FOLLOW-UP INTERVIEWS

Once the various responses had been received, a series of follow-up interviews with the respondents took place in March and April 1998. Some firms declined to participate further, saying that they did not feel able to assist beyond the answers contained in their questionnaires.

Again, it can be seen that the response rate amongst the 10 largest firms was notably high. This meant that I could be reasonably confident that I was able to secure an accurate portrayal of the way in which these very large firms viewed and responded to conflicts. As not so many of the medium/smaller firms were interviewed in proportion to the number in the group, I was less confident of the representativeness of the findings from those interviews. More interviews with these medium-sized firms would undoubtedly have been helpful, particularly when it came to establishing differences between them and the large City firms.

Eight interviews were conducted face to face, the other nine being conducted over the telephone. In the latter case an appointment was arranged beforehand to ensure that a time was reserved to prevent interruptions.

Of the interviews conducted, 12 were with managing/senior partners, three were with partners, and two were with assistant solicitors. It was found that the more senior the person interviewed, the more they knew about the firm’s over­all approach to conflicts and the less their replies related solely to their own experiences. Interviews were semi-structured, with questions exploring, in fur­ther detail, answers given in questionnaires. Conversations were allowed to flow freely, with new avenues of interest being pursued as and when they arose.

On average, interviews lasted between 20 minutes and one hour. Those con­ducted over the telephone tended to be shorter. All interviews were tape recorded with the permission of the interviewee.