Can my solicitor do this?

Cloudy9

Hi, We are currently in a dispute with our neighbours about a right of way that they have blocked. We have a solicitor, and he is in the process of moving companies at the moment and he has just emailed us a letter to say that his new company don't want to take on the case as we have a conditional fee agreement and they say the law has changed since April and they don't want to know, now he want's paying. What we need advice on is can he do this? Surly if we signed an agreement he either has to see it out to the end? We feel completely stuck and out of our depth.

wealdroam

Cloudy9 wrote: »

Hi, We are currently in a dispute with our neighbours about a right of way that they have blocked. We have a solicitor, and he is in the process of moving companies at the moment and he has just emailed us a letter to say that his new company don't want to take on the case as we have a conditional fee agreement and they say the law has changed since April and they don't want to know, now he want's paying. What we need advice on is can he do this? Surly if we signed an agreement he either has to see it out to the end? We feel completely stuck and out of our depth.

But isn't your agreement with the company this solicitor is moving from, not with the specific individual?

Surely a very similar situation occurs every time an employee leaves one company to join another.

As an example, how would you cope if your doctor moved to a practice fifty miles away?
Do you follow the doctor or stay with your current surgery?

cardinalbiggles

Presumably the company will assign a new solicitor to you, no?

Cloudy9

Thanks for your replies, He is a partner in a solicitors firm, this firm is closing down.
I'm looking at the agreement we signed and there is nothing on there to say what happens if the company closes.

Hintza

If he hasn't done the work, I would argue he is in breach of contract. If he has done some work and that can be passed on (ie not requiring re-doing) then he should probably be paid a proportion.

Might need to go to the law society on this, but tread warily there too.

browneyedbazzi

You can either accept the new terms and contract him/his new firm to work for you or walk away and find someone else to take the case on terms you agree with them.

Is he asking for payment for work done to date or to carry on with the work??

Cloudy9

I presume he is asking for payment on work done, but he is saying that because of a change in the law (that happened in April) He thinks it's doubtful another solicitor will take it on on a no win no fee agreement, he knew we couldn't afford to do this any other way.
We are seeing a mediator with our neighbours soon and he thinks we should settle it there and just try and get some sort of settlement out of it there and pay him out of that. All sounds good as long as it goes well but if it doesn't we will have to pay him out of our own pockets!?!

Dimey

Sounds like he wants you to finish the case quickly so he's out of his obligation to your agreement.

I suggest you phone the Law Society to ask their advice.

Did he sign your agreement as an individual solicitor? In which case he might have to honour the agreement in his own time. If he signed on behalf of his company and the company has closed then he may have a get-out but the Law Society might be able to assign another firm to finish the agreement.

Its true that the law did change re no win- no fee but it didn't apply to existing agreements did it? So your agreement should still be valid. Wouldn't the issue really be the closure of the practice and who takes over the agreement?

ValHaller

Conditional fee? No win no fee? He has not won so no fee is due?

zzzLazyDaisy

Your contract is with the firm, rather than the individual solicitor (or rather to be precise it is probably with the individual partners in the firm as many solicitors practices are partnerships rather than limited companies) I suggest that you contact the law society. Normally when a solicitor's firm ceases trading, the law society allocate live files to other firms in the area.

cookie365

Cloudy9 wrote: »

Hi, We are currently in a dispute with our neighbours about a right of way that they have blocked. We have a solicitor, and he is in the process of moving companies at the moment and he has just emailed us a letter to say that his new company don't want to take on the case as we have a conditional fee agreement and they say the law has changed since April and they don't want to know, now he want's paying. What we need advice on is can he do this? Surly if we signed an agreement he either has to see it out to the end? We feel completely stuck and out of our depth.

Is your solicitor asking for payment of any profit costs (the time he spent) or just the disbursements (expenses for things like experts reports)?