I have recently spent an hour or so, speaking with people who thought they might have a claim against an estate, a person who needed specialist employment law advice and another who had an urgent need for a commercial lease to be drawn up within days.

In each case, I took pages of notes, asking relevant questions, clarifying a timeline of events, and then passed the matter on to a specialist professional who matched their needs.

Asking relevant questions, noting the answers and summarising them into a helpful format to present to a super specialised professional who can say whether there’s enough to have a further conversation, or whether it depends on obtaining really difficult evidence or whether it’s going nowhere, takes a certain amount of time, skill, and willingness to do it.

I get a feel for whether a person would help me out if I needed their help, and based on that, and my own diary commitments on that particular day, I can be willing to chat through details for as long as is helpful.

What always strikes me, is how unbelievably grateful people are, to have your specialist time. Perhaps their experience elsewhere is that professionals won’t talk without being paid. I’ve been offered all sorts of gifts, in return for my willingness to connect people up with the right professional. I don’t need any of it though. I just need to feel like that other person is grateful and that they’d help me in my hour of need, whatever their unique skill set.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. At JC Independent Wills & Probate Ltd, we love to talk. We want to understand your situation, so that we can connect you to super specialised professionals who can either really help you, or confirm that they’re not able to help you, either because there’s not a great legal case, or you are not prepared to invest the energy (which is not all financial, but emotional too) into the matter.

If you think you need legal help which requires the input of a specialist, give Jane a ring on 01727 840 240 and I’ll do all I can to help you.