Solicitor gave bad advice

DAKOTA45

Hello… I was wondering if anyone on here knows the correct procedure when making a complaint about a solicitor who has given bad advice, please? I guess the first thing is to complain to the firm directly, however, I don't think they are going to be very helpful. I know there is a legal ombudsman but I have heard that they are useless. Has anyone had any dealings with them? Thanks, D45

Biggles

Sounds like something for the Consumer Rights board, rather than Credit Cards?

macman

You need to make a formal written complaint to the practice first and go through their complaints procedure. If that is not satisfactory you can make a complaint to the Law Society, their professional body.
When you engaged their services they will have given you paperwork that included details of their complaints procedure.

nidO

Your process depends on exactly what advice was given and why you think it was bad.
As above, first port of call is always a written complaint to the firm's designated complaints handler. There are rules solicitors' firms have to abide by in dealing with complaints, so doing so should sort you out the majority of time.
The firm's complaints handler should be listed in their terms of business, if not you can obtain their details from the SRA.

If you don't get a resolution there, who you complain to next depends on the nature of your issue.
Note, there is no point in complaining to the Law Society mentioned above, they are no longer involved in (since 2010) and have no power to handle complaints about law firms so a complaint to them will do nothing.

If your complaint is purely about poor service in some way, your complaint goes to the Legal Ombudsman.
If your complaint is that the firm has directly and substantially failed to do any of the following:

uphold the rule of law and the proper administration of justice,
act with integrity,
not allow your independence to be compromised,
act in the best interests of each client,
provide a proper standard of service to your clients,
behave in a way that maintains the trust the public places in you and in the provision of legal services,
comply with your legal and regulatory obligations and deal with your regulators and ombudsmen in an open, timely and co-operative manner,
run your business or carry out your role in the business effectively and in accordance with proper governance and sound financial and risk management principles,
run your business or carry out your role in the business in a way that encourages equality of opportunity and respect for diversity, and
protect client money and assets.

It is also worth complaining to the SRA. The SRA can take enforcement action against a firm for serious breaches but cannot do things like order the firm to reduce what they charge you in cases of poor service, only the legal ombudsman can do so.

Your alternative and more direct route, depending on the nature and level of this "bad advice", if the firm's internal complaints process does not resolve your issue, is to engage another law firm to start professional negligence litigation against your solicitor to recover the losses you've suffered as a result of the bad advice.

jonesMUFCforever

OP you seem to have already decided that the senior partner will not help you.
OP you seem to have already decided that the Law society will not help you.

OP have you considered that they could have been right all along?

We have no idea what your complaint is about.

chattychappy

Solicitors do fear investigations. It wastes alot of time and can affect their insurance. Many do cut corners do get things done and can end up in trouble for it.

My sister had a somewhat spurious complaint against a local solicitor, claiming he had overcharged. (The bill was higher than what he said it would be, but the job ended up bigger than expected because my sister had changed her mind a couple of times.)

He refunded the entire bill, despite my sister only really asking for a partial refund (but with the threat of a complaint to the Law Society).

There are a number of "conduct" issues that can easily trip a solicitor up, and the industry (profession, if you prefer) knows it has a bad image which needs cleaning up.

pupgrum

chattychappy wrote: »

Solicitors do fear investigations. It wastes alot of time and can affect their insurance. Many do cut corners do get things done and can end up in trouble for it.

My sister had a somewhat spurious complaint against a local solicitor, claiming he had overcharged. (The bill was higher than what he said it would be, but the job ended up bigger than expected because my sister had changed her mind a couple of times.)

He refunded the entire bill, despite my sister only really asking for a partial refund (but with the threat of a complaint to the Law Society).

There are a number of "conduct" issues that can easily trip a solicitor up, and the industry (profession, if you prefer) knows it has a bad image which needs cleaning up.

He's an idiot for refunding his client. A refund is a backhanded admission that you've made a mistake. Should've stood his ground and fought for his reputation instead of giving in.

chattychappy

It's a balance. Organisations give refunds all the time because it is more cost-effective than arguing about it. It doesn't necessarily negatively affect your reputation - in my sister's case I don't suppose she told anyone about it. She was satisfied and perhaps even felt a bit guilty. She might have bad-mouthed them had they not refunded.

pupgrum

chattychappy wrote: »

It's a balance. Organisations give refunds all the time because it is more cost-effective than arguing about it. It doesn't necessarily negatively affect your reputation - in my sister's case I don't suppose she told anyone about it. She was satisfied and perhaps even felt a bit guilty. She might have bad-mouthed them had they not refunded.

Yes it's probably more cost-effective to hand out a refund, but if the solicitor ever wants to become a judge or law firm partner one day, it's important to show you're able to handle complaints and protect your reputation. Your sister met an unambitious solicitor who doesn't want hassle. Some solicitors go out their way to send a message, if only to gain more respect from their peers.

bris

pupgrum wrote: »

Yes it's probably more cost-effective to hand out a refund, but if the solicitor ever wants to become a judge or law firm partner one day, it's important to show you're able to handle complaints and protect your reputation. Your sister met an unambitious solicitor who doesn't want hassle. Some solicitors go out their way to send a message, if only to gain more respect from their peers.

Nonsense, it goes to the law society it's on record= bad, it gets handled internally, no one knows= good.


Who in their right mind would want dragged up and investigated by the law society, this spills into an audit, yea right save a few quid to cost thousands in downtime handling a complaint.