Social media: Source of threats
The level of threats, intimidation and even physical violence faced by solicitors has “significantly increased” and extends across a wide range of practice areas, the Law Society has warned.
Threats against solicitors were not isolated incidents, it said. “They are systemic and rising… Abuse, aggression and intimidation towards solicitors is alarmingly commonplace.”
More than a quarter (27%) of respondents to a survey reported that they had personally received threats or abuse in the last 12 months, with a further 22% saying they were sent to their firm/organisation.
“These threats were linked to current or recent cases, or to national media or public events,” the society said.
“Solicitors have reported a steady rise in the level of threats they have experienced over the past three to four years. Almost two in five (38%) of the respondents feel that there is a threat to their personal safety because of their chosen profession.”
This concern was even higher among those working in criminal law (68%), social welfare law (58%), and dispute resolution, advocacy, or litigation (57%).
A quarter of those working in criminal law had received physical threats or actual harm, the majority of them in and around a court building.
A solicitor working in social welfare said: “I have been threatened to have my house set on fire, my family harmed and also told they hoped I got cancer and suffered an awful death,” while another lawyer told of a “threat to travel to our office and burn it down”.
A property solicitor faced a “threat of physical violence by a client who waited in the firm car park”, while a witness “jumped out of the witness box and across the front bench to try to attack” a solicitor in a childcare hearing.
With solicitors highlighting a range of negative impacts on their wellbeing and ability to perform their work – as well as on their businesses – one in eight (13%) reported having considered leaving the profession.
This was higher among female solicitors, those from minority backgrounds, and early and mid-career solicitors.
The report published today followed the summer 2024 riots, when 39 law firms and immigration advice organisations were specifically targeted. It was based on a survey, put out in August, that garnered 286 responses.
Most threats reported by respondents were made by email, verbally or on social media, although some people combined the three and also made threats made to family members.
“Threats also included damage to personal property such as cars. In several cases respondents reported that they were being harassed and stalked while receiving written threats.
“A combination of threats also included solicitors being maliciously and improperly reported to the Solicitor Regulation Authority and the Legal Ombudsman.”
Opposing clients were the most common source of threat (37%), followed by former and current clients (both 27%) and members of the public (26%).
Nearly 60% of respondents who had experienced threats said their employer had implemented measures to protect staff, ranging from cybersecurity measures and the introduction of a no lone-worker policy to the use of thumb print scanners for building access and employee training on security protocols.
But a fifth said their firm had taken no action, while nearly half of those who had been threatened reported not taking any personal safety or security measures.
The report said: “This could be because attacks on solicitors at home are rare; however, there may be a benefit from adopting security measures related to social media, national media, and other public-facing activities,” the report said.
But these people also thought firms could do much more to support staff in managing threats, particularly by providing enhanced training, improving protocols for recording incidents, and ensuring access to mental health support.
Allowing staff to work remotely more often was a particularly popular request among newer solicitors.
Solicitors saw a role for the Law Society in supporting solicitors, such as by engaging in advocacy to improve public and political understanding of the profession and providing guidance on best practice for safety and threat management.
Law Society president Mark Evans said: “If solicitors cannot go about providing a valuable service to the public without fear of being targeted, we are all harmed.
“We will continue to speak out against damaging rhetoric, to increase understanding of our members’ crucial work benefitting society and the economy, and to strengthen the support we provide to solicitors under threat.
“We are also calling on the government to ratify the new [Council of Europe] Convention for the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer to demonstrate its support.”
Last December, a man who planned a terrorist attack at a London law firm and made a threat to kill an immigration solicitor was sentenced to an indeterminate hospital order.
See also this blog from last year: How the Oldham community helped my law firm against rioters.
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