I’m not happy with my solicitor – what can I do?
When you hire a legal expert, you expect great service. In the rare event something goes wrong, you can be left thinking, “I’m not happy with my solicitor. What can I do?”
The short answer is quite a lot. There are several options open to you for making a complaint about solicitors you’ve used.
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Legal action will always be a final recourse. But before you go there, there are many ways you can make a lawyer aware you were dissatisfied with their service:
How to complain about a solicitor you’ve used
If you are very unhappy with your solicitor – perhaps you believe they ended up costing you unnecessary money or another kind of financial harm – it can be tempting to want to take them to court for some recompense immediately.
However, there is a set and expected series of escalations to the process of complaining about a solicitor. If you try to go straight to a legal remedy without at least attempting the other options listed here, you are likely to be told to try them first:
1) Express your concerns in an email or a telephone call
A phone call or email expressing your dissatisfaction is the place to start. In that call or email, be sure to include:
- Exactly what your problem was in precise terms
- When the issue happened
- What you would like them to do about it
You can then see what response you get. Any reliable solicitor will be horrified that you weren’t satisfied by their service and attempt to make amends if they accept the fault was theirs.
Most complaints with solicitors don’t go further than this step. As in most industries, reputation is vital to a legal firm and they will want a trail of satisfied clients behind them.
2) Raise it with the manager of your solicitor
Most individual solicitors work for a law firm of some kind. They may be small, local operations working within a narrow remit of legal areas. Others might be huge and sprawling national or multinational legal service providers.
Either way, your law firm’s website should contain details of their complaints procedure. It’s likely contained in the footer at the base of the page.
If your solicitor was unwilling or unable to resolve the situation to your satisfaction, taking it up the chain within the company is the next step.
3) Go to the legal ombudsman
Only if the law firm itself or your particular solicitor hasn’t made amends in a way that you feel is fair should you escalate your complaint to the legal ombudsman.
An ombudsman is an organisation that has been appointed (usually by the government) to look into complaints about companies or a certain type of professional. They are independent and impartial. The legal ombudsman is the organisation specific to legal service providers.
You can find their website online quickly and easily. It contains many helpful resources that will help you make a complaint in the way that’s most effective and most likely to get heard.
4) Sue for professional negligence if the parameters are met
If all of these methods fail, you can sue your solicitor for what is called “professional negligence”. This is a specific subset of negligence law that covers professionals who deliver services based on their expertise. These professionals are said to have a “duty of care” to their clients.
Solicitors are one of the types of professionals covered by this law. In order for your issue to be judged as professional negligence, all of the following must be true:
- A duty of care – professionals owe their clients a duty of care. Sometimes this must be proven, but for solicitors, it is already accepted.
- Breach of duty – you must be able to show how your solicitor failed in their duty of care. This might be either through action or inaction.
- Caused a loss or damage – their breach of duty of care must have caused you to experience some kind of (usually financial) loss.
There are many potential examples of this. You might imagine a solicitor who drafted a will incorrectly and caused you to lose out on your intended inheritance. Or maybe they gave you some bad legal advice – or failed to advise you when necessary – and it ended up costing you money.
I’m not happy with my solicitor – what can I do?
If you have already tried complaining to your solicitor, using their complaints procedure, and complaining to the legal ombudsman, the next step is to consider legal action. But where to start?
How about being connected with a friendly and approachable professional negligence specialist for FREE and with no obligation to use their services?
Let Solicitors Near Me find you the most suitable expert. Please give us a call on 0845 1391399 or complete a Free Online Enquiry today.
