Solicitors who refuse to call back their clients & delay unreasonably

erudec

I've recently become aware of what I would consider a stunning amount of messing from a legal practitioner, and I am stunned that it's allowed.

The lady had a nice enough initial meeting, with a barrister in tow.

Her requirements were laughably simple, the kind of stuff a trainee can handle with ease. Sge made it totally clear that she wanted to send the litigation within two weeks at the outside. The lawyer and barrister were totally fine with that.

Then seven weeks of total silence. She'd ring up and the secretaries just fob her off with false promises of call-backs.

She was in a time-sensitive situation where delays were costly, and she wanted to know (approximately) how long it would take to make the litigation. No reason for delay was proffered. It seems the lawyer simply took on more work than he could handle and is making ends meet by just giving his clients the silent treatment.

Now, she feels stuck with this shower of unprofessional scumbags because she believes that all the time has been lost. She presumes she'll be stuck with the barrister's fee, even though he completely failed to satisfy her request for a swift turn-around.

To add insult to injury they started complaining about her calling so often. She said she's only asking for some kind of indicative timeline for delivery of the requested service, and the only reason she's calling is because the job is so horribly late, and she has no idea if the solicitor will ever deliver what he promised.

Worse, she thinks she has no grounds for a lawsuit against the solicitor or the barrister because she hasn't paid them yet (although I would argue that she's paid in lost time).

It's an incredible scam these solicitors are running: invite in the prospective client, make false promises and get them to talk with a barrister for hours, then do nothing for months and months, until the client is forced to find someone else, and charge them through the nose when that happens.

Huge money; no work done. Amazing scam, and there's nothing to fear as 95% of clients will meekly pay up for no work done.

I am right, am I not, in thinking that the only recourse for my acquaintance is taking the lawyer to court through the negligence panel? The law society doesn't have any mechanism for making complaints against unprofessional solicitors that doesn't involve a lawsuit, right?

coylemj

If she hasn't paid anyone then I would send the solicitor and barrister letters basically firing them and informing them that I was taking my business elsewhere. And that as they had dragged their feet and produced no evidence of progressing the litigation that I didn't expect a bill from either of them.

It would be unusual (wouldn't it?) to have a barrister in the room when having an initial consultation with a solicitor.

ohnonotgmail

coylemj wrote: »

If she hasn't paid anyone then I would send the solicitor and barrister letters basically firing them and informing them that I was taking my business elsewhere. And that as they had dragged their feet and produced no evidence of progressing the litigation that I didn't expect a bill from either of them.

It would be unusual (wouldn't it?) to have a barrister in the room when having an initial consultation with a solicitor.

I would have thought that was very odd. How would the solicitor even know which barrister to engage if they have not even talked to the client. The OP says the barrister was "in tow" which to me means the client brought the barrister. Which is even more odd.

erudec

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

I would have thought that was very odd. How would the solicitor even know which barrister to engage if they have not even talked to the client. The OP says the barrister was "in tow" which to me means the client brought the barrister. Which is even more odd.

Sorry I meant the Barrister was brought by the solicitor.

nuac

Mod
I do not believe this rant.
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