Complaining about solicitors fees

squashy

I am really unhappy with probate services I recieved from a solicitor. This was to handle my husnabnd's deceased grandmother's property and transfer it to my husband's name, as we have been looking after and living in the house for some years.

My main complaint is the cost- he gave us a verbal estimate at our first meeting of "£500, give or take, as it is quite a straightforward matter", plus land registry fees etc. We paid £250 upfront as a part/half payment. However the final bill came to £1858.13!! The solicitors never gave us a written quote, except for a standard letter explaining that work was chargeable on an hourly basis. They also never updated us on fees, so we had no reason to assume it would be a great deal more than £5-600 (we were aware there there were one or two hiccups along the way, and that it did drag out a little, but were shocked to learn that thsi was £1300 worth of work!).

It did feel that most of the work was not in the form of advice as such but middleman work, asking us for documents which were to be sent to the land registry and other such to-ing and fro-ing. So we are angry about how the costs have been worked out as well as the absence of any updates re the fees.

There are other minor complaints, such as the fact that we never recieved any letter to say that the land and property had been successfully re-registered, it was only from checking with the LR ourselves we saw it had. However, 2 weeks after we checked, we got another letter from the solicitors saying the LR required yet more documentation!? They also charged us for LR fees, when at the time they had asked us to send a cheque to them directly, which we had done.

We contacted the law society, asking what we should do. They advised us to write to them, which we did in November, 2 weeks after recieving the bill. This was to set out our complaint and give them chance to resolve matters. They did not reply so we asked them to apply for a remuneration certificate via the law society so the fees could be assessed by them.

This week (ie nearly 3 months after we wrote to them!!) we recieved a letter back from the solicitor that dealt with our case, apologising for the delay as the complaints officer had been very ill. He addressed some of the issues but he denied setting an estimated fee (even though my mother-in law AND husband both comfirm that he did as they were both in the office at the time). He offered to reduce the bill by £500 as a goodwill gesture, plus knock off £50 in respect of the incorrectly billed LR fees (which made no sense as they have billed us £70 for LR fees!). There was no mention of the remuneration certificate that we had asked for.

I really feel we have a strong case for complaint. It has caused my Mother in Law considerable upset, she is clinially depressed and seeing a phsychiatrist at the moment and the worry of all this is exacerbating things, even though we have said we will try and find the money. There was no other capital, eg bank accounts, from which to pay the fees. We had managed to get £600 over time (I used my open university grant!!) but really dont have any more money.

I am unsure whether to pursue this complaint and try and get the bill lowered even more ie by rejecting the goodwill offer and taking the formal route through the law society. Regardless of how much i think they have ripped us off, I feel the solicitor and the firm have acted VERY unprofessionally throughout, even now as the solicior himself has dealt with the complaint and not the firm's complaints officer. His incompetence is demonstated by the fact he has not even adjusted the bill by the correct amount for the LR fees.

I would love to hear from anyone who has had experience of applying for Remunaration Certificates or complaining about solicitors, any comments or advice at all gratefully recieved.

Loretta

I made a complaint to the Law Society about a solicitor and I am afraid that if you do that it will be an eye opener, I am sure that you think that the Law Society is there to deal with complaints and make sure that solicitors do what they are supposed to do and to follow the rules that the Law Society itself laid down. You would be wrong. The Law Society is there to get solicitors out of any trouble they get themselves into either by being incompetant or downright criminal and everything in between and solicitors know this which is why they behave the way they do.

My solicitor received a prison sentence for supplying a class A drug, heroin, to a client. He had a closed visit to his client in a cell and took in a syringe of heroin into his client who used it and was caught taking the empty syringe, hidden in his sock, back out again. He had at least 2 previous upheld disciplinary hearings with the Law Society for offences including difficulties with client's money ie using money in his client's account for his own use.

When he was convicted of the drug offence his name was removed from the Roll and his practicsing certificate was taken away, which means he is not allowed to act as a solicitor or claim to be one. For the 2 years and 4 months after he was struck off, after conviction and waiting to be sentenced, he continued to work for the same firm, illegally, right up until a few hours before he was sent to prison. During that time he took on cases and handled clients money etc. The firm supported him in these actions. I asked them to deal with my affairs after being diagnosed with breast cancer. After this firm of solicitor's 'help' I lost my home of 32 years and my business.

I have received terrible treatment by this firm who have tried to damage my reputation after I made this complaint and the Law Society are not really interested despite this firm of solicitor's reputation being already shot to pieces after the huge amount of publicity surrounding the behaviour of their employee

I complained to the Law Society, I waited nearly 2 years on a waiting list, for my complaint to be assigned to someone to look into it. Each time I phoned to see what progress had been made I was asked if I was sure I wanted to pursue this complaint. After over 2 years someone was assigned to look into my complaint and after yet another 2 years it is still being looked at. The average length of time taken between them telling me what they are going to do next and actually writing a letter to this firm of solicitors is 6 months. During this time the solicitor has completed his sentence and is back out again, maybe even back working for the original firm while stil struck off, who knows?

I have nothing else to lose and I feel that because of the arrogance and really dreadful treatment I have received from this firm of solicitors I feel I have a duty to make sure they do not get a chance to do the same to someone else, but I must say I was expecting the Law Society to do something.

If they are reluctant to deal with a case like mine I am sure you will have enormous difficulty arguing about the size of an invoice, they make it hard for you, but be prepared for obstacles to be put in your way by the very people you thought would help.

If you 'google' rogue solicitor, or solicitor on drug charge, or solicitor caught supplying drugs to prisoner/client/lover you will find that what I have said, however fanciful it sounds, is true

I wish you the best of luck and would be interested to hear how you get on

Bossyboots

Loretta wrote:

I made a complaint to the Law Society about a solicitor and I am afraid that if you do that it will be an eye opener, I am sure that you think that the Law Society is there to deal with complaints and make sure that solicitors do what they are supposed to do and to follow the rules that the Law Society itself laid down. You would be wrong. The Law Society is there to get solicitors out of any trouble they get themselves into either by being incompetant or downright criminal and everything in between and solicitors know this which is why they behave the way they do.

The whole system is changing so that the Law Society is there for solicitors and the Solicitors Regulatory Authority will be there to handle complaints. This takes out the conflict of the professional body which is supposed to work for solicitors, also dealing with disciplining them.

Contrary to what you say, the Law Society does deal harshly with breaches of professional conduct although it is true that they are more likely to react to the issues raised in the OP's post than some of the more serious breaches. I guess the clear up rate on the accounting and client care issues are faster and thus the statistics on satisfaction look better.

Things have improved and are improving. I have posted on the other thread started by the OP what the main complaints are here. Perhaps they could ask for the threads to be merged as otherwise it could get confusing.

groatie_queen

Hi, sorry I can't really help, but just to let you know that my sister is applying for a remuneration certificate re our father's estate, we have been charged a huge amount (vat brings total to over £17,000) for an estate below the inheritance tax threshold of two years ago. This solicitor was also incompetent and made loads of very elementary accounting 'mistakes', and then charged us for the time taken to put the mistakes right - nice way to inflate the bill . Now that the Law Society are involved he too has made us an offer - obviously standard practice when these gougers are challenged with a remuneration certificate application!

BTW, this solicitor is in the south of England. I think he thought he could get away with it because I and my sister live in Scotland, and my brothers live abroad. There must be many people who are so burdened with grief / don't know the system / can't see through the smoke and mirrors tricks / live abroad or too far away to be able to make sense of it all. I would like to think there are some decent solicitors, but this one is not one of them!

The one bit of news I can give you is that the solicitor cannot charge you for the work involved in producing the remuneration certificate. That must really hack them off! And is a good form of revenge in itself!!:mad:

I am revising my will, I had previously thought it would be best to have a solicitor as executor but this experience has convinced me otherwise. Jarndyce & Jarndyce will not have their cut!

alyth

squashy, you have my absolute sympathy! I can't offer any practical advice other than to echo what Loretta has said about solicitors will always stick together, the Law Society is of course run by lawyers and they always try and back each other up. I know in the companies I have worked for, there's a partner allocated to deal with complaints from clients, but if anyone ever complained about a bill they used to perhaps knock off £50 and to my knowledge no-one ever made further complaint, they just paid up. Private Client was the area I worked in, and I know that no-one was ever given an update on what their fees were unless they asked. The standard letter is all they are required to give to you under Law Society regulations. Perhaps a cautionary tale for others?

jazzyjustlaw

groatie_queen wrote:

Hi, sorry I can't really help, but just to let you know that my sister is applying for a remuneration certificate re our father's estate, we have been charged a huge amount (vat brings total to over £17,000) for an estate below the inheritance tax threshold of two years ago. This solicitor was also incompetent and made loads of very elementary accounting 'mistakes', and then charged us for the time taken to put the mistakes right - nice way to inflate the bill . Now that the Law Society are involved he too has made us an offer - obviously standard practice when these gougers are challenged with a remuneration certificate application!

BTW, this solicitor is in the south of England. I think he thought he could get away with it because I and my sister live in Scotland, and my brothers live abroad. There must be many people who are so burdened with grief / don't know the system / can't see through the smoke and mirrors tricks / live abroad or too far away to be able to make sense of it all. I would like to think there are some decent solicitors, but this one is not one of them!

The one bit of news I can give you is that the solicitor cannot charge you for the work involved in producing the remuneration certificate. That must really hack them off! And is a good form of revenge in itself!!:mad:

I am revising my will, I had previously thought it would be best to have a solicitor as executor but this experience has convinced me otherwise. Jarndyce & Jarndyce will not have their cut!

Wish you could tell me who this was!!

Loretta

Bossyboots wrote:

The whole system is changing so that the Law Society is there for solicitors and the Solicitors Regulatory Authority will be there to handle complaints. This takes out the conflict of the professional body which is supposed to work for solicitors, also dealing with disciplining them.

Contrary to what you say, the Law Society does deal harshly with breaches of professional conduct although it is true that they are more likely to react to the issues raised in the OP's post than some of the more serious breaches. I guess the clear up rate on the accounting and client care issues are faster and thus the statistics on satisfaction look better.

Things have improved and are improving. I have posted on the other thread started by the OP what the main complaints are here. Perhaps they could ask for the threads to be merged as otherwise it could get confusing.

The Law Society themselves, struck off this solicitor, eventually, but have failed to look into why this solicitor just carried on working for so long afterwards. This solicitor knew he would get a prison sentence and any reasonable person realise that a solicitor in this position, still handling client's money, would have nothing to lose

The Law Society have shown very little interest in why his firm just carried on as if nothing had happened. I understand that it is as much an offence for the firm to carry on employing him in these circumstances as it is for the individual solicitor to do it. The Law Society's own rules are that the senior partner himself would be struck off in these circumstances. It is a very serious breach of the rules. The senior partner must be very confident that the Law Society will back him up to do what he has done so publicly and without any concern of the threat to his reputation and career.

Loretta

groatie_queen wrote:

Hi, sorry I can't really help, but just to let you know that my sister is applying for a remuneration certificate re our father's estate, we have been charged a huge amount (vat brings total to over £17,000) for an estate below the inheritance tax threshold of two years ago. This solicitor was also incompetent and made loads of very elementary accounting 'mistakes', and then charged us for the time taken to put the mistakes right - nice way to inflate the bill . Now that the Law Society are involved he too has made us an offer - obviously standard practice when these gougers are challenged with a remuneration certificate application!

BTW, this solicitor is in the south of England. I think he thought he could get away with it because I and my sister live in Scotland, and my brothers live abroad. There must be many people who are so burdened with grief / don't know the system / can't see through the smoke and mirrors tricks / live abroad or too far away to be able to make sense of it all. I would like to think there are some decent solicitors, but this one is not one of them!

The one bit of news I can give you is that the solicitor cannot charge you for the work involved in producing the remuneration certificate. That must really hack them off! And is a good form of revenge in itself!!:mad:

I am revising my will, I had previously thought it would be best to have a solicitor as executor but this experience has convinced me otherwise. Jarndyce & Jarndyce will not have their cut!

Mine is in the South iof England too, I don't expect it is the same firm I exp-ect they all do this sort of thing!

jazzyjustlaw

Loretta wrote:

Mine is in the South iof England too, I don't expect it is the same firm I exp-ect they all do this sort of thing!

I find that prejudiced. The firm I work at do Public Funding - many firms dont now. In our department we keep our clients informed of costs. I went into the job to help people.

groatie_queen

I know jazzyjustlaw, that it must be very depressing for decent solicitors to hear how the less honourable members of the profession are giving it a bad name. I just wish that my father had done a bit more research and had indeed gone for a firm that showed some ethical standards.

RibenaBerry_2

You have my sympathies. I would write back and say that you are still not happpy. Ask for a further reduction and say that you're still following up with the law society. It's normally worth their while agreeing rather than spending the money trying to recover on a disputed invoice. The lesson (I know, easy to be wise in hindsight) is to ask for any estimate in writing.

One thing I would say, in the solicitors' defence, is that it is a common misapprehension that they only bill for 'advice'. If a solicitor has to spend time, for example, collating documents that you have provided and sending them on, that is still billable time. It is still time that he has spent dealing with your matter. That doesn't change the fact that they should have kept you updated on fees as the matter progressed though. Then you would have been able to take a decision whether you wanted to try and take on some of the admin yourself (or, at the very least, would have understood how things were spiralling).

Hope you get it sorted.