Jaji Mfawidhi
JF-Expert Member
- Feb 20, 2016
- 16,099
- 24,335
A message comes in.
“Hi Counsel, can I quickly ask something?”
Then a 5-minute voice note follows.
Then documents.
Then another voice note.
Before you realise it, you have:
- analysed the facts
- explained the law
- suggested a legal strategy
All for free.
Somewhere along the way, parts of our profession quietly allowed legal advice to become a WhatsApp service.
But legal advice is not casual conversation.
It is a professional service built on years of study, admission requirements, regulatory duties, and professional risk.
When lawyers repeatedly give “quick advice” on WhatsApp, three things happen:
1. Clients stop seeing consultation as necessary.
2. The lawyer’s time becomes unstructured.
3. The profession slowly devalues its own expertise.
Approachability is important.
But access to your legal mind must remain a professional engagement.
Not a chat function.
If Legal Practitioners do not protect the value of their time, nobody else will.
“Hi Counsel, can I quickly ask something?”
Then a 5-minute voice note follows.
Then documents.
Then another voice note.
Before you realise it, you have:
- analysed the facts
- explained the law
- suggested a legal strategy
All for free.
Somewhere along the way, parts of our profession quietly allowed legal advice to become a WhatsApp service.
But legal advice is not casual conversation.
It is a professional service built on years of study, admission requirements, regulatory duties, and professional risk.
When lawyers repeatedly give “quick advice” on WhatsApp, three things happen:
1. Clients stop seeing consultation as necessary.
2. The lawyer’s time becomes unstructured.
3. The profession slowly devalues its own expertise.
Approachability is important.
But access to your legal mind must remain a professional engagement.
Not a chat function.
If Legal Practitioners do not protect the value of their time, nobody else will.
