A yes no answer, possible in a Legal Forum?

edmund_f

Can a Solicitor representing another party, where you are representing yourself in a matter refuse to talk to you?

ResearchWill

While not talking to the other side foes not help settle matters. I can see no reason why a solicitor would be forced to talk to the other side. I have seen solicitors refuse to talk to each other lol.

The good old fashioned way of communicating is always open that is letters.

To be honest I can fully understand why a solicitor would not speak to a lay litigant, that is not an insult but lay litigants do not have the same knowledge as another solicitor.

Also it could cause huge problems in a contentious matter as really a solicitor should not speak to the opposite party and if he has to there should be an independent witness to protect both sides.

Procrastastudy

Yes, no answer.

ResearchWill

ResearchWill wrote: »

To be honest I can fully understand why a solicitor would not speak to a lay litigant, that is not an insult but lay litigants do not have the same knowledge as another solicitor.

This is the crux of it. If the lay litigant misunderstands something that the solicitor says then it can lead to mistrust, feelings of being "had" and all sorts of other legal problems. Far better to refuse to speak without an independent witness.

edmund_f

Thanks for the responses, as would be normal on an open Forum I am trying to give the smallest amount of information possible while getting an answer to related to a very specific case.

From above I can surmise that it is a bit of a grey area and a final decision would rest with a Judge?. A point of clarification on my side, when i mentioned 'talk' I perhaps should have said 'communicate'.

Peregrinus

People are encouraged to settle disputes, but they're not obliged to. You can always sue (or defend) through the courts, and decline to negotiate at all. This is true whether either or both parties are legally represented, or are representing themselves.

But parties do have to communicate with one another for the purposes of advancing the litigation, and if either party is refusing to they can be ordered to by the judge, or sanctioned for not doing so, or in an extreme case they can have the case determined against them.

edmund_f

@Peregrinus

Is this referenced anywhere in legislation?

Peregrinus

There isn't a neat one-liner anywhere, no. The absense of a duty to try and settle arises simply because there is no statement anywhere that parties have a duty to try and settle. And the power of the court to knock heads together when parties need to talk to one another in order to advance litigiation (as opposed to in order to negotiate settlement) arises out of the inherent jurisdiction of the courts to control their own procedures, which in turn arises out of the constitutional separation of powers. The various rules of the District Court, the Circuit Court and the Superior Courts contain quite detailed provisions about various orders the court can make about parties answering one another's questions, parties disclosing things to one another, etc, but they are lengthy and complex.

edmund_f

Peregrinus,

Perfect, thank you for a quick and very detailed response. I just wanted to see if there was a clear and simple answer, it seems not.

dats_right

edmund_f wrote: »

Can a Solicitor representing another party, where you are representing yourself in a matter refuse to talk to you?

Short answer, yes. The solicitor is under a professional duty to be courteous to you but this does not necessarily extend to speaking with you. If you wish to communicate with the solicitor, I suggest you do so through correspondence.

You should also give serious thought to engaging a solicitor to act on your behalf.