Personnel matters 'not for lawyers'A human resources consultancy is urging companies to use employment lawyers when they need advice on employment law - but not when they have general personnel questions.

More than half of the 300 small to medium-sized companies surveyed by First People regularly use solicitors to handle non-legal employment questions.Its head of legal, John Taylor, who left private practice at eight-partner Portsmouth firm Sherwin Oliver in January, said: 'I was getting a lot of phone calls that I didn't want to deal with - they weren't employment law questions, they were personnel questions.' He said employment lawyers are frequently asked about appraisals, interviews, recruitment technique and selection.

He said: 'I was stunned when someone asked me how to fill in a P45.

You try sending a bill to the client for that sort of advice.'He added: 'Lawyers are bloody awful employers.

They think they know employment law, but they don't put it into practice.'John McMullen, national head of employment law at Pinsent Curtis, conceded that there was 'some truth' in the suggestion that companies should use employment lawyers for legal and not human resources advice.

He said his firm had made use of this type of question by providing human resources consultancy services.

Other major law firms have also set up similar consultancies.Anne Mizzi