you. Each ends with the next-update date.
• Set the first reminder on every live file. From then on, each update sets the next reminder for the date it promised.
• Count again after six weeks. Same definition. Then decide whether to adjust the rhythm for any matter type.

How do updates connect to the rest of client care?

Updates are the middle of the client's experience. The beginning is the first call and the first week, covered in client care for lawyers: the first hour decides it. The end is the close and whether the client comes back, covered in law firm client retention. A firm that gets the beginning right and then goes quiet loses most of what it won. One that keeps a steady rhythm through the middle makes the end much easier.

The time saved also matters to fee-earners themselves. Update calls are unrecorded, interrupt chargeable work, and are one of the quieter reasons a fee-earner's day runs long. For more on protecting that time, see fee-earner utilisation.

Where WasilX fits

The personal assistant is built for exactly this handover. It covers a fee-earner's calls while they are in court, takes a message from a client ringing for news and drafts the update for the fee-earner to approve, so the fee-earner comes back to a summary rather than a list of messages. The fee-earner decides what is sent. At the front door, Cam, our AI Engagement Coordinator, takes new enquiries at any hour, says it is AI, and sends the firm a summary. If you would like to count a fortnight of update calls with us first, we are glad to talk.

Frequently asked questions

How often should a solicitor update a client? There is no fixed rule in the SRA Code. Choose a rhythm by type of matter, such as every few days when things are moving fast and every three to four weeks when waiting on a third party, and always tell the client when the next update will come.

What should a client update include? What has happened or what the firm is waiting for, what the firm has done about it, what happens next, and the date of the next update.

Can someone other than the fee-earner send client updates? Routine status updates can often be sent by an assistant or paralegal from the file, with the fee-earner deciding anything that involves judgement or advice. Who may say what is for the firm's supervision arrangements to set.

Do regular updates really reduce client calls? They answer the most common reason clients ring, which is to ask whether anything is happening. Count a fortnight of update calls before and after to see the effect in your own firm.

What is client care for solicitors? The whole of a client's experience of being looked after, of which the client care letter at the start is one part. Keeping clients informed during the matter is the part most often missed. See client care for lawyers.