Finding Legal Help When Things Go Wrong
Hopefully you'll have seen the dozens of articles on our site telling you to be wary of the Legal Assistance addons many insurers stick on your policy as already having opted into rather than asking you if you want to opt in like the pretty much do for everything else such as breakdown cover or a courtesy car. It may sound like a good idea at the time when you see costs of a couple dozen pounds in order to secure the services of a solicitor if you need one. Considering solicitors cost hundreds of pounds per hour this sounds like a great deal. However remember that insurers are already making much of a loss on car insurance policies and are not really going to give away more stuff if they can help it. For most car insurance related matters, solicitors work for free. In other words, all that no win no fee and 100% compensation stuff you see on the adverts. In other words, you're paying the insurer for a service that is free and the majority of people don't bother to use their insurance appointed solicitor when something goes wrong anyway because it feels like a conflict of interests:
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Law (aka All Law Ltd) Solicitors in Preston:
Most importantly it will tell you the qualification dates of any legal professionals within the practice.
class="infoquote "We're on standby ready to help you with the law however we can. Their site is HTTPS secure though so you should be able to submit your p...
WYM Legal Ltd Conveyancing Solicitors in Watford: Tens of thousands of pounds being transferred to a fraudster's bank account simply because someone didn't check with their appointed solicitor over the phone about the sudden last minute changes. However, when it comes to law firms we always recommend people read the actual...
Woodstock Legal Services Ltd - Solicitors Law Practice in Poole:
This is important to note because this firm handles conveyancing which has been the subject of https: www.thetimes.co.uk static connected-families conveyancing-email-scam-hackers-steal-house-deposit " huge amounts of scams< a> in recent years. 'we are unapproachable,...
Wolf Law Solicitors Ltd in Wirral: This is usually as a percentage of any compensation recovered.
class="infoquote "Get in touch today and we'll assess your case for free."< div>
Just as a point of clarification, 'no win no fee' and '100% compensation' are not the same thing. For example the htt...
Wilford Smith Solicitors in Sheffield (Meadowhall) & Rotherham - WS Strategic Ltd: Most legal professionals will provide a testimonials page and this firm https: www.wilfordsmith.com testimonials " does so here< a>.
On that topic we should cover some notes about navigation. Or more precisely, their clients have. 'Wilford Smith & Co' simply seems ...
Wildcat Law Ltd Solicitors in London & Southampton: For the entirety of the 20th century people had to take their case to a solicitor who would then hire a barrister to represent the matter in court (if it came to that). For example thousands of people have handed their entire house deposit when buying a house straight into a...
WH Law Ltd - Immigration Solicitors in Woking:
class="infoquote "We're experienced – our immigration solicitors have been helping people come to the UK for many years achieving successful results."< div>
If you check through the main ports of call for most people such as https: www.google.com search?q=wh...
Waterstone Partnership Solicitors Ltd in Bradford: But as mentioned above this firm is typically branded as 'Waterstone Partnership Solicitors' with their official site at www.waterstoneps.com which is https secure. 'waterstone partnership bradford'. Because they also provide the qualification dates and areas of law focused...
Walker Foster Ltd Solicitors in Skipton, Barnoldswick, Silsden, Settle, Ilkley, Northallerton & Harrogate: This immediately gives the impression of a large, well-established firm. That's a big bit of praise considering we're a old Scottish company. We're not a fan of founding date claims either, but that's a discussion for another article.
Aside from verifying a firm's exp...
UVS Law Immigration & Visa Solicitor in Burton-on-Trent & London: There are firms which will state they 'specialise' in a wide range of legal matters including immigration.
UVS Law is a more recently set up branding than others, but it should be pointed out that the age of the firm bears no indication about the experience of the lawy...
TWB Probate Solicitors Ltd - Estate Planning, Wills & Probate in London: The .co.uk version doesn't currently redirect you there and with the longer name it may be an idea to bookmark the site if you plan on coming back to it. Not just for your chances of obtaining the result you want, but for cost as well.
class="infoquote "... This is a...
The Law Partnership Ltd - Solicitors in Coventry: saying about The Law Partnership?
class="infoquote "worked hard to get my sale through really quickly, despite the pressure"
"worked very quickly and kept in touch with updates of both my house sale and purchase"
"communication was fantastic - clear and timely"<...
Thomas and Thomas Solicitors Ltd in Maesteg, Bridgend & Port Talbot:
class="infoquote "As a forward-thinking law firm, we are continuously investing in new and innovative legal solutions and technology"< div>
Another quick note on navigation. That's because hardly anyone is ever happy with how long it takes and there are always ...
The Legal Practice Ltd - Solicitors in Rickmansworth & Wembley Park, Greater London: They typically provide any alternate trading names, all office locations, languages spoken, case types handled, and most importantly - the qualification dates and specialties of each solicitor within the firm. Just try looking up the star ratings of several other property f...
Stephanie Heijdra - The Lady Barrister & Clerksroom Chambers in London: So at the moment even something specific such as "stephanie heijdra barrister london" brings up no local information let alone public reviews. The .com version of that does not currently redirect and all other variants we tried such as www.stephanieheijdra.co.uk .com had n...
Thaxted Legal Ltd Immigration Solicitors in Chislehurst, London: That's always something to watch out for especially with multi-office firms or firms with non-unique names. So make sure to always read through ratings rather than just glancing at average stars. etc. With them only handling immigration matters it's also safe to assume they ...
Summerfield Browne Solicitors in London, Birmingham, Cambridge, Oxford, Market Harborough & Leicester: We've been hoping that for many years and it's getting there . However, since this firm handles business matters as well we gave them a little more weight as the company's own brand is stated behind their praise. Summerfield Browne are therefore a prime match of what we...
Stowe Family Law - Divorce Solicitors in Harrogate, York, Beverley & Other Locations: Some firms like to write alot about themselves and their services.
At the time of writing the full list of office locations listed on the firm's website are: Beverley, Harrogate, Huddersfield, Ilkley, Leeds, Malton, Sheffield, Wetherby, York, Newcastle, Altrincham, Ch...
Sternberg Reed LLP Solicitors with Offices in Romford, Barking & Grays: For example, Sternberg Reed are listed in the Legal 500 which you can read https: www.legal500.com " more about here< a>. There are always websites to tell you the "10 best" of something or you'll have your own brand loyalty already. The site is HTTPS secure for submi...
Solidaire Solicitors - Solidaire Law Ltd in Milton Keynes: They provide information such as each firm's trading names, alternate contact details, areas of law covered, languages spoken by staff, and more.
If you check out https: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk organisation people 33660 solidaire-law-limited?Solicitors=True" t...
Smith and Graham Solicitors in Hartlepool, Peterlee and Middlesbrough: If you https: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk office 20313 smith-graham" check out the page< a> for this firm you'll see a range of qualification dates spanning the past five decades. So always read comments too. But the main thing we want to cover in this piece relates to: ...
Rose Fendlen Law - Solicitors in Wigan (Formerly LRose Law):
class="infoquote "your case will be handled diligently, sensitively, and with the care and compassion it deserves"< div>
To check up on statements such as this one, people usually turn to the public review boards. So what are the third party forums https: www....
PCS Legal Ltd Conveyancing Solicitors in Basildon, Ongar, Wickford, London, Rayleigh &Harlow: This is because unlike most legal services, much of the buying selling process for property is not in the control of the firm. Their site is HTTPS secure for submitting your contact details for a callback. PCS conveyancing have customer testimonials on their website. Espec...
Oakwood Solicitors Ltd & Oakwood Property Solicitors in Leeds: Especially the fact they offer direct contact details for each staff member as well. Most preferred to read the experiences of previous clients on independent boards such as Facebook, Google, Trustpilot, etc. It doesn't help that so many law firms repeat the same sales pitch...
Nicholson Jones Sutton Solicitors in Macclesfield: So always read the comments . There is a theme of 'listening' and 'caring' repeated throughout many. Here you can get clear answers about the experience levels of a firm AND their specialist case types. So what are the boards saying about Nicholson Jones Sutton?
clas...
SG Murphy & Co Ltd - Solicitors in Newtownabbey, Belfast: SG Murphy Solicitors does display some reviews on their website .
A quick note on navigation. In the last piece we wrote the firm had multiple complaints about feeling fobbed off onto junior staff. However the Law Society for Northern Ireland, like its Scottish counte...
MJV & Co Solicitors Ltd - Law Firm in Thornton-Cleveleys, Blackpool: So how can you check this?
class="infoquote "In many cases we can offer fixed fees, out of hours appointments and home or business visits. Negative ratings aren't always deserved. In 20+ years we've never seen the contrary. If you https: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk...
McCarthy + Co LLP Solicitors in Dublin, Cork & Clonakilty: There are various levels starting at Q1000 with Q9000 https: lqsi.ie the-q9000 " being the top tier< a> of quality assurance.
class="infoquote "At our last Q9000 quality assurance audit we were rated 99%."< div>
They have accreditation from various organisati...
Mark Croft Driving Offence Solicitor in Derby: However, if you see phrasing such as '20 years of combined experience' or '20 years of experience within the firm' - that means they've added up the experience of all staff members together.
This isn't a huge deal, however, because as far as we're aware scammers ha...
Mackenzie Jones Solicitors in St Asaph, Menai Bridge & Chester: The Law Society of England & Wales is a site we've long praised for it's bountiful information and simple layout. The official domain is www.macjones.com but currently www.macjones.co.uk seems to be owned by someone else. The full www.mackenziejones.co.uk and .com are both...
Lyons Solicitors - Law Firm in Kingswood, Westbury-on-Trym & Chew Magna (Bristol): that they are 'unfriendly' and 'outdated') then these great sounding words don't help in the pursuit of telling one firm from another. Lyons do this as well, but the majority of people (in fact, everyone we know) prefers to read the comments left on public boards such as Goo...
LS Legal Solicitors Ltd: However there's a big difference between a solicitor that takes on too many varied types of cases and a legal practice with several specialists within the firm. That's a considerable mix of seasoned heads with fresh eyes.
class="infoquote "The high standards of ou...
QualitySolicitors Large & Gibson - Law Firm in Southsea, Portsmouth: Not QS as a whole. For Large&Gibson it shows staff such as Richard Wootton who qualified in 1974, Peter Dymock in 1984, Michael Rowland in 1992, right up to the (relatively new) Cara Sandillon-Charlton who joined the profession in 2015. Clearly there is a great deal of poten...
Kee Solicitors Ltd in Glasgow & Aberdeen: (Yes, if you wondered why that last site you were on was so pointlessly massive - that's why.)
class="infoquote "Our expert team of solicitors can meet you at our offices in Stepps, Glasgow, Aberdeen or Falkirk, or by video or phone if you prefer."< div>
A quic...
JPS Walker Solicitors Ltd in Manchester: That means each will only be covered very briefly, but hopefully it will provide a greater selection of things that might help when trying to decide between the various law firms available for your case.
So if you see a law firm with barely a handful, or even zero, re...
Horsley Law Solicitors in Stafford aka Horsley Holdings Ltd: That's more important than you might think as not all websites that take your details for a legal case are actual solicitors.
class="infoquote "For a free and confidential discussion about your claim complete the short contact form."< div>
A quick note on naviga...
Hill House Chambers - Barristers Based in London: they are qualified to ... But it's a good idea to familiarise yourself with the scam of ' https: www.ncsc.gov.uk guidance phishing" phishing< a>' and maybe read a few articles about https: www.takefive-stopfraud.org.uk conveyancing-scams " conveyancing scams< a> to see ...
Heritage Park Family Law Ltd - Barrister Chambers in Ampthill, Bedford: As you can see on the information page for this firm the main barrister, Lisa Smith, entered the profession in 1994.
class="infoquote "With Heritage Park Family Law you have the added benefit of guidance from our founder who is a specialist family law Barrister."< di...
HCR Legal LLP Solicitors Law Firm incl Medical Accident Group in Worcester, Birmingham & Hereford:
The main ones seem to be HCR Legal LLP, Harrison Clark Rickerbys Limited, and HCR Hewitsons. The Law Society lists Child and Parent Law, Eagle HR, Harrison Clark Rickerbys inc Gordon Lutton, Harrison Clark Rickerbys inc Shawcross, wills at work, HCR Hewitsons inc Houl...
Harrison's Solicitors - Conveyancing in Reading, Caversham & Woodley: One resource we're constantly recommending to people is the website of The Law Society of England & Wales.
class="infoquote "And if the house sale falls through? Then our guaranteed 'no sale – no fee' policy has you covered."< div>
A quick note on navigatio...
Guardian Law Ltd - Employment & HR Lawyers in Nottingham: That's a good four decades of combined experience between them.
This is all very important to consider though because there are a lot of scams targeting clients of lawyers these days. But you simply must make sure to read the comments left by people rather than sim...
Goldsmith Bowers Debt Recovery & Litigation Solicitors in Bradford: For example, this snippet from their website:
class="infoquote "Specialist debt recovery, litigation, and Insolvency lawyers since 2010"< div>
In the legal industry a founding date of 2010 may sound almost brand new against the multitude of law firms claiming an...
Girlings Solicitors LLP & Girlings Personal Injury Claims Ltd in Sandwich, Ashford & Canterbury: As I said, this became common practice after the law changes in the 90s which stripped the nation of many Legal Aid helps and dumped all the burden onto the legal industry. If a law firm handles only one case type such as Motoring Offences, they are clearly specialists . Th...
Frei Solicitors Ltd - Luxury Asset Law Firm in London: So which is Frei Solicitors? Well, none of those actually.
class="infoquote "extremely clear, concise, practical and courteous"
"very happy with the company providing a tailored service for my company"
"simplified the entire process for my matter"< div>
Tho...
Foster & Coleman Ltd Solicitors in Bromley, Greater London:
A good alternative resource we've recommended multiple times for backchecking legal professionals is the website of The Law Society of England & Wales.
class="infoquote "With a reputation of providing prompt, practical and cost-effective solutions in a number...
Eve Lake Conveyancing & Legal Services in Hope Valley: But most variants we tried such as the .com version or evelakeconveyancing.co.uk all returned domains owned by other companies or not at all. The first thing people tend to do to check up on this, though, is read public review boards such as Google, Facebook or Trustpilot....
Amy King Legal - Personal Injury & Litigation Solicitor in Gillingham, Kent: The internet allows you to find and use a Dover based law practice for your Newcastle injury claim. We've watched utterly confident large firm barristers get ignored by juries in a trial. The official website is www.amykinglegal.co.uk which we link to at the top. People are ...
EMD Law LLP Solicitors in Staplehurst & St Leonards-on-Sea: Ones that provide at least a little insight into the firm's dealings with customers, like these snippets above. They do claim a long history with 'established in 1918' on the About Us page. We've also seen some search results for this firm under 'Hastings' and 'Maidstone' ...
EDC Lord & Co Solicitors in Southall: There is also a frequently asked questions (FAQ) section that addresses common questions and concerns clients may have.
Make sure you are always on the correct website and never discuss payment details via email. This is an excellent way for potential clients to get to...
Eatons Solicitors in Bradford, Bingley, Yeadon & Leeds West Yorkshire: That could simply mean they have 10 members of staff with 2 years of experience each.
class="infoquote "we have expanded beyond our roots and branched out to serve the whole of West Yorkshire, setting up in Leeds, Bradford, Yeadon and Bingley"< div>
Eatons law f...
Drummond Miller LLP Solicitors in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Bathgate, Musselburgh, Dalkeith & East Kilbride: We can't even link you to a page with information, only https: www.lawscot.org.uk find-a-solicitor ?Name=drummond+miller&Postcode=&type=firm" to a search results page< a> which at the time of writing was pushing information off the edges of the mobile device.
A qui...
Dispute Resolver Consultancy - Mediation & Alternative Dispute Resolution ADR in London: You can also use an ADR scheme to narrow down the problem before you go to court."< div>
For this you would expect that the more experienced an arbitrator is the better chance you have of being led down the right path and getting the best resolution . But it's best to...
Defank Solicitors in London:
Defank is https: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk organisation people 21827 defank-solicitors" registered there< a> and you are able to look up the qualification dates, expertise, and languages spoken by any solicitor within the firm. It's the person taking the case th...
CWJ Solicitors & Notaries - Clarkson Wright & Jakes Ltd in Orpington, Kent: The firm branding typically uses the acronym "CWJ" which stands for Clarkson Wright & Jakes Ltd.
class="infoquote "We support a number of organisations and encourage everyone at CWJ to participate in community and charity projects."< div>
A quick note on navigat...
Scotland Injury Solicitors from Baker Hardman Ltd in Glasgow: For any firm https: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk organisation offices 7301 baker-hardman-ltd" you can look up< a> alternative trading names, contact details for all offices, areas of law covered, and details about the staff. It sounds great, but most firms will make claim...
Cullimore Dutton Solicitors Ltd - Conveyancing & Legal Services in Chester: Never be afraid to ring up the official number you have to check on anything.
. Cullimore Dutton seem to be weathering the storm well so far. If you've flicked through a few of our articles already you'll hopefully have noticed that we try to mix reviews of any firm with ge...
Calio Claims Ltd - Personal Injury in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth & Dundee: The official website of the backing firm Lindsays is https: www.lindsays.co.uk" www.lindsays.co.uk< a>, with the official site of this branding being www.calioclaims.co.uk which is HTTPS secure for submitting your personal details via the contact form. So what are the ...
Buchanan & Co Ltd Solicitors in Staveley, Chesterfield, Kiveton Park & Sheffield: So what are the independent forums saying?
class="infoquote "Professional staff. And they talk normal"
"easy to get through to my solicitor and they replied to me promptly"
"Put him at ease from the word go"
"Everything we wanted was sorted promptly"< div> ...
Brown & Co Solicitors in Greenwich, London:
A quick note on navigation due to the number of firms out there with 'brown' in the name. So hopefully from all this you'll see our decision to have Brown&Co added to the network was not without merit. It's clear someone didn't do that because one of the law firm's ...
Brodies LLP Solicitors in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh & Inverness Scotland: Even then, it will only be reviews people have entered for that one office. It's only there you get to hear both sides. You need to find the things that set firms apart from each other, not what just sounds good on a webpage next to an image of lawyers smiling and shaking ha...
Bridge McFarland LLP - Solicitors in Grimsby, Hull, Lincoln, Louth, and Market Rasen: The other two mean they've simply added up the years of all the staff (e.g. Unfortunately every firm that deals with property will have such negative reviews. So what about the independent boards such as https: www.google.com search?q=bridge+mcfarland+llp+lincoln&rlz=1C1CH...
Brian Barr Solicitors Ltd Chronic Pain & Fibromyalgia Compensation in Manchester: The firm's branding is reflected in the web address with the official site being simply www.brianbarr.co.uk (www.brianbarr.com does not redirect there). However some firms are better at client testimonials than others. is to get a wider range of opinions but also to see if...
Bell Lax Ltd - Solicitors in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham: On the other hand, an individual solicitor who tries to handle a huge range of case types cannot really call themselves a specialist. In fact for most of them no comments were left at all - just a low star rating which we always think is just plain unhelpful. Surely an envi...
Backhouse Solicitors in Chelmsford, Essex: Are they cherry picking?
class="infoquote "extremely professional and always responded to the many queries I had"
"extremely diligent and responsive, usually replying to emails within 5 minutes"
"Their replies to my queries were both timely and accurate"
"The...
ACSL Solicitors Ltd in Liverpool: Other common sales phrases many use include 'we are a modern firm', 'friendly staff', and 'very experienced'. Little things like these can show a firm really interested in it's work, the people coming through their site, and that 'transparency' many claim to strive for. So w...
A City Law Firm Ltd in London: So for any firm you're able to see for yourself whether there is a decent amount of experience individually and collaboratory in the firm you're thinking of using.
Plus with all the phishing scams still going on always make sure you're on the correct website and n...
Two Harcourt Buildings Chambers - 2HB Barristers in London:
class="infoquote "Her calm yet firm demeanour instills confidence in clients from the outset of a case"
"persuasive and direct"
"His case preparation is first-rate"
"His advocacy is precise and measured, and he is a very effective cross-examiner"< div>
Becaus...
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