The joke is over

whathavewedone

I bet you think you have to hound your solicitor 24/7 or they'll just forget to do their job and then at the end you'll complain about the bill (expensive due to having to take 20 telephone calls a day from you demanding to know what's happened since you went to the toilet 5 minutes ago followed by an email confirming our telephone conversation which demands an immediate response etc etc etc).

hethmar

Ewarwoowar2 wrote: »

I agree with the post above. Many people are critical of lawyers until they need one.

Im afraid we have never needed one til the last few years and have been horrified how incredibly incompetent, lazy and indeed stupid the firm we have been dealing with is. Basic mistakes are made every time a letter is sent - we have asked to see each letter before they send it and when we dont (because they stupidly send it off without showing us) it has mistakes all over it, not only spelling and grammar (!!) but at one point we were sueing ourselves according to them!

When we complained to the "team leader" we had the quickest, longest, most well typed letter back we had received from the firm telling us she had reviewed the case and could find no justification for complaints. pmsl. The next day her team sent a letter meant for us to the other side!

In Feb we went to a Hearing - the Judge ordered our solicitor to do a draft letter for the other side to approve and then send it to a contractor for a quotation. Our Barrister told us the solicitor would draft the letter, let us see it and then send it for approval of the other side. 21 days later and we hadnt received a draft, despite 4 phone calls. I then sent an urgent email asking where this letter was - got an email back with a copy of the letter "sent today" and blow me, they had put the wrong details in it, even the heading referred to a different type of claim to that we were making. Absolutely useless.

And before you ask why we have continued with them - after the first few weeks of our case we were told we could use our legal insurance - unfortunately you have no choice of solicitor with the insurance, just the one the insurer gives you. AND yes, we did tell the solicitors we were complaining about lack of action to the insurer. In the hour that we managed to contact the insurer, the solicitor had done more than he had done in the previous month, had then rung the insurer and told them we were complaining needlessly.

It has made me realise how multi million pound cases can be thrown out of court because of silly mistakes now.

Disgusting - hope this crash will sort out the rubbish ones - they wouldnt last a minute in a commercial enterprise.

There is a website called "Solicitors from hell" and we shall be adding these guys.

whathavewedone

That does sound rubbish and sloppy, however unless the mistakes made have actually cost your money (ie they missed a court date to defend an action which meant you got a judgment entered against you necessitating an application to set aside - that would clearly be a case for the solicitors to bear the costs associated with putting the error right) you are not entitled to demand some money back.

Legal insurance isn't all it's cracked up to be. The firm work for the insurer first and foremost. The insurers want them to do the bare minimum that they need to do to handle the case for cost purposes in case they end up losing. This could be the reason why things aren't checked as well as they could be and also why letters aren't responded to immediately etc. The insurance company also come to a deal with them on fees so they are usually working quite cheaply.

If their incompetence is threatening the success of the case I would complain to your insurance co. The last thing the solicitors will want is to be taken off the panel. Don't expect your insurance co to care about you not being kept updated as often as you would like - they will probably be pleased as it means at the end their bill will be smaller if you lose and they have to reimburse you!

hethmar

The poin tis they have said they have spent £17k so far - our claim is for £1500 !!! We wish we had never involved them to be truthful. Now the pot for the insurance is depleting and this we feel is due to 8! yes 8! different case handlers who start all over again.

whathavewedone

Like I said, legal insurance isn't all that great. You don't have the same control over the situation that you would have if you could instruct whoever you wanted to handle your case. Obviously on the plus side you know you don't have to pay for anything up to the limit set by the insurers. Try to keep your calls/letters etc to a minimum - difficult I know but what will happen is that when it gets near to the limit the insurers' costs draftsman will look at the files in conjunction with the billing guide and if they think that a disproportionate amount of time has been spent keeping you up to date they will not extend their limit and you will have to foot the bill for anything that happens on your case after that point.

In any event, you can't judge a whole profession on the basis of one bad experience. Judge that firm if you will but not all lawyers. There are some very professional lawyers and firms out there who take a great deal of pride in their work and the service they provide.

I have met some solicitors who have had personal injury claims dealt with by firms appointed by insurance companies who have moaned and complained about the service they received saying they would be sacked within a week if they delivered a similar service. They did get their cheques in the end. Just took a while, that's all.

hethmar

Sadly, it seems very common to hear people with complaints about their solicitors. I think the lay person is in general fearful of complaining/questioning.

Ewarwoowar2

hethmar wrote: »

Sadly, it seems very common to hear people with complaints about their solicitors. I think the lay person is in general fearful of complaining/questioning.

It's mainly because when law firms act for an individual, in general, the individual gets the worst service. This is because of the way individuals fund claims, conveyancing, legal advice, etc..

The main ways are either legal aid or through an insurance policy. In both these situations the funder (the Govt. or the insurer) absolutely screws the solicitor about what they can charge/the level of their fees. Too many call to the individual, the insurer won't pay. Too much time spent considering the file; the insurer won't pay.

It results in the solicitor having to take on (in some instances) hundreds of claims just to make a profit. The same is true for conveyancing, due to the high competition between conveyancing firms.

Most of the solicitors that the public deal with (crime, property, motor insurance specialists) are not well paid. In fact, most of the people that individuals deal with at law firms aren't solicitors at all. They are paralegals.

The pressure on solicitors/paralegals results in mistakes and a general lack of client care.

Very good service is usually reserved for private companies or public sector organisations who are wiling to pay for a Rolls Royce service.

In general, like most things in life, with law firms, you get what you pay for.

whathavewedone

To bring this back to topic, Linklaters employ thousands of staff in London alone (they also have a number of international offices). 200 staff is a drop in the ocean compared to the amount of people they employ.

econo_2

Ewarwoowar2 wrote: »

I agree with the post above. Many people are critical of lawyers until they need one.

Yes, and then their still critical until they no longer do need them and for months or years after that.:j

not_loaded

In general, like most things in life, with law firms, you get what you pay for.

ROTFLMAO! No way is that our experience. We’ve had to use solicitors/lawyers six times in thirty or so years.

Only one of those was what I would call professional, honest and efficient. Over the years, it hasn’t got any better or any worse. These people have a knack of knowing exactly how to extract money and how to get away with it. I assume it’s part of the training.

Sadly, it seems very common to hear people with complaints about their solicitors. I think the lay person is in general fearful of complaining/questioning.

Yup. Someone posted saying ‘you can always complain to the Law Society’. Unfortunately that is one HUGE waste of time. You get assigned a lawyer/solicitor who nitpicks all the detail, looks promising at the beginning, and then sides with the practice.

We’ve done it twice and had it thrown back in our face twice. On one of those occasions, the poor solicitor complained to the assigned solicitor that we were ‘aggressive’ customers, because after fifteen months we wrote him a letter insisting he complete the job. He initially quoted maximum 3 months to do the job and took two years and 3 months!

In what other profession would that apathetic approach be tolerated?