A fee earner writes to a client in March asking for signed instructions on a settlement offer, and the matter goes on the list as awaiting client. Nothing comes back, nobody chases, and in June the client rings to ask why the offer has lapsed and why nobody told him there was a deadline.
The firm’s letter sits on the file. It asked for instructions “at your earliest convenience” and said nothing about the date on which the offer would close or what the client stood to lose if he missed it. The client read it as routine, and so will the complaint handler.
Take an illustrative firm with 600 live matters, where one in ten waits on the client at any time. That is 60 files resting on a status with no date and no next step, and most move on without harm. A few will hold a court direction, a limitation date, an offer with a deadline or a completion date, and those are the files that turn a slow client into a claim against the firm.
A status with a date on it
The first change costs nothing. Treat awaiting client as a status that expires rather than a place where a file rests. Every time a fee earner sends a request to the client, the file should record what was asked for, the date by which it is needed and the date on which someone will look again.
Write the request so a client who reads it once knows where they stand. Name the thing you need, whether that is instructions, a signed form, a document or money on account. Give the date by which you need it, and explain in plain words what happens if it does not arrive, such as the offer lapsing, the court striking out the claim or the buyer withdrawing. The SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors expects you to give clients information in a way they can understand so they can make informed decisions, and to act in their best interests. A letter that hides the consequence behind a polite phrase meets neither expectation.
Set a chasing rhythm and apply it to every file. A reasonable pattern is a reminder a week after the first request, a second contact by telephone or email a week later, and a letter at the third stage that repeats the consequence and the date in terms nobody can misread. The intervals should shorten as a hard date approaches, and the hard date itself belongs in the diary alongside each chaser.
Fix the point at which the file goes to a supervisor. A matter where the client has not answered two chasers, or where a hard date falls within a set period, needs a supervisor’s review, because the decision about what to do next carries risk for the firm as well as the client. The supervisor decides whether to seek more time or protect the position by issuing or applying.
Record the risk advice in writing every time. If you told the client on the telephone that the limitation date falls in October, confirm it by letter or email the same day. The Legal Ombudsman’s published complaint themes regularly feature delay and failure to keep the client informed, and a firm answering that kind of complaint relies on what the file shows it said rather than on what a fee earner remembers saying.
Know when to stop. A client who will not give instructions leaves the firm unable to act properly, and your terms of business should say that you can end the retainer on reasonable notice for good reason. Give that notice in writing, set out the dates that still bind the client and tell them what they need to do to protect their position after you come off the record or close the file.
Where Bracton fits
Bracton is an agentic AI case management system for law firms in England and Wales, and its assistant, Henry, reads every live file overnight through the connection to the firm’s system. He finds the files where the last outbound letter asked the client for something and nothing has come back, and he sets that silence against any date on the matter, from a court direction to a completion date. Where the gap matters, he drafts the chaser or the warning letter, naming what is needed, by when and what follows if it does not arrive. A qualified fee earner approves it before anything leaves the firm.
A firm that keeps its existing case management system can run Henry alongside it, and what he sees there depends on what that system lets him read.
Start with your own files. Pull every matter marked as awaiting client, note the date of the last request and the next hard date on each, and read the letter that went out to see whether it named the consequence. If you want the whole caseload read the same way, book a client account review.