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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HT Legal Solutions Ltd | Personal Injury Solicitor Services from Hina Thakrar: The firm is authorized and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, ensuring compliance with the highest legal standards.
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class="infoquote "With our No Win No Fee arrangement for workplace and public accident cases, there's no financial risk involved."< d...
Law (aka All Law Ltd) Solicitors in Preston: The official site for this firm has a less usual ending to being www.your.law and no other websites currently redirect you there. But the first thing we would recommend when searching for legal help is not to get taken in with marketing jargon. The worst currently target pro...
WYM Legal Ltd Conveyancing Solicitors in Watford: and an unusual three letter start - we've seen plenty of typos in our search function. We've seen a divorce specialist with a negative review for not handling criminal cases, and one firm with a 5 star rating for the incredible menu. It's not uncommon to see even some of the...
Woodstock Legal Services Ltd - Solicitors Law Practice in Poole: Our poll a few years back resulted in only 8% of you saying you even read them. Whilst many firms, including Woodstock Legal, have testimonials on their websites - they majority of people tend to ignore them. Some law firms list hobbies, pets names, and even favourite colou...
Wolf Law Solicitors Ltd in Wirral: Sometimes the brief is to generate informative articles to educate consumers on a specific product or service.
Wolf Law show a mix of abilities with solicitor Nadeem Akhtar qualifying as such in 1999 and Lyndsy Sword joining the profession in 2019. It's the same firm a...
Wilford Smith Solicitors in Sheffield (Meadowhall) & Rotherham - WS Strategic Ltd: For example 'wilford smith solicitors sheffield' brings up totally different reviews to 'wilford smith rotherham'. However other companies may use clever wording to try and make their claims seem bigger than they are. This one from the Wilford Smith site is very clear , ind...
Wildcat Law Ltd Solicitors in London & Southampton: Also note that if you are searching for reviews on Google these days you often have to enter the location as well as the firm name to see comments people have left. For the entirety of the 20th century people had to take their case to a solicitor who would then hire a barris...
WH Law Ltd - Immigration Solicitors in Woking: But typically the fraudsters targeting law firm clients are only after property matters due to the huge deposits they manage to trick people into paying into the wrong account. However if they have seven solicitors and list seven specialist areas of law - that is still a ve...
Waterstone Partnership Solicitors Ltd in Bradford:
But we can't stress enough the importance of reading actual comments and not just relying on star ratings when it comes to comparing firms. 'waterstone partnership bradford'. At the time of writing it looks as though the firm are in the middle of updating their webs...
Walker Foster Ltd Solicitors in Skipton, Barnoldswick, Silsden, Settle, Ilkley, Northallerton & Harrogate: 'walker foster skipton'. The thing to watch for is whether that helps you distinguish one firm from another.
class="infoquote "Our vision is to always be the first choice for local legal expertise"< div>
They also offer a range of downloadable https: walker...
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. Especially with everything going on at the moment.
This includes Business Immigration such as Sponsorship Licences and Skilled Workers, Personal Immigration such ...
TWB Probate Solicitors Ltd - Estate Planning, Wills & Probate in London: This is a group of advisors that have consultants on staff. We would recommend using the contact information listed on the TWB Probate Solicitors' website. Grants of Representation - Administration of Estates – And Nothing Else"< div>
For example, this quote is fro...
The Law Partnership Ltd - Solicitors in Coventry:
That means you can look up how many years someone has been a solicitor for any of those firms and what areas of law they specialise in. For our example (as the title suggests) we're going to use The Law Partnership. Plenty of experience there. Common variants such as ...
Thomas and Thomas Solicitors Ltd in Maesteg, Bridgend & Port Talbot: They do use some of the wording we mentioned before, such as:
class="infoquote "Our team of experienced solicitors who are specialists in their particular areas of law have a deep understanding of the legal system"< div>
Most firms will claim the same. How on e...
Stephanie Heijdra - The Lady Barrister & Clerksroom Chambers in London: Barristers are setup quite differently to regular law offices in that there typically aren't official physical law offices to go back and forth to.
Barristers may be part of a 'chambers' or simply be working on their own. However for barristers there simply isn't as mu...
Sternberg Reed LLP Solicitors with Offices in Romford, Barking & Grays: If you https: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk organisation offices 16843 sternberg-reed-llp" check out the page< a> for this firm for example you'll be shown all office addresses, any alternate trading names, contact details, languages spoken at the firm, and so on. For exam...
Solidaire Solicitors - Solidaire Law Ltd in Milton Keynes: When firms had to rely on local word of mouth or distance between a customer and any advert they could place - legal practices would tend to try and take as many different case types as possible to ensure a steady stream of business. Solidaire Solicitors is the trading name ...
Sarah Rostamlou-Andrews Law - Landlord / Tenant Eviction Dispute Solicitor in Southport, Lancashire: Therefore while your local takeaway might have hundreds of reviews , your local solicitor might only have a handful. The official website is www.sarahandrewslaw.co.uk but the full name you see on the site and with the regulatory bodies is Sarah Rostamlou-Andrews Law. If you...
Oakwood Solicitors Ltd & Oakwood Property Solicitors in Leeds:
However, you need to be extra careful online these days especially if you are seeking help with a property matter . We should make a quick note on navigation.
If you want to look a little deeper into any firm in England & Wales though, we absolutely recommend...
NJS Law in Macclesfield: If you read '60 years of combined experience' on a law firm's website it could be that there are two veterans with 30 years' experience each. That's not a criticism.
class="infoquote "NJS Law understands that each client is unique and our experienced solicitors' teams...
Nero Legal Solicitors Conveyancing Law Firm in Glasgow, Scotland:
The firm's site is HTTPS secure for submitting your personal information via their online contact form. Our goal is to help people spot differences between firms . For example, the Nero website contains various help articles such as 'A Guide To Self Build Property', ...
SG Murphy & Co Ltd - Solicitors in Newtownabbey, Belfast:
class="infoquote "Our expert Lawyers bring a level of expertise and customer service that sets us apart and ensures your complete satisfaction."< div>
This means there is no easy way to independently verify the experience levels or practice areas of individual l...
MPG Quantity Surveyors Ltd in London - Chartered Surveyors for Construction Dispute Arbitration: If you are a company that deals with property or infrastructure though - you definitely will. The site is HTTPS secure for submitting your personal details via their online form. But many still don't know about other options such as using Arbitration or Mediation firms. Of...
MJV & Co Solicitors Ltd - Law Firm in Thornton-Cleveleys, Blackpool: It wasn't until we researched MJV Solicitors that we realised there was a once-hugely-popular phrase now seemingly missing from the pages of most current law firm websites. Such as:
class="infoquote "We have around 50 years combined experience of acting for people and...
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.
A quick note on navigation should be made with the firm having an 'and' or '+' sign in it's branding. That's terrible and we'll explain mor...
Marsden Rawsthorn Solicitors Ltd in Preston & Chorley: We've also seen a Criminal Law firm praise for their 'outstanding menu'. We are committed to getting the right results for you, for the right fee whilst providing you with a quality service."< div>
That's the opening lines from the website of the law practice Marsden R...
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. There have also been concerted efforts to keep the amount a solicitor can earn h...
Lyons Solicitors - Law Firm in Kingswood, Westbury-on-Trym & Chew Magna (Bristol): But if a law firm states they have '20 years of combined experience' or '20 years of experience within the firm' - that means they've added up all the years between all staff members. That may sound like wasting time, but we've been doing this for over twenty years now and c...
LS Legal Solicitors Ltd: In times gone by (we've been banned from writing 'in the old days') there would be a high street solicitor that would generally handle a wide range of case types. But how can you tell the difference?
class="infoquote "offering a wide range of legal services to busines...
UK Divorce Coaches | Things to consider when seeking divorce coaching services in the UK: It helps people regain clarity, confidence, and control over their circumstances, ensuring they navigate divorce with a forward-thinking mindset. Their role is to empower clients with tools to make informed decisions, manage stress, and rebuild confidence. < li>< ul>
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QualitySolicitors Large & Gibson - Law Firm in Southsea, Portsmouth: Obviously they will not have a 120-year-old solicitor on staff - so that number doesn't help you work out whether they will provide a competent legal professional with the skills you need.
class="infoquote "We are dedicated to making the process as hassle free as poss...
Kee Solicitors Ltd in Glasgow & Aberdeen: The branding matches the web address with www.keesolicitors.co.uk being the official site. We have one niche firm on our network handling only life-changing injury claims and another that only represents whistleblowers. But the claims are not unique. It was all relevant stuf...
Horsley Law Solicitors in Stafford aka Horsley Holdings Ltd: 95% Cases Won. Neither do any of the variants we tried such as www.horsleysolicitors.co.uk
If you are going to look around for further information about the firm before making a decision, you'll notice that they are known as Horsley Holdings Ltd on both the Law Societ...
Heritage Park Family Law Ltd - Barrister Chambers in Ampthill, Bedford: Some firms say 'established in 1881' but that doesn't mean a 150-year-old solicitor is sat behind a desk somewhere.
class="infoquote "Evening and weekend appointments available on request."< div>
This is much rarer than you might think.
The bar standards c...
HCR Legal LLP Solicitors Law Firm incl Medical Accident Group in Worcester, Birmingham & Hereford: Every firm will put amazing sounding sales-pitches on their websites:
class="infoquote "Our passion for people is at the heart of everything we do ... However it's the independent forums most people turn to and prefer such as Facebook, Google and Trustpilot.
c...
Harrison's Solicitors - Conveyancing in Reading, Caversham & Woodley: It will take you less than 30 seconds to have looked up that information but armed with these kinds of details you'll be able to tell important differences beyond the glossy pages of the various websites. It has levelled the playing field so that smaller firms offering gr...
Guardian Law Ltd - Employment & HR Lawyers in Nottingham: At the time of writing we could only find a total of four reviews on the most popular boards https: www.google.com search?q=guardian+law+nottingham&rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBGB926GB926&sxsrf=ALiCzsZbN_HU50tpkEOaHnK41vCAgn0gRQ%3A1666210938735&ei=elxQY5HBLJSKhbIPj6ydqAU&ved=0ahUKEwiR...
Garden Stirling Burnet Solicitors Ltd in Haddington, Edinburgh, Dunbar, North Berwick & Tranent: Their claim of 30 years' experience though may sound small https: find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk company SC507024 officers" in comparison< a> to some firms claiming decades and even centuries of experience on their websites. If you look up the reviews ...
England & Derbyshire LLP Solicitors in Guildford and Woking, Surrey: England and Derbyshire's website does state a few such comments:
class="infoquote "made me feel like I could can tell her anything"
"goes beyond her role to help her clients"
"my life has changed"< div>
A quick note on navigation though. The SRA is the Soli...
Goldsmith Bowers Debt Recovery & Litigation Solicitors in Bradford:
With people moving more freely between companies these days that is even less true now than it was fifty years ago.
A quick note on navigation with the firm's official website being www.goldsmithbowers.com however www.goldsmithbowers.co.uk does not currently red...
Girlings Solicitors LLP & Girlings Personal Injury Claims Ltd in Sandwich, Ashford & Canterbury: Some firms have testimonials on their websites but we tend not to cover them as according to our poll a few years back - only 8% of you trust company provided testimonials. An excellent firm that fights hard for £10,000 with a 25% cut is better than a bad firm that qui...
Frei Solicitors Ltd - Luxury Asset Law Firm in London: People are simply not as quick to rush online and discuss how their criminal arrest, messy divorce, life changing injury, or child custody matter went compared to, for example, the pizza they just ordered. But the thing about https: www.investopedia.com terms h hnwi.asp" ...
Foster & Coleman Ltd Solicitors in Bromley, Greater London: It's common for solicitors to make huge claims about ancient founding dates such as 'established in 1881' or even older. Whilst that may have been a good indication of a qualified firm during the last century, people move jobs now and create new firms much easier. It states ...
Farah Family Law Solicitors in Birmingham: Larger firms with multiple solicitors who each individually specialise in a particular area of law is a stretch, but it's not nearly as misleading as how others have used it.
A quick note on navigation. However, your ex burning in lava is not achievable by even the mo...
Eve Lake Conveyancing & Legal Services in Hope Valley: We've been writing in the legal industry for over twenty years and conveyancing firms with star ratings in the 4s is actually rather unusual. Serving clients nationally."< div>
That's the tagline for the Eve Lake website which is an example of a Licensed Conveyancer. T...
EMD Law LLP Solicitors in Staplehurst & St Leonards-on-Sea: But a lot of firms can seem to fit into that box with many using similar site wording, making similar promises, and even using similar images on their pages. We try to ensure we can recommend a range of services in each area, not just cram every single firm onto a page. We...
EDC Lord & Co Solicitors in Southall: Google has changed so that sometimes you have to enter in the full name of a firm and it's location in order to see reviews - e.g. Far too many people https: www.theguardian.com money 2019 aug 24 the-45000-deposit-for-our-first-home-was-stolen-and-the-banks-did-nothing" ne...
Eatons Solicitors in Bradford, Bingley, Yeadon & Leeds West Yorkshire: Sometimes it's just because they received a last minute official-looking email telling them the bank details have changed. They also seem to have bought other variants such as www.eatonssolicitors.co.uk which is actually much more helpful and security conscious than you mi...
Drummond Miller LLP Solicitors in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Bathgate, Musselburgh, Dalkeith & East Kilbride: These snippets above are from a Drummond Miller testimonial page and whilst all the comments are clearly going to be positive (we've seen only one firm that posted both positive and negative reviews on their own site) they don't actually tell you much about the past client...
Dispute Resolver Consultancy - Mediation & Alternative Dispute Resolution ADR in London: One such firm is the Dispute Resolver Consultancy. But it's best to speak to an expert about your specific case to work out which will be the best course for you . Google has also made changes so that reviews of a firm will often not pop up with just their name entered into...
Defank Solicitors in London: It's the person taking the case that's most important to you. But you can get a 40-year veteran lawyer from a 1-year old law brand, and a 1-year newbie lawyer from a 200-year old law firm. There are hundreds of websites out there pretending to look like an official law firm ...
CWJ Solicitors & Notaries - Clarkson Wright & Jakes Ltd in Orpington, Kent:
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 navigation. The firm branding typically uses the acronym "CWJ" which stands for Clarkson Wright & Jakes ...
Cullimore Dutton Solicitors Ltd - Conveyancing & Legal Services in Chester: We have noticed that Google has been switching to more local targeting so if you can't get reviews to show up for a firm try entering the town name as well (e.g.
The importance of all this is because for many years now property sales have been the biggest target of sc...
Crockett & Co Family Law Solicitors in Leeds: Legal Aid started being stripped back in the '90s and has continued to be gutted be successive governments ever since.
class="infoquote "As a compassionate law firm, we take pride in representing vulnerable clients."< div>
Most people, when they read stuff about...
Cook Legal Ltd Law Firm in Wirral, Merseyside: It wasn't too many decades ago that people's legal assistance choices included a handful of solicitors all with centre-of-town high street offices. Either way we always recommend reading the actual comments rather than flicking through star ratings. So when you see a solic...
Calio Claims Ltd - Personal Injury in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth & Dundee: This really should just be a matter of what logo is at the top of the emails and letters you receive. Because Calio Claims is - to quote the firm - 'Powered by Lindsays'. This is true for negative issues as well with any firm you are researching. Today while reviewing the we...
Buchanan & Co Ltd Solicitors in Staveley, Chesterfield, Kiveton Park & Sheffield: People have handed over https: www.lawsociety.org.uk public for-public-visitors common-legal-issues payment-diversion-fraud" tens of thousands of pounds< a> in house deposits to fraudsters over the past couple of decades.
This is hugely important because of the im...
Brodies LLP Solicitors in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh & Inverness Scotland:
However, this wealth of choice comes with its own difficulties of being able to tell each firm apart and decide which is best for you . The firm offers legal advice to private and public sector clients both in the UK and internationally in its core business areas of ...
PCS Legal Ltd Conveyancing Solicitors in Basildon, Ongar, Wickford, London, Rayleigh &Harlow:
class="infoquote "We are committed to ensuring all our clients receive the highest possible standard of advice and service in relation to their house sale or purchase, Remortgage, Equity Release, Transfer of Equity, Commercial transactions, Probate or Will advice."< ...
Bridge McFarland LLP - Solicitors in Grimsby, Hull, Lincoln, Louth, and Market Rasen: Take this example:
class="infoquote "Bridge McFarland LLP is a leading regional law firm that holds an exceptional local, national and international reputation"< div>
It sounds good, but what does it mean? What are they 'leading' in? What is an 'exceptional repu...
Brian Barr Solicitors Ltd Chronic Pain & Fibromyalgia Compensation in Manchester: Google has been moving towards a more local setup for reviews though, so sometimes you have to enter the location of the company as well as the name - e.g. 'brian barr solicitors manchester'. However some firms are better at client testimonials than others.
class="i...
Scotland Injury Solicitors from Baker Hardman Ltd in Glasgow:
class="infoquote "full authorization and regulation from the Solicitors Regulation Authority"< div>
This statement on any website may actually be more important than you think . Hopefully they will get their butts in gear and catch up to the English Welsh versi...
Backhouse Solicitors in Chelmsford, Essex: Note that you may need to enter the full name plus location of a firm (e.g. We want to change that."< div>
Rather than disecting every word on the firm's site like we do, most consumers immediately turn to third party review boards when they want to research a firm. 'b...
Amy King Legal - Personal Injury & Litigation Solicitor in Gillingham, Kent: "< div> < br>
The main thing is to feel confident in the professional you are talking to, no matter what industry. It is HTTPS secure for submitting your personal details via the contact form. Groups of them together are weirder. Certainly when confronted with a very...
ACSL Solicitors Ltd in Liverpool:
We know this does happen alot with property matters, where clients of the other side start leaving negative messages about the buyer seller's solicitor. If firm says they have been established for over 150 years for example, that doesn't mean there is a 150 year old ...
A City Law Firm Ltd in London: It's more likely for firms to just say they are 'award winning' and make no reference to what that award might be. This is from the Legal 500's description:
class="infoquote "These rankings reflect the result of months of extensive analysis by our research team, wh...
Two Harcourt Buildings Chambers - 2HB Barristers in London: But make sure to check through each chamber's website and have a good chat with someone on the phone to get some clarity about the Public Access Scheme in relation to what you need. Two Harcourt Building's official website is the helpfully short www.2hb.co.uk but www.2hb.c...