Contravention of Resolution

Sera
Please contact me by e mail. I am taking legal action against this dysfunctional organisation of solicitors. Four years after complaining about a corrupt solicitor they still refuse to comment and still endorse him.
I have the support and input of one MP and I am looking to see if my case is isolated or is as widespread as I personally believe it is.
I am working on both a blog post here and on my own site plus a thread that ties in with the post, just to see how many of the Wikivorce community have discovered Resolution code of practice is optional, dependant on the solicitors motivation or mood.
They certainly have NO QUALITY SYSTEMS in place that much they have confirmed.
If the rest of the world ran a quality standard on this basis they would be laughed out of court by solicitors!

KEEP COPIES OF EVERYTHING, BACK UP E MAILS BY FAX, RECORD ALL CALLS, KEEP A DIARY OF EVENTS REFERENCED TO EVIDENCE.

Hi Sera

I always read your posts with interest as they seem put all my minor difficulties bang into perspective !!

I have no advice I am able to offer but wanted to wish you lots of luck !

Take care
poppy
x

If there is a legitimate complaint why waste time pursuing the matter with Resolution? There are constraints on what Resolution can investigate and the most they can do is terminate a solicitor's membership. Anyhow I'm not sure if Sera has established whether the sol in question is actually a Resolution member or whether membership applies just to other sols within the same firm. I don't live in England or Wales but as a casual observer I think Resolution does a sterling job in encouraging good practice, providing training for lawyers, campaigning and providing information for divorcing couples.

When the complaint is against your own sol it is far more effective to take it up with the firm's complaints officer, Legal Service Complaints and then with the Legal Services Ombudsman if you have no satisfaction. Sols have to report the number of complaints against them to their insurance companies and I have certainly seen an increase in the number of clients receiving compensation within the last couple of years.

Under SRA Code of Conduct there is a duty for solicitors to set up a complaints procedure for clients but there is no obligation to deal with complaints from the other side. With accusations of harassment I'd be wary of writing to the firm to complain.

Yes you are entirely correct Fiona, concise and constructive advice.
The point I am making is that Resolution is a quality standard that SOME solicitors are signing up to with absolutely no regard for the code of practice and and I believe that is actionable as they have no quality systems in place or no disclaimers to warn the general public that non conformances are out of their control.

In terms of establishing membership of Resolution, I first highlighted the non conformance of one of their members in June of 2003, and rightly they said that they couldn't get involved until all legal action had ceased, so I waited until November 2004 only to discover he wasn't even a member.

This was contuary to his web CV that stated he was not only a member but an accredited mediator, and when I challenged him personally he replied he was happy to show his files to the SFLA at any time(Letter date June 2003). The laws society investigation in 2004 excepted the senior partners explanation that it was an oversight, and the LCS investigation of 2007 - 2008 basically said so what.
I think this constitutes Mal administration on the part of Resolution as it later transpired the ENTIRE page was a fabrication, and had they done their job correctly in June of 2003(looked his name up on the data­base­!) the outcome for my family would have been entirely different.

I also think a group action would be more powerful hence my comment in the first place. I am going to do a specific blog post cataloguing the SFLA with an attached thread for those that are interested.

Thanks all for following. The on-line bio says they are a member; and they said so in court also. But one YEAR on: and nothing's resolved; with no offer to resolve away from the Court.

July 2007: Husband made an offer. I accepted. He went to a sol who said instead that I'd "get nothing" and said his offer was not valid since he'd made it without legal advice.

August 2007 His Sol wrote saying I was to leave the house; husband offered me a new bed - saying he wanted to reoncile.

Sept 2007: Sols filed for Occupation Order proceedings. (Husband denied he'd engineered this!) and asked me to attend couselling. Sol then tells ghim to CANCEL our Relate session; stating he'd be unsuccessful in getting rid of me if he wanted reconcilliation.

October 2007: Husband agreed to go to Mediation. (Went twice) Sols told him to CANCEL it... (smelling a rat anyone?)

November 2007: Husband asked me to "fight for him" My friends noted my loyalty - the judge said I was 'stubborn' and ordered me out of our home...

Jan-March 2008: Sols do not allow any communication (suggesting this "harassment to their client").... Sols write saying they're urging their client to file for AR....

I continued to offer Mediation. They said he'd made an offer to me "against their advice"

July 2008 (and £10,000 more in their pockets) a judge suggests we go off and Mediate!

Next Court day is October 2008.

...and that's for the defered First Appointment. One year on, and nothing but them having had ££££££££££ from our pot.

Sorry you are going through this, Sera, after all the hassle with the occupation order. I made a mistake, I meant to say there are constraints on what Resolution can investigate (they don't investigate until all proceedings are finished ) not (they don't investigate someone else's sol.)

It's now possible to check the Resolution data­base­ to see if someone is a member, but it isn't a regulatory body and doesn't have any real teeth is what I'm trying to say. Of course Arnie is right sols who are dinosaurs do a great disservice to the profession, as do obsessive and vexatious litigants in person to self reppers. The thing to remember is quote; "Resolution makes every effort to ensure that the Code of Practice is at the forefront of every member’s mind, some members may stray from the guidance set out in the Code."

When proceedings are all completed you can address complaints to;

Director of Standards, Resolution, PO Box 2108, Warwick CV35 8YN. Or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Fiona,
I know the reply was for Sera, but thanks for your guidance also.

Sera,
Mr Blah Blah is STILL endorsed to this day by Resolution, despite doing ALL the things that Fiona is advocating. They have also been aware of my making public of this information since August 2007 and still have do nothing apart from refuse to even answer my e mails or phone calls.

Sort you out first, and worry about the complaining later, I have enough EVIDENCE to bring this organisation to account without adding to your distress. JUST KEEP RECORDS OF EVERYTHING, for a year or two down the line!!