From 'quick questions' to 'FOR ACTION' — Delving into a general counsel's inbox

Joshua King hears from in-house solicitors from across Scotland about what's filling up their inboxes from the good, to the bad and the plain ugly.

Just how much of your day is spent in your inbox - drafting, sending, reading and replying to emails? If you're anything like me, your inbox has become a beast which seems to forever need feeding.

Research from One Poll and Slack a few years ago concluded that professionals in the UK and USA spend on average 11 hours every week in their inbox. That is, accounting for annual leave, around 20 full days of email management every year. 

For those of you in private practice, you will have typically two types of emails - those from clients outside the firm, and those from colleagues inside the firm.

But what if there was no distinction - no boundary? If the same people who emailed about HR matters, staff updates, pay and benefits were also your clients contacting you for urgent contract input, questions to be answered and advice sought?

We asked solicitors from across the in-house spectrum for examples of typical emails and messages which land in their inbox every day. Their responses revealed the complex balancing act working with internal clients and stakeholders demands

What does a general counsel's inbox look like?

Some examples of the emails which come in every day

• “Quick question” - it almost never is! In fact, it can become a very time consuming item because your stakeholder may have only given you information in breadcrumbs and you have to dig deeper to find out more.
• A typical request I will receive is “Do you have 5 mins for a quick chat” – spoiler: it never does take 5 minutes!
• RE: URGENT advice required within next couple of hours….FOR ACTION!
• “I just need this cleared by 10 today so I can publish on the website.”
• “We need to respond to this writ /parliamentary question/Minister by close of play today” (or some other unrealistic timescale)
• “This should be quite straightforward – can you just have a quick once over so we can publish the funding call by close today” – N.B. it never is just straightforward!