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Hi,
As some of you will know from my previous posts I have been very disatisfied with the service and conflicting advice I receive from my solicitor. Ideally I'd like to seek alternative representation, but as I'm in receipt of Legal Aid it's not a particularly straight forward process and I will have to evidence that I have made a number of complaints to my law firm about my solicitors service before the Legal Services Commission will allow me to change to another firm of solicitors.
I always confirm my instructions to my solicitor in writing, even if we have a verbal conversation I always follow it up with an email reiterating the details of our conversation. I accept that my solicitor will have to prioritise some of her more pressing work, but I'd like to know what the majority of you feel is an adequate response time to my instructions?
I don't necessarily expect an immediate response from my solicitor, but I don't believe it's unreasonable to expect to hear something back within 2 or 3 days of making contact. I have lost count of the times that I've had to wait up to two weeks before contacting her again only to find that she hasn't done anything and then have to wait for another week before her secretary actions my request.
Several friends, who have had to go to court to restore contact with their kids, all say that my solicitor should be more efficient and that I'm clearly receiving a poor service.
I've let it ride in the past as I've been able to come on here and vent my frustration, but the situation isn't improving and my patience is thin. I've tried to avoid making a complaint, because I genuinely feel it would be counter productive to my case. In my experience complaints don't often improve a professional relationship, the whole process only serves to strain it further. I need to have faith in an individual who is supposed to represent my best interests in a court room and I currently have none whatsoever.
Advice?
Basically I've catalogued, at length, the instantces in which I have contacted my solicitor with written instructions or requests, which have received no action or response. Has anyone out there found themselves in a similar position, or does anyone have any advice on the best way of handling this?
I have been told by the CLC that the service I receive from my solicitor through my funding certificate should be exactly the same as if I were paying from my own pocket, but my solicitor told me after my initial instructions that she, nore her secretary, prioritise Legal Aid ahead of private work unless it was an emergency.
I know I'm fortunate to receive funding, but doesn't this money appear wasted on a firm that doesn't even respond to their clients instructions?
Hi FM,
I agree that you should be getting at least a satisfactory service from your solicitor, and you obviously are not. Were you given a complaints procedure when you went to your solicitor? I'm not sure whether it's a statutory requirement, but I've certainly been given one in dealing with solicitors before. Also may be worth ringing the LSC to ask what the procedure is to complain, but make it clear that the case is ongoing and that you can't wait for a lengthy complaints procedure.
Hi actd,
I've made an appointment to have a face to face discussion with my solicitor in the New Year. I emailed her yesterday and I was surprised by her positive response.
Interestingly enough we received a very weird letter from my ex's solicitor yesterday. As you may remember I was due to have my son throughout Christmas, but suggested to my ex that she have our son on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day morning as a goodwill gesture. We wrote to her in early October with this suggestion and also enquired about whether she's considered care arrangments for our son during the period of her confinement to hospital for the birth of her second child. In the interim I've had some dialogue with her family who stated that they believed she was agreeable to the proposed arrangements, but we had not received written confirmation that this had been agreed despite repeated requests to her solicitors. My ex tried to change the terms of contact last week, but her step mother persuaded her to stick to the 'agreed' arrangement. And yesterday we finally received written confirmation that she had agreed to our proposal for Christmas contact.
Her solictors closing remarks were quite baffling. They stated that they "trust that this now completes matters" and went on to say that they "shall now be taking steps to close our file of papers as all the issues are now resolved".
We're a bit baffled as none of the outstanding issues have been resolved and, as my funding is now through, I obviously still intend to make an application to the court in the New Year.
What do you make of it?
Hi,
I figured I'd stop by and respond to a question regarding representing yourself in my thread on here.
Basically, I was in control of everything I said to Cafcass who were awesome! she didn't end up getting a solicitor so we basically ended up in a room with a Cafcass officer and decided what to do. We then went to the judge and the whole thing was made official.
It was easier than I expected and no solicitors in the middle meant I only paid £200 for court costs and whatever for travel.
I was not asked for records of conversations, text messages etc and the whole experience was actually quite quick. The trouble is that not every case is the same. My ex is not at all reasonable but the moment she was in that room she realized that she HAD to be.
well worth a shot! your words are your own that way, I think they prefer people to represent themselves as it shows some degree of sincerity like there's nothing to hide which, let's face it... there isn't.
Hope this helps.
🙂 )
Thanks Rik. That does help. I honestly don't know how I'd be coping had I not stumbled upon this site 😀
I suspect my ex is starting to realise how hard raising two young ones is going to be. The latest letter from her solicitor seems to suggest that they're closing their file. I'm unsure what that means...
Looking forward to Christmas though and desperately want to see this resolved in the New Year!
Have a great Christmas Rik!
Take care!
Same here, The guys on here have helped so much. It's all good.
I hope you get everything sorted dude! Have a good festivus!
Hi FM
Does sound strange - worth asking for clarification on what the resolution is for all points you are unsure about.
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