Getting reviews as a solicitor: the end-of-matter routine, and what the rules allow

A solicitor gets Google reviews by asking at the end of the matter, in the closing letter or the completion call, with one line from the fee earner and the link, and by asking every client the same way. Mention what to include (the kind of work and the office), reply to every review within a day, and never pay, select or write them. A firm closing forty matters a month has forty reviews a month waiting for that routine.

Why reviews decide the map

The three firms in the map pack for a town usually have the same categories. What separates them is the reviews: how many, how recent, how steady, and what they say. A review that says "handled the probate for my father's estate at the Mold office, explained every step" tells Google the work and the office; "great firm" tells it nothing. The count matters, the pace matters more, and the content matters most.

What the rules allow

Nothing in the SRA's standards prohibits a firm from inviting reviews. The rules that bite are the general ones: nothing misleading, no incentives, and no selecting. Ask every client at the same point in the same way, and the firm is on safe ground. Client confidentiality cuts the other way: the firm's reply to a review must never confirm or discuss the matter; thank the client and stop.

The moment

Not the invoice. Not a survey a month later. The closing letter, the completion call, the email that says the grant has arrived or the decree is final, when the client is relieved and the fee earner's name is fresh. One sentence: "If you were happy with how we handled it, a Google review mentioning the kind of work and the office helps us more than anything. Here is the link."

The link and the follow-up

A short link and a QR code on the closing letter. A text or email the same day with the link. One reminder a week later if nothing arrived, then stop. Most clients who will review do so within forty-eight hours of the ask.

Replying

Every review, within a day, two sentences, from the firm. Thank them, no matter details, no marketing. The critical ones especially: a calm reply that does not discuss the matter, invites the client to contact the complaints partner, and says nothing else does more for the next client reading the profile than five more five-stars.

What Google and the law forbid

• Paying, discounting or gifting for a review. Incentivised reviews are an offence under UK consumer law, and Google removes them.
• Selecting: asking only the clients you know are pleased, or screening with a 'were you satisfied?' step before the link. Against Google's policy and the consumer rules.
• Staff, family, or the firm's own reviews. Removed, and the profile flagged.
• Bursts: twenty reviews in a week from an email to old clients. Google's filter drops some; the profile can lose the lot.
• Reviews posted from the office wifi or a shared device. Filtered.

Steady beats big. A few reviews a month per office, every month, from the end-of-matter routine, is the pattern Google rewards and the pattern that reads as a firm doing good work regularly.

Reviews on the site

Pull them onto the relevant practice page with the date and the kind of matter, not into a carousel in the footer. A conveyancing review on the conveyancing page, with the date, is proof; an undated quote next to a stock photograph is decoration.

The routine on one page

1. Closing letter or completion call: the one-sentence ask, with what to mention.
2. Short link and QR code on the letter; text or email the same day.
3. Reply to every review within a day, without discussing the matter.
4. One reminder a week later if nothing arrived. Then stop.
5. Never pay, select, write, or ask in bursts.