Legal advise on phone

wicklaman83

Does anyone know if solicitors will advise you over the phone nowadays.
My fear is they tell me to call to their office,i explain my problem,they say no point in going to court etc and i get a solicitors bill for nothing.

johnnyskeleton

Solicitors generally don't give advice over the phone. It would be very dangerous for their professional liability.

If your cases is some kind of litigation, many solicitors will see you for free on the basis of a no win no fee arrangement. Others will charge you €50 or some other similar amount to speak to you. Relative to paying €50 to a GP for 10 minutes, paying €50 to a solicitor is relatively good value.

If it's a personal injury case, you can apply to PIAB directly.

Bear in mind that while a solicitor may do a case on a no win no fee basis, you will probably have to pay for outlay etc in advance.

Ring a solicitor's office and their secretary will let you know what their fees are.

johndoe99

i'm taking this is regarding your PC World situation i read in a previous thread. Have a look here:

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/justice/courts_system/small_claims_court.html

https://smallclaims.courts.ie/esmallclaims/claim/Main?page=home&Language=English

Maybe just what PC World need to sit up and listen.

Reloc8

darren254 wrote: »

Does anyone know if solicitors will advise you over the phone nowadays.
My fear is they tell me to call to their office,i explain my problem,they say no point in going to court etc and i get a solicitors bill for nothing.

Would you not approach this in the same way as you would eh any other situation where you're looking for a service ?

'hi can you help me with x'

'briefly what is it about'

'[explanation]'

'look, you might have a point, but I can't advise you properly over the phone and without some further info/documentation. Do you want to call in and see me about it'

'well, I don't want to throw good money after bad - will you be charging me for calling in and talking with you'

'yes/no'

'how much/great'

I also take issue with the notion the bill is for nothing - if you go in and get advice, having requested it, and the advice is don't go to court, the solicitor is perfectly entitled to charge you, unless you have agreed something else with him/her (i.e. no charge for a consultation).

Reloc8

darren254 wrote: »

Does anyone know if solicitors will advise you over the phone nowadays.
My fear is they tell me to call to their office,i explain my problem,they say no point in going to court etc and i get a solicitors bill for nothing.

Would you not approach this in the same way as you would eh any other situation where you're looking for a service ?

'hi can you help me with x'

'briefly what is it about'

'[explanation]'

'look, you might have a point, but I can't advise you properly over the phone and without some further info/documentation. Do you want to call in and see me about it'

'well, I don't want to throw good money after bad - will you be charging me for calling in and talking with you'

'yes/no'

'how much/great'

I also take issue with the notion the bill is for nothing - if you go in and get advice, having requested it, and the advice is don't go to court, the solicitor is perfectly entitled to charge you, unless you have agreed something else with him/her (i.e. no charge for a consultation).

And they can't tell you to call into their office, as in make you. They don't have mystical sinister powers of mind control. They're just people who know stuff and how to do stuff that you don't - like any tradesperson.

Would you have a plumber around to the house without sorting out on what basis you will be charged/if you will be charged ?

wicklaman83

Thanks johndoe99.thats exactly what i was asking for.i'll give them the week like i stated when i'll contact the small claims court.

Reloc8 i feel very privilged to get 2 posts of you but to be honest if all you can give is smart arse replies keep them to yourself.
Fortunately i never had to deal with solicitors so it was just a general question.
Mods feel free to lock the thread.thanks

Reloc8

lol well the two replies is just my way of saying eh the board wanted to post it twice.

Its not intended to be a smart arse towards you - did you read the post ? There's a mental block in a lot of posts on here about getting straightforward to the point with solicitors about fees and having some sort of mortal fear of finding a bill in the post for something you didn't ask for or want. I don't understand how you can express fear that that you could magically pick up a bill without any cause/reason.

They're not ninjas - they can only bill you if you allow them - and if you ever ring one or talk to one in person and are not 100% comfortable with how fees will be dealt with, whether its too expensive or the person is being too vague for your comfort, run a mile.

A good solicitor will have absolutely no difficulty in telling you straight up whether they will charge for advice, or not, and what they will charge.

And if you never had to deal with solicitors, fortunately, I really don't understand your fear.

wicklaman83

Never HAD to as in past tense but unfortunately there is a 1st time for everything and i may in the future.do you understand what i mean now

littlemac1980

To be fair to Reloc8, that's a great answer.

I imagine, most, if not all solicitors, upon prior agreement (as suggested), would be quite willing to meet a potential client to give some preliminary views as to whether or not they would be willing to take on the case.

McCrack

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Solicitors generally don't give advice over the phone. It would be very dangerous for their professional liability.

If your cases is some kind of litigation, many solicitors will see you for free on the basis of a no win no fee arrangement. Others will charge you €50 or some other similar amount to speak to you. Relative to paying €50 to a GP for 10 minutes, paying €50 to a solicitor is relatively good value.

If it's a personal injury case, you can apply to PIAB directly.

Bear in mind that while a solicitor may do a case on a no win no fee basis, you will probably have to pay for outlay etc in advance.

Ring a solicitor's office and their secretary will let you know what their fees are.

Just on this I think it's worth pointing out to people that "no win-no fee" or "no foal, no fee" does not exist in this jurisdiction. Yes a solr can take a litigation file on this basis but outlay is always chargeable to the client and more importantly costs follow the event so while your own solr might not charge you his own fees if you lose your case, the other side most definitely will.

Jo King

littlemac1980 wrote: »

To be fair to Reloc8, that's a great answer.

I imagine, most, if not all solicitors, upon prior agreement (as suggested), would be quite willing to meet a potential client to give some preliminary views as to whether or not they would be willing to take on the case.

It would depend on the type of practice and the nature of the case. Some solicitors in bigger practices want to be paid for every minute. Some in smaller practices confine themselves to a few areas of work. Personal recommendation is best.