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:
Please check out the new US Law Firm Reviews section on our sister site.
Law (aka All Law Ltd) Solicitors in Preston: So how can you discern one firm from another?
As an example we're going to cover a firm called Law based 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. Here are some snipp...
Eve Lake Conveyancing & Legal Services in Hope Valley: The official full name is Eve Lake Conveyancing & Legal Services with the official web address being www.evelake.co.uk The site is HTTPS secure for submitting your personal details into their callback form. There's a distinct difference between a 'licensed conveyancer' and...
WYM Legal Ltd Conveyancing Solicitors in Watford: However, in this instance, CLC accreditation is not the only stamp of approval. You will see a large number of negative reviews as well. 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 incred...
Woodstock Legal Services Ltd - Solicitors Law Practice in Poole: Clearly we ended up with a positive impression of their law practice otherwise we would not have added them to our network. They include direct contact information and work history details of each staff member which is perfect. A mix of seasoned heads on fresh legs. In mo...
Wolf Law Solicitors Ltd in Wirral: Sometimes the brief is to generate informative articles to educate consumers on a specific product or service. That's the 'no win no fee' . So many people have https: www.theguardian.com money 2019 aug 24 the-45000-deposit-for-our-first-home-was-stolen-and-the-banks-did-n...
Wilford Smith Solicitors in Sheffield (Meadowhall) & Rotherham - WS Strategic Ltd:
On that topic we should cover some notes about navigation. However other companies may use clever wording to try and make their claims seem bigger than they are. Todays article focuses on Wilford Smith solicitors. We are your trusted advisor."< div>
If you've al...
Wildcat Law Ltd Solicitors in London & Southampton: You can hire a barrister yourself.
Wildcat Law have gone a step further in this process by having both types of help within one firm. But since the roll out of https: www.directaccessportal.co.uk " The Direct Access Scheme< a> you no longer have to pay someone to ...
WH Law Ltd - Immigration Solicitors in Woking: Especially for certain case types such as Divorce, Criminal Law, Motoring Offences, Conveyancing, and Immigration - the latter of which is what the firm clearly handles.
class="infoquote "We're experienced – our immigration solicitors have been helping people come ...
Waterstone Partnership Solicitors Ltd in Bradford: So how old the firm's logo really doesn't help you know how experienced the actual staff are. For example www.waterstoneps.co.uk currently does not redirect you to the correct site. For example if you see any firm stating 'established in 1881' or any other such ancient found...
Walker Foster Ltd Solicitors in Skipton, Barnoldswick, Silsden, Settle, Ilkley, Northallerton & Harrogate: They are something to watch for on law firm's websites. You need to search for reviews on each individual office - e.g. The Law Society of England & Wales has an amazing site rivalling anything their counterpart organisations currently offer. That's a big positive in our o...
UVS Law Immigration & Visa Solicitor in Burton-on-Trent & London: Especially with everything going on at the moment.
class="infoquote "We understand that the immigration process can be complex and confusing, which is why our experienced solicitors are dedicated to guiding you through every step of the way."< div>
Typically whe...
TWB Probate Solicitors Ltd - Estate Planning, Wills & Probate in London: This mean you can also use the Law Society site to verify any claims a firm or professional makes about their experience.
class="infoquote "All case work is undertaken by a solicitor who thereby provides a customised, personal service. clients complete a relatively co...
The Law Partnership Ltd - Solicitors in Coventry: That's because there are problems and delays in a house transaction 99.9999% of the time. Always read the comments. The age of the firm's branding does not really tell you anything about the experience of the solicitor you'll get. Unfortunately there are more than a dozen wa...
Thomas and Thomas Solicitors Ltd in Maesteg, Bridgend & Port Talbot:
Be aware that Google has changed how it displays reviews and nowadays you sometimes have to enter the location to see any reviews at all. So what are they saying?
class="infoquote "made a house sale process smooth and as quick as possible"
"Young friendly s...
Stephanie Heijdra - The Lady Barrister & Clerksroom Chambers in London: Usually we do not include company provided testimonials after the poll we took a few years ago indicated less than 8% of people trusted them. She also has an LLM in Legal Practice."< div>
You'll find that barristers are much more embedded in the legal process which i...
Thaxted Legal Ltd Immigration Solicitors in Chislehurst, London: So how do Thaxted fare on these independent forums?
class="infoquote "very thorough and knowledgeable, and gave me great advice on my case which is quite complicated"
"clear explanations and quick turnaround"
"She helped me to prepare a new application and sub...
Summerfield Browne Solicitors in London, Birmingham, Cambridge, Oxford, Market Harborough & Leicester: How do you check that? The best resource we've found so far online is the website for The Law Society of England & Wales.
class="infoquote "able to say (and do) things in a way that doesn't sound confusing"
"Listened to my contractual issue and dealt with it in a ti...
Stowe Family Law - Divorce Solicitors in Harrogate, York, Beverley & Other Locations:
class="infoquote "Within our 80-plus strong team of leading UK divorce lawyers, we have forensic accountants, a dedicated children’s department, an adoption team, surrogacy law specialists and an international family law department and we also have trained mediators...
Sternberg Reed LLP Solicitors with Offices in Romford, Barking & Grays: Neither of the variants such as www.sternbergreed.co.uk get you to the correct place though and we spotted a specialist site for the firm's family law department at www.srfamilylawsolicitors.co.uk
Keeping an eye out to make sure you know where you are at all times is b...
Solidaire Solicitors - Solidaire Law Ltd in Milton Keynes:
They also provide the qualification dates of any solicitors. But with people able to just look up any firm across the whole of the UK, firms that specialise in one or two areas of law can keep their focus and still do well. One positive benefit of the internet has bee...
Smith and Graham Solicitors in Hartlepool, Peterlee and Middlesbrough: But hopefully from the examples and resources quoted in the article below, you'll see why they have been added to our network. Sadly establishment dates are one of those marketing things companies with less-than-good-intentions misuse all the time. This is important becaus...
Rose Fendlen Law - Solicitors in Wigan (Formerly LRose Law): It seems that communication is good and there is definitely some feedback about Rose Fendlen's goal of displaying geniune compassion for their clients. Housing Disrepair & Other Litigation"< div>
Statements like these on various law firm's websites can be confusing b...
PCS Legal Ltd Conveyancing Solicitors in Basildon, Ongar, Wickford, London, Rayleigh &Harlow:
This resource may be a useful to bear in mind when trying to decide between conveyancers. So it might be an idea to bookmark the site just in case. Solicitors may work with The Law Society. PCS conveyancing have customer testimonials on their website.
class="in...
Oakwood Solicitors Ltd & Oakwood Property Solicitors in Leeds: That's much rarer than you might think and indicates a far better chance your solicitor will be directly involved in the case. The firm's name is actually quite unique so various searches such as "oakwood law" brought up the same firm. Oakwood have a https: www.oakwoodso...
Nicholson Jones Sutton Solicitors in Macclesfield: Certainly people prefer independent forums over company provided testimonials on their website. For example, this snippet from the firm's front page:
class="infoquote "For fast, friendly affordable legal advice - ask Nicholson Jones Sutton Solicitors"< div>
B...
SG Murphy & Co Ltd - Solicitors in Newtownabbey, Belfast: Watch out for general themes both positive and negative in the reviews as well. Those are all great things to be as a law firm, but certainly there are no firms claiming to be the opposite. Thousands of people have https: www.which.co.uk news article friday-afternoon-fra...
MJV & Co Solicitors Ltd - Law Firm in Thornton-Cleveleys, Blackpool: Vincent and his father, Alan."< div>
There are other mentions about the 'family run business' aspect of the firm too. Make sure you're on the correct site and never discuss payments via email.
. Such as:
class="infoquote "We have around 50 years combined expe...
McCarthy + Co LLP Solicitors in Dublin, Cork & Clonakilty:
A quick note on navigation should be made with the firm having an 'and' or '+' sign in it's branding.
One thing to bear in mind though is that while many firms claim to be award winning - not all of them seem to clarify which award that is. This includes the La...
Mark Croft Driving Offence Solicitor in Derby: At the time of writing the site was not https secure so it might be better to ring with your queries until this is sorted. They are too busy https: www.dailymail.co.uk news article-12003657 Brisbane-couple-conned-102-000-savings-house-elaborate-scam.html" taking huge amou...
Mackenzie Jones Solicitors in St Asaph, Menai Bridge & Chester: The official domain is www.macjones.com but currently www.macjones.co.uk seems to be owned by someone else. If you check the https: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk organisation offices 455061 mackenzie-jones-solicitors-limited" pages on this firm< a> you'll be shown all offi...
Lyons Solicitors - Law Firm in Kingswood, Westbury-on-Trym & Chew Magna (Bristol): That's a big difference, but at first glance they may look the same.
But this is where our recommend resource - The Law Society of England & Wales - comes in.
class="infoquote "Specialising in Residential and Commercial Conveyancing, Family Law, Personal Injury,...
LS Legal Solicitors Ltd:
class="infoquote "Our objective is to provide high quality legal advice through a professionally managed legal practice"< div>
Although LS Legal displays several statements about handling a 'wide range' of cases, if you look closer you'll see many areas of law ...
QualitySolicitors Large & Gibson - Law Firm in Southsea, Portsmouth: To clarify, you could think of the QS branding as more of a 'stamp of approval'? Any firm wishing to be part of the QS network must adhere to certain setups and quality control . That's also how they are displayed on the website of The Law Society of England and Wales which...
Kee Solicitors Ltd in Glasgow & Aberdeen: The property conveyancing market has been plagued for years by scammers https: www.thisismoney.co.uk money mortgageshome article-3385825 Sarah-Ritchie-saved-45-000-dream-home-lost-devastating-new-scam.html" tricking people into handing over their entire house deposit< a>....
JPS Walker Solicitors Ltd in Manchester: One of the best resources we always recommend people use when researching law offices and solicitors is any available local law society website. But that also means the quote about '30 years' on the firm's website most likely relates to how long the firm's name has been runn...
Horsley Law Solicitors in Stafford aka Horsley Holdings Ltd:
class="infoquote "worked tirelessly to ensure a speedy recovery from this devastating disaster"
"persistent and tenacious on behalf of his clients"
"very understanding and sympathetic"
"took on my case at short notice and was extremely helpful from the word go"<...
Hill House Chambers - Barristers Based in London: So the fact this company receives praise from both direct public clients as well as other law firms that have used them to handle their own cases - is certainly notable. Always take care on the internet as many legal matters are now being targeted by scammers due to the la...
Heritage Park Family Law Ltd - Barrister Chambers in Ampthill, Bedford: Whether any of these firms actually have a qualified, legal professional take your call is not always stated. While many firms have testimonials on their website, the comments on independent forums usually have more impact:
class="infoquote "extremely helpful, knowled...
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. This doesn't seem to be just a gimmicky extra to target people.
class="infoquote "As an award winning Top 60 UK law firm we provide the full range of services that y...
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. So what can you do to know the difference between one firm that sa...
Guardian Law Ltd - Employment & HR Lawyers in Nottingham: They provide a wide range of data on each law firm and legal professional registered with them including all business aliases, alternate contact details, speciality case types, and qualification dates of the solicitors. That's a good four decades of combined experience bet...
Goldsmith Bowers Debt Recovery & Litigation Solicitors in Bradford: Whoever it was certainly seemed annoyed at the firm but it was a slightly odd claim about 'they are trying to silence me' ?
class="infoquote "free consultation with one of our experts about your needs and how we can help"< div>
Despite our modern times of free ...
Girlings Solicitors LLP & Girlings Personal Injury Claims Ltd in Sandwich, Ashford & Canterbury: Very rough example, but hopefully makes the point. Some examples: Girlings' Jeremy Burke qualified in 1988, Kathryn Kennell in 1996, Michelle Meakin in 2009, right up to Steevi Henderson's relatively recent qualification in 2017. That certainly looks like a good range of exp...
Frei Solicitors Ltd - Luxury Asset Law Firm in London: But the thing about https: www.investopedia.com terms h hnwi.asp" high net worth< a> individuals is that they usually have a range of assets all worth more than a regular person's (like everyone working at 1to1Legal) main and often only investment - their house. The compa...
Foster & Coleman Ltd Solicitors in Bromley, Greater London: If you look up https: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk office 630363 foster-coleman-limited" the page for any firm< a> you'll see other names they might go by, contact details, staff names, languages spoken, areas of law covered, and even qualification dates of the solicitors...
EMD Law LLP Solicitors in Staplehurst & St Leonards-on-Sea: That's because while everyone is very happy to shout out to the world about the pizza they just tasted, they are often less keen to announce their messy divorce, bankruptcy, criminal charges, or personal injuries. So we would mark this one down as very much a positive .
...
EDC Lord & Co Solicitors in Southall:
A quick note on navigation.
class="infoquote "EDC Lord takes its name from our founder Edwin David Charles Lord who began his legal practice in 1919"< div>
First and foremost, the website is easy to navigate, with a clear and concise layout that makes it...
Eatons Solicitors in Bradford, Bingley, Yeadon & Leeds West Yorkshire:
Over the past decade there has been a massive upsurge of people https: www.telegraph.co.uk money katie-investigates thought-did-everything-right-100k-house-deposit-transferred " sending their home deposit< a> to a scammer.
Eatons don't use any actual wording ...
Drummond Miller LLP Solicitors in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Bathgate, Musselburgh, Dalkeith & East Kilbride: Solicitors could work from home, create their own startup firm, and build connections to grow their business without the need to spend a decade under someone else's brand first. Having worked in this industry for over 20+ years, please don't take it as hyperbole when we say ...
Dispute Resolver Consultancy - Mediation & Alternative Dispute Resolution ADR in London: We are not a directory just cramming as many high street solicitors as possible into the pages. The firm's website is HTTPS secure for submitting your details on their contact form.
class="infoquote "Dispute Resolver Consultancy can get more done for you in the reso...
CWJ Solicitors & Notaries - Clarkson Wright & Jakes Ltd in Orpington, Kent:
The Law Society also lists the qualification dates of each solicitor within any firm. We see many legal practices touting 'established in' dates with the obviously intention of implying they are more experienced and well-established than others. However we don't think...
Defank Solicitors in London: Defank Solicitors https: defanksolicitors.com 1_21_fess-wills-probate.html" does list fees< a> for their Will Probate, Conveyancing, and Employment Law services which is actually more clarity than you usually see.
A note for security. However that is not the way...
Cullimore Dutton Solicitors Ltd - Conveyancing & Legal Services in Chester: Cullimore Dutton seem to be weathering the storm well so far. We live in a much more flexible work environment these days.
class="infoquote "Our team are focused on having a positive impact on our clients' lives ... The first is simple and should mean there is someone...
Cook Legal Ltd Law Firm in Wirral, Merseyside: So when you see a solicitor's practice has hardly any reviews that doesn't always mean something negative. Law firms authorised to practice in England & Wales can practice in any area of those countries.
A quick note on navigation.
Most law firms will be able t...
Calio Claims Ltd - Personal Injury in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth & Dundee:
class="infoquote "With one of the largest personal injury teams in Scotland, we help people secure the compensation they deserve in relation to all types of claims."< div>
A quick note on navigation due to the different names.
With that all in the past, ...
Buchanan & Co Ltd Solicitors in Staveley, Chesterfield, Kiveton Park & Sheffield: (Quite often not even from their own clients but from impatient buyers sellers on the opposite side!)
class="infoquote "People often feel that Conveyancers get paid for doing very little. This snippet above from the website of Buchanan & Co Solicitors is one such stat...
Brown & Co Solicitors in Greenwich, London: 'brown and co solicitors london' . People are handing tens of thousands of pounds over to fraudsters sometimes based solely on a single spam email stating the house deposit needs to be paid into a different bank account. So what are people saying about the firm on the indepe...
Brodies LLP Solicitors in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh & Inverness Scotland: That can't possibly be true of course.
The Law Society of England & Wales will show you all office locations, contact information, and even languages spoken at the firm. You can receive great attention from a large firm and some small specialist firms have amazing re...
Bridge McFarland LLP - Solicitors in Grimsby, Hull, Lincoln, Louth, and Market Rasen: If it was an award for best logo design, then that doesn't really help you as a potential client. Depending on which browser you use a typo can end up with you seeing adverts for other firms if not simply pushing you directly to the wrong site. Don't be afraid to call the of...
Brian Barr Solicitors Ltd Chronic Pain & Fibromyalgia Compensation in Manchester: This firm, like many others, provides customer testimonials on their website:
class="infoquote "Highly recommend this firm for their expertise in fibromyalgia"
"made what was an extremely stressful time in my life easier to deal with"
"found me a fantastic CBT the...
Bell Lax Ltd - Solicitors in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham: But that doesn't mean we don't understand the value that list of cases has in indicating their genuine establishment, experience, and expertise . A firm that handles a single case types such as Motoring Offences is an obvious example of a specialist . Bell Lax don't do thi...
Scotland Injury Solicitors from Baker Hardman Ltd in Glasgow:
class="infoquote "We are here for comprehensive premier choice for business & personal legal services. You may have already noticed many of them use similar sales language and images.
Unfortunately, Scotland's law society is nowhere near providing such useful i...
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...
Amy King Legal - Personal Injury & Litigation Solicitor in Gillingham, Kent: Certainly when confronted with a very friendly 5-year experienced solicitor after just speaking to an incredibly curt 40-year veteran - you will be tempted to use the less experienced but more approachable person. It is HTTPS secure for submitting your personal details via...
ACSL Solicitors Ltd in Liverpool: So if anyone knows about law firm's websites, we're surely in that list .
class="infoquote "We use plain and simple English - so you know exactly what is happening and why."< div>
This statement is taken from the website of ACSL solicitors in Liverpool but it...
A City Law Firm Ltd in London: A City Law Firm has been on our network for a while now and has many aspects about it you may have come across in your search for legal help and wondered what it means or where you can get more information.
At this point we should also mention the firm's branding an...
Two Harcourt Buildings Chambers - 2HB Barristers in London:
There are many other differences between solicitors and barristers but we just wanted a quick article to assure you that if you are struggling to find background information on any chambers - you're not alone. As you can see, each is still specifically about one parti...
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