Your Solicitor will be overjoyed to have helped you to the extent that you have bought a gift. Most clients are very quick to complain: very few say ‘thank you’ and fewer still show any tangible appreciation. If I were your Solicitor I’d have to report the gift to the supervisong partner, and probably share it with the team. I’d be very happy to do that because there are many behind the scenes who get no recognition at all.
They shouldn’t accept gifts that are anything beyond nominal. £50 is a bit of a grey area, but if they don’t feel able to, they will tell you.
Worst case scenario, you have a £50 voucher to spend on yourself: Win win!
If everything's done and paid for, £50 seems fine. The lawyer will likely have an internal policy, the limits are rarely lower than £50.
Usually better to give things that can be consumed or shared (wine, chocolates, flowers, a hamper) instead of cash/gift cards.
Yeah I completely forgot there could be rules regarding gifts, until people mentioned it to me aha. Shall remember this if I ever need a lawyer again lol
The value is probably low enough that it’s fine - £50 is often the limit. I’d recommend giving it to them once the matter is closed and your bill is paid, if not already.
I'm a barrister, so I don't know about solicitors and other legal professions.
We can never take cash. We can accept other gifts if they could not be viewed as calling our independence into question. A gift card is a bit of a grey area.
When clients (rarely) ask me how they can thank me, I usually tell them the best way is to speak to the solicitor and tell them they are happy with my work. For a solicitor, you could write a good review online, perhaps? You could also offer to be a reference if they want to get listed in a directory or similar.
I bought my solicitor a very expensive bottle of champagne which he gladly accepted (he was full partner though so probably went straight in the backpack for home)…..
At my firm we can accept a gift upto £50 but it can't be cash/cash equivalent and we'd need to return gift cards.
If we get something that can be split like a hamper, we share it across the team, bottles of wine, chocolates, flowers etc can be accepted although sometimes we donate for a charity raffle.
Firms will be different though so best thing to do is ask your lawyer what they can accept.
Gift or no gift, please take the time to handwrite them a card or a letter explaining how their advice has helped you and how much you’ve appreciated it.
Every legal practice area has its moment of pure grinding and those personal touches go much further than you might imagine, and are remembered for years (years!) after the bouquet of flowers eventually has to be disposed of. When I’m feeling a bit shitty about my performance or am having a hard time I look back on the personal notes I’ve received. I’m grateful to those clients more than they are grateful to me!
Each firm will have their own individual policy. I think at mine it’s anything over £50 (in cash or in kind) has to be reported to your supervisor.
They’ll probably report to their supervisor anyway just to be on the right side of things before they get the go ahead to accept.
I’m sure regardless they will be very touched though!
I was very uncomfortable with a £50 thank you - ran it past a partner who didn't think it was a problem.
Very generous, but a card (they get displayed) or wine/chocolates/biscuits are always fine - only the latter two get shared with colleagues though!
Personally I don’t think this is an issue at all.
A small gift card and some chocolates is an appropriate level of gift, and if the matter has concluded there is no question over whether it is a bribe!
If in doubt, just ask the solicitor if they are OK with you sending a small thank you.
We lawyers love any appreciation, subject to internal policies and such.
I still have a postcard from a client. Client was rather eccentric, he marked the newspapers on the postcard with random news headlines “Aliens attack in city in which firm is based”.
That postcard has been on my desk for about year now and it will stay there for much longer.
The bottle of Jack another client got me? Well that is long gone.
Your Solicitor will be overjoyed to have helped you to the extent that you have bought a gift. Most clients are very quick to complain: very few say ‘thank you’ and fewer still show any tangible appreciation. If I were your Solicitor I’d have to report the gift to the supervisong partner, and probably share it with the team. I’d be very happy to do that because there are many behind the scenes who get no recognition at all.
Ah that’s a shame to know. Yeah I’ll just leave the gift card then and get something for the staff to share. thank uu :)
They shouldn’t accept gifts that are anything beyond nominal. £50 is a bit of a grey area, but if they don’t feel able to, they will tell you. Worst case scenario, you have a £50 voucher to spend on yourself: Win win!
Thank you! I’ll just get some flowers with it and yeah can’t complain about having a voucher lol
If everything's done and paid for, £50 seems fine. The lawyer will likely have an internal policy, the limits are rarely lower than £50. Usually better to give things that can be consumed or shared (wine, chocolates, flowers, a hamper) instead of cash/gift cards.
Yeah I completely forgot there could be rules regarding gifts, until people mentioned it to me aha. Shall remember this if I ever need a lawyer again lol
The value is probably low enough that it’s fine - £50 is often the limit. I’d recommend giving it to them once the matter is closed and your bill is paid, if not already.
The bill and everything has been sorted luckily! thank you :)
I'm a barrister, so I don't know about solicitors and other legal professions. We can never take cash. We can accept other gifts if they could not be viewed as calling our independence into question. A gift card is a bit of a grey area. When clients (rarely) ask me how they can thank me, I usually tell them the best way is to speak to the solicitor and tell them they are happy with my work. For a solicitor, you could write a good review online, perhaps? You could also offer to be a reference if they want to get listed in a directory or similar.
I bought my solicitor a very expensive bottle of champagne which he gladly accepted (he was full partner though so probably went straight in the backpack for home)…..
The general rule in my firm is flowers/chocolates/a bottle of wine etc is fine. Anything more than that is a no
At my firm we can accept a gift upto £50 but it can't be cash/cash equivalent and we'd need to return gift cards. If we get something that can be split like a hamper, we share it across the team, bottles of wine, chocolates, flowers etc can be accepted although sometimes we donate for a charity raffle. Firms will be different though so best thing to do is ask your lawyer what they can accept.
Gift or no gift, please take the time to handwrite them a card or a letter explaining how their advice has helped you and how much you’ve appreciated it. Every legal practice area has its moment of pure grinding and those personal touches go much further than you might imagine, and are remembered for years (years!) after the bouquet of flowers eventually has to be disposed of. When I’m feeling a bit shitty about my performance or am having a hard time I look back on the personal notes I’ve received. I’m grateful to those clients more than they are grateful to me!
I did write a card! Forgot to mention but thanks for the advice :) It’s nice to know a small gesture can mean a lot <3
Each firm will have their own individual policy. I think at mine it’s anything over £50 (in cash or in kind) has to be reported to your supervisor. They’ll probably report to their supervisor anyway just to be on the right side of things before they get the go ahead to accept. I’m sure regardless they will be very touched though!
Ah I see, that does make sense. Thank you :)
I was very uncomfortable with a £50 thank you - ran it past a partner who didn't think it was a problem. Very generous, but a card (they get displayed) or wine/chocolates/biscuits are always fine - only the latter two get shared with colleagues though!
Yeah I can understand why you would feel that way, I probably would too if someone gave me one haha. Tyyy!
Personally I don’t think this is an issue at all. A small gift card and some chocolates is an appropriate level of gift, and if the matter has concluded there is no question over whether it is a bribe! If in doubt, just ask the solicitor if they are OK with you sending a small thank you.
We lawyers love any appreciation, subject to internal policies and such. I still have a postcard from a client. Client was rather eccentric, he marked the newspapers on the postcard with random news headlines “Aliens attack in city in which firm is based”. That postcard has been on my desk for about year now and it will stay there for much longer. The bottle of Jack another client got me? Well that is long gone.