Has anyone used Lawhive (online legal advice) and would you recommend them?

AbbyWth

Looking for low cost legal divorce advice 

Jude57

AbbyWth said:

Looking for low cost legal divorce advice 

People here usually suggest Wikivorce as a source of free advice and support on divorce matters but it's not a substitute for proper, paid for advice, especially if there are children and/or property and finances involved. If you have no friends or colleagues who can recommend a local firm have a look online for local Family Law solicitors near you and ring or e-mail a few to ask about a free half hour discussion. During that discussion, which might be by phone, they should be able to give you some idea of likely costs. If you're going to see or speak to a solicitor, make detailed notes beforehand of everything you want to cover so that you get the advice you need and don't waste time trying to think during the meeting. Most solicitors will allow you to pay in instalments over time (not years, though) so ask about that.

born_again

Lawhive is your gateway to affordable, fast legal help in the UK. Lawhive uses licensed solicitors you can connect with online for up to 50% of the cost of a high-street law firm.

Enquiries submitted through this website are directed to Lawhive Ltd, which is not a law firm and does not provide any legal advice. Our network of legal service providers includes our affiliate company Lawhive Legal Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (ID number: 8003766) and is a company registered in England & Wales (Company number: 14651095).

So without knowing how much a high street one is costing 🤷‍♀️

AbbyWth

@Jude57 and @born_again  thank you both!  

AbbyWth

I'd still be interested to know if anyone has used Lawhive though, and what your experiences were - even not related to divorce.

Jude57

AbbyWth said:

I'd still be interested to know if anyone has used Lawhive though, and what your experiences were - even not related to divorce.

I haven't used them but they are just an introducer, putting you in touch with solicitors online and presumably receiving a financial reward for doing so, like a commission. They make no claims to be legally qualified (it would be an offence to do so) but their claims to be cheaper than a High Street firm are impossible to verify. They don't know the details of your (or anyone's) case, they've no idea what your local solicitors charge (it varies geographically and by who does the work; you'd pay a premium for a central City solicitor over, say, a small town solicitor and a premium for a senior partner to deal with your case, for example) so it's a baseless claim in my opinion. As for dealing with solicitors exclusively online, that's personal preference but I'd rather deal with a firm with physical offices and experienced staff who know the local Courts and can discuss my case face to face. I've known a number of people who have dealt with online conveyancers and Will drafters, for example, with mixed results. They were, for example, surprised that their transaction wasn't actually dealt with by a solicitor but by a paralegal and, in one case, shocked to discover that the big, online firm they thought they were using had only one qualified solicitor employed by the firm to 'oversee' all the work of tens of lesser qualified staff. They are, not for nothing, known in legal circles as 'conveyancing sheds'.

It's a matter of preference ultimately but I'd ask what value an introducer could bring to a case. If your case is so unique it requires very specialised legal advice, online firms simply cannot provide it. In such a case, the Law Society would help you to find a suitably qualified firm although such specialist knowledge may not be local and may indeed be expensive. If your case is, like the vast majority, pretty straightforward, a local firm in practice for many years can bring a depth of local knowledge (and contacts) with which an online only firm just can't compete.

Finally, in considering the most important legal transactions of most people's lives, property sale and purchase, divorce and Wills, where the consequences to the client of it going wrong are potentially catastrophic, other than price (which is unlikely to be a fixed price by the online firms whatever they claim) I'd ask what, precisely, you (anyone) thinks is to be gained by becoming one of several hundred cases being churned out by a team of paralegal clerks overseen by one solicitor who isn't on the premises compared to one of only tens of cases dealt with or closely supervised by an experienced solicitor in an actual office, available to give immediate guidance. It's your choice, of course.

Pudwood68

AbbyWth said:

I'd still be interested to know if anyone has used Lawhive though, and what your experiences were - even not related to divorce.

Do not use law hive!!!  I have first hand experience with divorce and it’s not been a good one.  I am in the process of having a partial refund and am instructing a new solicitor to take over.  I was assigned a solicitor back in May.  I had to chase for the initial meeting but eventually we met and the divorce process was started.  I thought it would be easier paying them to sort everything. How wrong I was.  We had to wait the 20 wk reflection period so after about 18 weeks I contacted them to ask about the next stage.  My solicitor told me he had personal problems and was not working fully at that time. A week later I was assigned a new solicitor.  I thought this might be good but she was a total nightmare.  We arranged an online meeting so we could chat about the next stage.  She didn’t show up. When I complained she said she’d forgot to put it in her diary.  We met the next day and she barely apologised.  I thought I was in safe hands but she was a nightmare to get hold of and never answered my messages.  I was meeting my husband to get him to sign the D81 form and needed advice but for two weeks no one answered me.  Eventually I complained and rated my solicitor as poor which then meant the support team were involved.  Veronica then made contact and apologised saying she’d been poorly and also had personal problems!!
 Another few weeks went past without any updates so I sought a second opinion from a different company only to find that the D81 form doesn’t need completing until the conditional order has been filed with the court.  I asked endlessly if this had been done and was ignored.  Eventually on Xmas Eve the support team confirmed that the conditional order hasn’t been lodged with the court.  I was furious, this  had wasted another 3 months after the 20 week reflection period.  The solicitor then contacted me after Christmas to say that she was trying to get an answer from the court about the conditional order which was blatant lie as I knew that she hadn’t started the process.  I have since told lawhive that I can’t trust them and have negotiated a partial refund.  I would never use them again.  On the plus side their support team especially Megan have been great it’s just a shame that their so called ‘legal experts’ are a complete shambles.  

sheramber

Why would a good solicitor need to use such a service?

markie_127

Law Hive are not a law firm they are effectivley a lead generation outfit that get solicitors to bid for the work. Yes, they have a snazzy website and quote engine but you can do that work yourself or get Google to do the hard work by asking for recommendations. There are some really good online divorce companies, somce backed by Solicitors that can do this sort of work for a lot less than lawHive or traditional high street solicitors.
Examples:
Divorce-Online.co.uk - backed by OLS Solicitors
EasyOnlineDivorce
Amicable