Should a transaction coordinator email the client directly, or route everything through the agent?

When bringing on a transaction coordinator for the first time, a common intake question is whether the coordinator should be introduced to the client as part of the team, with direct email and text access, or stay behind the agent so every document request routes through the agent's inbox. The case for direct access: the whole point of hiring a TC is to stop being the bottleneck. If the coordinator has to ask the agent to ask the client for something like a wire confirmation, that has bought a middleman instead of relief, and deadlines slip. The case for routing through the agent: the client hired the agent specifically. A badly worded reminder from a coordinator about a disclosure the buyer has not read yet can generate a panicked call to the agent, who has then lost control of the tone of their own file. Brokerage rules also vary on who can communicate what, and the line between administrative work and licensed activity differs by state, so whether an unlicensed coordinator can discuss substance directly with a client is worth checking locally before deciding. Both models work in practice. The right choice usually depends on how much the agent trusts the coordinator's judgment on tone and on what the local licensing rules actually allow.