Sacked on the spot

dickydonkin

General_Grant wrote: »

I think the OP should contact their insurer straight away. I would not expect the insurer to want to pay for any legal service which had been arranged by the OP without involving the insurer.

The insurer is more likely to have some kind of panel of solicitors who can be used. The first thing to do would be to contact the insurer for legal employment advice.

This^^^.

I fought a case of unfair dismissal and contacted my home insurer who provided us with a solicitor some 300 miles from where we live!

After contacting the insurance company, they were willing for us to provide a more local solicitor and as long as they met their criteria, we could use them.

After getting the tribunal date and an excellent summary and probability of success from a barrister, we were already to go.

A week before the hearing, the employer stumped up.

nicechap

I'm not sure its been covered earlier but were you an actual employee or did you rent a chair in the salon? My niece is a hairdresser and says that its quite common for hairdressers to be self employed renting spaces in one or more salons.

Vectis

Energize wrote: »

No reputable solicitor behaves like that, you could make the same claims about any profession.

That's very trusting of you. Solicitors are in business to make money. It wont make any difference to them whether the op wins or loses, they'll still get paid.

Energize

Vectis wrote: »

That's very trusting of you. Solicitors are in business to make money. It wont make any difference to them whether the op wins or loses, they'll still get paid.

The world revolves around trust based on reputation, when a solicitor does a bad job they get a bad reputation which isn't in their interest as it causes them to lose money in the long term.

If you're going to take that attitude with solicitors then you've got to apply that to all professionals. Eg a doctor or vet is going to put patients through unnecessary medical treatment to make more money.

sangie595 wrote: »

Unfortunately, there are solicitors who are not reputable, by your definition.

Yes which is why with all businesses you do your research beforehand. But to tar all professionals with the same brush is absurd, you would never dare hire anyone to do anything for you because they could be ripping you off!

sangie595

Energize wrote: »

The world revolves around trust based on reputation, when a solicitor does a bad job they get a bad reputation which isn't in their interest as it causes them to lose money in the long term.

If you're going to take that attitude with solicitors then you've got to apply that to all professionals. Eg a doctor or vet is going to put patients through unnecessary medical treatment to make more money.



Yes which is why with all businesses you do your research beforehand. But to tar all professionals with the same brush is absurd, you would never dare hire anyone to do anything for you because they could be ripping you off!

As was actually the point - don't assume that any old solicitor has your best interests at heart. Or doctor. Or vet. Or anything else! The vast majority of "professionals" are no different than your local builder or odd job man - the main thing stopping them spending your money is that you know enough to not get ripped off in the first place. Knowledge on your part keeps them honest. That isn't to say that that they do anything illegal. But the fact is that they are there to make money, and they make that money from you!

steampowered

Vectis wrote: »

That's very trusting of you. Solicitors are in business to make money. It wont make any difference to them whether the op wins or loses, they'll still get paid.

Unless the solicitor is on a conditional fee agreement, in which case they only get paid if the Op is successful.

The other point worth mentioning is that solicitors are strictly regulated. They have to keep all their files (including all emails and so on). If a solicitor advised a client to pursue a hopeless case, it is likely they would end up being struck off.

That's not to say a solicitor won't encourage people to pursue a case, far from it, but I don't think there are many solicitors that would act contrary to their client's interests.

sangie595

steampowered wrote: »

Unless the solicitor is on a conditional fee agreement, in which case they only get paid if the Op is successful.

The other point worth mentioning is that solicitors are strictly regulated. They have to keep all their files (including all emails and so on). If a solicitor advised a client to pursue a hopeless case, it is likely they would end up being struck off.

That's not to say a solicitor won't encourage people to pursue a case, far from it, but I don't think there are many solicitors that would act contrary to their client's interests.

Whilst I think you are correct about the majority, there are a minority... and the trick is always knowing which ones are the minority. Because there is a mid point here. A solicitor may not act against a clients interests, but it may be as much to do with how they represent those interests. As we see on these boards so often, there are people who are determined to fly headlong into the maelstrom with a fickle case, whether out of anger, a misplaced sense of justice, or a failure to understand the word "fair". I've certainly come across people who, if not encouraged, have not been stopped from wracking up bills that they can ill afford because they are convinced that they will win. And when push come to shove, it's funny how there are always some weasel words showing that the solicitor did indeed represent their clients instructions, and somehow their client never quite heard that they were wasting their time.

That is, at least, one advantage of conditional fee arrangements (although there can be drawbacks too - reading the small print is really critical) - they have utterly no interest in a case that won't make them money. Or stand a reasonable chance of doing so.