Stressed solicitors have been phoning support groups in record numbers following the worst weeks of the financial crisis, the Gazette has learned.

The three biggest groups – LawCare, the Solicitors Assistance Scheme (SAS) and Solicitors Benevolent Association (SBA) – all reported a huge spike in calls from solicitors worried about redundancy, trainees who had training contracts cancelled and sole practitioners struggling to stay afloat.

LawCare said that, since the start of September, more than one in four calls to the charity could be directly attributed to the downturn – compared with 5% of calls between January and March. It has already opened 409 case files – 35% more than in the whole of 2007.

The SAS reported a 750% increase in the number of calls it received in September, from 51 last year to 442 this year. SAS scheme administrator Duncan Finlyson said around six calls a day came from legal staff being made redundant – including many trainees – and five calls a week came from firms facing closure or with debt problems.

The SBA reported a 25% increase in calls in the last three months compared with 2007 – including the highest number of enquiries in a single month for the last six years. Around a third of enquiries related to debt and job loss, which the charity said was ‘quite high considering the SBA helps people through illness and bereavement’.

Finlyson said: ‘It is getting desperate out on the high street. Reputable firms that have existed for decades are finding they cannot keep going. The worst part is that some firms are using the current crisis to get rid of people they don’t want rather than the ones who are genuinely redundant. Some are even inventing disciplinary issues rather than paying staff redundancy payments.’

SBA chief executive Adrian Rees said the recession was a ‘double whammy’ for the SBA because calls for help would increase, while income from investments would decrease.

The news came as a survey of 102 law firms – mainly in the top 100 – suggested business confidence had plummeted, especially in the regions.

According to research carried out for financial advisors Smith & Williamson, half of firms have a positive business outlook for the next 12 months, compared with 98% in 2007, with greater pessimism outside London.