Anyone taken their own solicitor to the Law Society?

C

charlieandkath

Can't say too much but I believe I have been ripped off massively due to solicitors incompetence. The bill so far is double my costs agreement and have not recieved final bill yet. In my opinion they never had my best interests at heart and have only acted for me to draw out as much money as they can.

Can someone give me some tips for the steps involved taking a solicitor to the Law Society? I believe I have a strong case but taking this further may only cost me more money.

Thanks in advance,
:mad:
 
Any other pitfalls or problems I could run into? Anyone have first hand experience at this? How did you go? Did you think you got treated fairly?

Any solicitors out there with some tips for me?

Cheers and thanks.
 
Law Society complaints are a massive pain for lawyers. Every complaint has to be investigated and it takes a lot of time for lawyers to respond to them. Even if the complaint is not substantiated, there is a permanent record that a complaint has been made against the lawyer.

If I were you, I would consider contacting the firm and advising that for reasons x, y and z you are considering making a complaint against them to the Law Society. Say that for those reasons you consider your bill should be reduced to a particular amount and see what response you get. If it is only over a small amount of money (a few thousand) most firms will reduce the account to avoid a complaint being made.

Just make sure that whether you write to the law firm, the Law Society or both, that you come across as very factual and without emotion. You're likely to be taken much more seriously if you do.
 
EarlyRetirement said:
If I were you, I would consider contacting the firm and advising that for reasons x, y and z you are considering making a complaint against them to the Law Society. Say that for those reasons you consider your bill should be reduced to a particular amount and see what response you get. If it is only over a small amount of money (a few thousand) most firms will reduce the account to avoid a complaint being made.
Click to expand...

Thanks for those words Early Retirement. I have already done what you have suggested above. They basically got back to me and said yes we could do this but then they threatened x, y, z and was trying to call my bluff and make us pay up.

I stood up to these threats and said I believed I had a strong case and was definately going to take them to the Law Society not only for the reasons of costs but for the reasons of conduct as well.

They got back saying they would then like to negotiate. I wrote back and said too late I'm taking you all the way.

I am now formulating a letter to the Law Society. I have about 15 strong points ranging from double charging all the way to gross misconduct and not knowing what they were doing which then led to extra charges.

Anyway will see how I go. I have started a motto saying "Through integrity I shall destroy".

Thanks for your tips though.
 
Sounds like an interesting case charlieandkath.

Any chance of you posting some more details of what actually happened (without the name of the law firm of course)?

At the very least let us know how you get on :)
 
EarlyRetirement said:
Law Society complaints are a massive pain for lawyers. Every complaint has to be investigated and it takes a lot of time for lawyers to respond to them. Even if the complaint is not substantiated, there is a permanent record that a complaint has been made against the lawyer.

If I were you, I would consider contacting the firm and advising that for reasons x, y and z you are considering making a complaint against them to the Law Society. Say that for those reasons you consider your bill should be reduced to a particular amount and see what response you get. If it is only over a small amount of money (a few thousand) most firms will reduce the account to avoid a complaint being made.

Just make sure that whether you write to the law firm, the Law Society or both, that you come across as very factual and without emotion. You're likely to be taken much more seriously if you do.
Click to expand...

Is there any link we could check if complaints have been filed against solicitors?
 
hobo-jo said:
Sounds like an interesting case charlieandkath.

Any chance of you posting some more details of what actually happened (without the name of the law firm of course)?

At the very least let us know how you get on :)
Click to expand...

It is a basic rural conveyancing case which occurred when we employed this firm to act for us in the sale of some rural land.

I'll keep you updated as we go. I would love to name the law firm as that would be freedom of speech but I better not as this could get me into trouble at this stage.

David versus Goliath here we come (or dumb farmer versus a firm of solicitors).

I think this will probably cost us some money but we have to stand up for what we believe.
 
charlieandkath said:
It is a basic rural conveyancing case which occurred when we employed this firm to act for us in the sale of some rural land.

I'll keep you updated as we go. I would love to name the law firm as that would be freedom of speech but I better not as this could get me into trouble at this stage.

David versus Goliath here we come (or dumb farmer versus a firm of solicitors).

I think this will probably cost us some money but we have to stand up for what we believe.
Click to expand...

As a lawyer I say only take the path if it will make more money then it will cost you. Look at it always from a commercial point of view.
 
cu@thetop said:
As a lawyer I say only take the path if it will make more money then it will cost you. Look at it always from a commercial point of view.
Click to expand...

Thanks cu@thetop for that. I will think about this.

At this stage we were not thinking of monetary outcomes only that we pay our original costs letter.

The biggest satisfaction we would get is if the solicitor was to be invetigated further and if further incompetancies and overcharging was found to be evident then past other clients may get some money back aswell. And then the fact that this solicitor and firm have a black mark against their name on the website that terryw mentioned.
 
Hi there
apart from reporting the solicitor to the law society, if you consider there is a breach of the cost agreement, you may wish to consult a legal costing firm such as the following:

http://www.dgt.com.au/

who can provide advice about the solicitors obligations to disclose if the costs were likely to blow out
thanks
 
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