A word of warning

For all of you who are thinking about instructing a solicitor be careful,

Make sure you instruct a specialist family law solicitor who is signed to resolution,

I am now aware of 4 wiki peeps who thought they had a solicitor only to find out much too late they actually have a legal executive, though excec`s can be expert they are not qualified solicitors, 3 of the 4 wiki`s went to final hearing blissfully unaware they didn't have a qualified solicitor and all 3 now have a mire to climb out of ,

For those who have a solicitor check your letters of care, where your solicitor sign`s if it says family legal executive under you do not have a qualified solicitor!,

You can refuse to pay the bill if you didn't get what you asked for but these problems are best avoided from the start.

Well said Dukey. As you know, I am one of the people this happened to.

Today I received confirmation that my house insurance will fund a legal case against the firm that, without my knowledge, put my case in the hands of a legal executive when I had originally hired one of the partners. Proceedings will be issued imminently and I will keep you informed of the outcome.

This is not only a breach of the solicitors s code of conduct section 2 - although as I discovered the legal complaints service are not very exercised about it. It is also a breach of contract - depending on what you asked for in the first place and what was in your letter setting out terms and conditions. The barrister representing me in this case has pointed to a judgement of Lord Dennings (I paraphrase) in which he said that lay people cannot be expected to know or understand the ins and outs of a complex profession so if we get someone who is not a solicitor when we wanted a solicitor - and asked for one or understood we wouold get one, it is their responsibility not ours.

This is the case law on which our case is ­base­d:

Pilbrow v Pearless de Rougemont & Co; CA (Butler-Sloss, Schiemann LJJ) 17 Mar 1999.

WHERE A client asked to see a solicitor there was a contract to provide legal services between the firm and the client. If the firm, without informing the client, provided an advisor who was not actually a solicitor, it had not performed the contract at all, and was not entitled to recover its fees from the client.

If you want to know how bad things got, somewhere in the archives is a post called something like Is my solicitor an a**e. It may also help you to understand where my wiki name came from

Hadenoughnow

dukey wrote:
For all of you who are thinking about instructing a solicitor be careful,

Make sure you instruct a specialist family law solicitor who is signed to resolution,



NB....and not all these are to be trusted...my city centre, practising from prime location, family and child law specialist with many years experience...lied to many clients (this was confirmed by other family law specialist and sheriff) dumped my (and others) case with her lacky who failed to meet with me and diarised her attendance for my Proof incorrectly....unless of course the Courts, the opposition, the evidence and myself are all wrong and she is correct ...a decision is expected at the end of January after which, depending on the outcome, I shall be retiring from my legal "career"

Good luck to you all, especially those of you like hadenough and I that happened to have endured bad experiences of the legal profession at a time when we needed it least. Wiki taught me that not all legal practitioners are scum like those I was unfortunate to meet...I stand by my claim....the Law is well intended, it is the practitioners and interpretors that feck it up....laypersons cannot be blamed for that!

E

I fell for this scam, and though she was very hardworking and committed to the case, she was also very naive and inexperienced.

I would always advise representing yourself and finding a good McKenzie; there are far too many reasons why you shouldn't use a solicitor.

Justice Bultler Sloss made an interesting analogy,

If you go to the doctors and ask to see a doctor but unwittingly are seen by a nurse who does just as good a job as the doctor you still did not receive what you asked for and should not be expected to pay,

There is also the question has the practice fulfilled the contract? the answer is no.

There are also many reasons to use a solicitor. In marketing/custmer care terms, a satisfied client will recommend you to 3 of his/her friends whereas a dissatisifed client will complain to 10 of his/her friends. Which is why word of mouth is the best form of recommendation.

Adding to the above, being a member of Resolution or the Family Law Panel does not guarantee a great solicitor but it should at least ensure they know family court procedure.

Charles

I quite agree with Charles all should seek expert legal advice, just be sure who is giving it,

A quick word on McKenzie friends, they have a place and can be useful but bear in mind they are unregulated uninsured and may well have no legal qualifications or experience, they are very restricted in what help they can offer and in most circumstances cannot speak at hearings, for AR hearings the other side is often represented by a barrister or experienced solicitor which is a bit like bringing a stick to a gun fight.