Ask conveyancers what is wrong with the job and many start with the same thing: too many live files. Nobody can tell them what the right number is. That is not because the answer is secret. It is because there is no official one.
What counts as a live file?#
A live file is a matter that is open and still needs work from you. It starts at instruction and stays live through searches, enquiries, contract, exchange and completion. Post-completion tasks, such as stamp duty return and Land Registry registration, keep it open after the client has the keys.
Firms count differently. Some count only files in progress. Others count every open matter, including a sale waiting on a buyer's mortgage offer. A file that has stalled for six weeks still takes up headspace, because someone must decide when to chase.
So the first question to any firm is what it counts. Ask whether stalled files and post-completion files are in the figure. Two firms can both say "70 live files" and mean very different amounts of work.
Why does conveyancing caseload differ so much between jobs?#
Because the work differs. A hundred straightforward remortgages is not the same load as a hundred leasehold sales. The type of file, the chain around it and the support behind you matter more than the headline count.
| Type of work | What tends to take the time | Likely effect on how many files one person can carry |
|---|---|---|
| Residential resale | Chains, buyer and seller delays, mortgage offers, enquiries | Depends heavily on chain length and how quickly the other side responds. |
| New build | Developer paperwork, long timelines, staged completion dates | Files often stay live for a long time, so the count looks high while each day can be lighter. |
| Remortgage and transfer of equity | Fewer parties, shorter timelines | Usually allows a higher count, if volume is steady. |
| Leasehold | Management pack, lease review, freeholder queries | Fewer files are manageable, as each needs more review. |
| Commercial property | Larger documents, negotiation, searches, multiple parties | Much lower file counts, with each file closer to a project. |
The table is our reading of how the work behaves, not a measured ratio. Nobody has published files-per-person figures for each type. If a firm quotes one number without saying which mix of work it covers, it has not answered the question.
Support changes the picture too. An assistant who opens files, chases searches and handles post-completion work gives a fee earner real time back. So does a case management system that raises reminders instead of relying on memory. Our article on what a conveyancer does and what they earn covers the role itself.
Is there an official number of live files?#
No. We looked for one in material from the SRA, the Law Society and the Council for Licensed Conveyancers and did not find one. Our own FAQ says the same.
The SRA did look hard at conveyancing once. Its 2013 thematic study visited 100 firms in 2012 and covered conflicts of interest, referral arrangements, costs information, financial stability, fraud and complaints. We searched the full report for workload and caseload and found no mention of either. It is also thirteen years old.
The SRA's report describes it as a risk-based, outcomes-focused regulator. In practice that leaves the judgement of what is safe with each firm, and leaves you to ask how it judges it. A single number would be tidier. It would also be wrong for many of the firms it applied to.
Adverts are employer wish lists, not measurements. A figure in an advert is a place to start a question, not a benchmark.
What does the published data say about conveyancer workload?#
It says workload is high, but it does not say how many files is too many. The sources measure hours, stress and headcount. None measures live files per person across the sector. Here is what each one covers, with its limits.
17%
of CLC lawyers and managers said they frequently felt unable to cope with workload, and almost two-thirds said they had at least sometimes (Council for Licensed Conveyancers survey of 733 people, 2025)
Legal Futures reporting the CLC Workplace and Diversity Survey 2025
78.7%
of respondents to LawCare's January to March 2025 survey of the legal sector said they work beyond their contracted hours (all of law, not only conveyancing)
45%
of 524 property professionals, 57% of them conveyancers, named reducing the volume of work as something that would cut their stress, the top answer, and 39% named more administration and support staff (Conveyancing Foundation survey, 2023)
Read the CLC result carefully. It covers licensed conveyancers and the people working in CLC-regulated practices, not every conveyancer in England and Wales. Over half of CLC lawyers and managers said they frequently worked beyond contracted hours. Practices mainly managed workload through one-to-one and team meetings. Just under half also reported using capacity planning tools, setting caseload limits and monitoring hours. Satisfaction was high: 72% of lawyers and managers said they were satisfied with their job.
The Conveyancing Foundation result tells you what people wanted: less work and more support. It does not tell you how much work they had.
Two older sources add context on caseload itself. Both come with warnings.
- 201271 cases a year
Cases a year per conveyancer, not live files at one time
- 2016120 cases a year
Up 69% in four years, with conveyancer numbers down 11%
Source: Legal Futures reporting the Search Acumen Conveyancing productivity index 2016, 26 July 2017
That index counted cases handled in a year, not files open at once. It is a vendor index from 2016 and is ten years old. Use it to see the direction of travel in that period, not as a target.
Headcount has moved too. Today's Conveyancer reported in February 2026, on an IRN Legal Reports conveyancing report. It said only 10,724 solicitors were practising in residential conveyancing in England and Wales in January 2026, over 2,000 fewer than at the end of 2021. Legal Futures reported in 2023 that the UK law societies counted 11,226 in October 2023, down 13% on September 2021. The two cover different areas. UK residential transactions also fell, by 15% in 2022 (IRN Legal Reports, via Legal Futures). So fewer people did not simply mean more files each, because volumes moved as well.
Then there is chargeable time. The Law Society's 2025 financial benchmarking survey of 145 firms in England and Wales reported median chargeable hours per fee earner of 773 against a target of 1,100.
- Target1,100 hours
Firms' own target
- Reported median773 hours
145 firms in England and Wales, up from 765 a year earlier
Source: Law Society Financial Benchmarking Survey, published 5 March 2025
That is hours billed across all kinds of firm work, not files. A fee earner can carry many files and still bill little, because chasing and waiting are not chargeable. Hours are an unreliable stand-in for workload.
How do you count your real caseload?#
Open your case management system and count for yourself, using the same rule every time. Do it on a Monday morning and repeat it monthly. One snapshot tells you little. A trend tells you a lot.
Pick a rule
Decide what counts as live and write it down. Include stalled files and post-completion files, but count them separately.
Count by type
Split the total into resale, purchase, remortgage, new build, leasehold and anything else. Fifty mixed files is not fifty of one kind.
Mark the stalled
Note which files have not moved in a fortnight and why: the other side, the lender, the client, or you.
Note the support
Write down who helps on these files, and how many hours a week.
Compare
Put today's count next to last quarter's and next to the figure you were given when you joined.
If you manage a team, do this for each fee earner, not as an average. An average of 70 can hide one person on 40 and another on 110.
Keep one more number: the hours you work. If your caseload feels fine but you are doing evenings every week, it is not fine.
On this siteConveyancing roles with the pay shownEvery advert shows the pay or earnings basis, the working pattern and the date, so you can compare roles before you ask about files.See current rolesWhat should you ask a firm about live files?#
Ask five things, and ask for numbers. Interviews are two-way. A firm that is proud of its set-up will answer in detail, and one that is stretched will answer in adjectives.
How many live files does each fee earner carry, and how has it changed in a year?
YesA number and a trend, for example "about the same as last year". That is a firm that tracks it.
NoA phrase such as "busy but manageable". Ask again, and treat a second dodge as the answer.
Is there an assistant or file handler on these files?
YesAsk who opens files, chases searches and does post-completion work. A named person is a good sign.
NoIf you will do it all yourself, ask what the count assumes about your time.
Which case management system, and who built the reminders?
YesA named system and a person who owns it. Ask for a short demonstration.
NoIf files are tracked in spreadsheets, ask how stalled files are spotted.
What happens at peak times?
YesA plan: overflow cover, a resourcing review or a freeze on new instructions.
No"Everyone pulls together" is not a plan. Ask what the last peak looked like.
Who covers your files during holiday or sickness?
YesA named colleague and a handover habit.
NoNobody. Ask whether you would return to a pile.
Our guide to how to read a legal job advert lists the phrases that usually sit in front of a heavy caseload. If you are early in your career, also read how to check supervision before your first law job. Supervision and caseload usually fail together.
The same questions apply in every city, from Manchester and London to Liverpool, Birmingham and Preston. See the locations page. The salary guide shows what is being paid. Caseload should be weighed against pay, not traded for it blindly.
What should a firm track to keep caseloads sustainable?#
Track files per fee earner by type, stalled files, hours worked and support levels. Then look at them monthly. Completions alone hide the strain until somebody resigns.
Tends to lower it
- Everything done by the fee earner alone
- Reminders kept in diaries and memory
- Mixed files, leasehold and chain-dependent sales
- Long chains and slow lenders
- Supervision that arrives "when someone is free"
- Holiday cover decided on the day
- New files accepted without checking who has room
Tends to raise what one person can carry
- A named assistant for opening files, chasing and post-completion.
- Case management software with reminders that people trust.
- Steady, similar files such as straightforward remortgages.
- Short chains and responsive other-side firms.
- Clear supervision and a named person to ask.
- Cover arranged before holidays.
- Instructions paced against capacity.
The labels are qualitative on purpose. No published study gives a factor a number. If you need figures, build your own from your own data.
Watch stalled files. A stalled file usually means someone had no time to chase it. If they are rising, caseload is already too high, whatever the count says.
Also write the caseload expectation into the role. Our guide on how to write a conveyancer job advert suggests stating the rough number of live files and whether the work is high volume or fewer, larger matters. A candidate who knows the number on day one will not be surprised by day ninety.
What does an overloaded caseload cost?#
It costs the files that go wrong and the people who leave. Both are expensive and both arrive late. By the time you see a resignation, the decision is weeks old.
Our guide on how to keep conveyancers from leaving explains why caseload that crept up is one of the usual reasons. It also shows an old legal-sector study, from 2014, on the cost of replacing a legal employee. That figure is out of date, so use your own numbers.
The bad hire calculator lets you put in your salary, your hourly rate and months in post, and shows every line of the sum with its source. Nothing you type is sent or stored. It is a better guide than any rule of thumb.
The cost to the person is real too. LawCare's 2025 survey found 56.2% of respondents could see themselves leaving their current workplace within five years. That covers the whole legal sector and says nothing about cause.
A checklist before you accept a caseload#
Use this list as an employee, and as a firm checking its own set-up.
If you are a conveyancer weighing a move, the 20-minute confidential screening call is free to you. A named person looks after you, and no CV goes to a firm without your say so. If you run a team, the first four items on the checklist cost nothing and are worth doing before you call anyone.
Sources
- Legal Futures: CLC practices offer good but busy workplaces (CLC Workplace and Diversity Survey 2025, reported 1 June 2026)
- LawCare: Life in the Law 2025
- Law Society: Financial Benchmarking Survey 2025 (published 5 March 2025)
- Legal Futures: Survey, conveyancer numbers fall while caseloads and efficiency grow (Search Acumen index, 26 July 2017)
- Legal Futures: Number of conveyancing solicitors slumps as market contracts (28 November 2023; headcount from the UK law societies, transactions from IRN Legal Reports)
- Legal Futures: Conveyancers positive about mental health despite high stress levels (Conveyancing Foundation Wellbeing at Work, 11 August 2023)
- SRA: Conveyancing thematic study, full report (March 2013)
- Today's Conveyancer: coverage of the IRN Legal Reports conveyancing report (19 February 2026)
This is general information, not legal advice. Where a figure comes from another organisation, the source is above, and we say when it is dated.