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:
Youngs Solicitors - Young & Co Solicitors Ltd in Longton (Stoke on Trent):
class="infoquote "Our specialisation in our key areas make us experts rather than 'jack of all trades'."< div>
Areas of law that a firm handles is also something you can usually confirm on the Law Society website, right down to each individual solicitor's chosen a...
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.
There are several other things that stood out to us about this firm as well such as the professional https: www.woodstocklegalservices.co.uk a...
ULA Solicitors Ltd - Law Firm in London: all came up with the same site. This firm https: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk office 607835 ula-solicitors-limited" is registered with< a> The Law Society of England & Wales which is great because they have the best user-side offering we've seen amongst similar organisa...
Trust Inheritance Ltd Wills, Probate & Estate Planning in Weston-Super-Mare: Certainly when we tried various search phrases several related companies showed up in the results including Inheritance Legal Services Ltd, Guardian Inheritance Ltd, The Inheritance Experts, and dozens of law firms using those words in the title of their Wills Probate sectio...
Trojan Solicitors Ltd Immigration & Family Law in London:
The legal services industry is a tough one for third party public review forums though because people are not as likely to discuss their experience of the legal system as easily as they share restaurant reviews.
Most importantly, they also https: solicitors.l...
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. The firm does have some testimonials on their website of which he...
Stephanie Heijdra - The Lady Barrister & Clerksroom Chambers in London: They also will be far more specialised in certain areas of law because they are more likely to have to represent you in court over the matter. Usually we do not include company provided testimonials after the poll we took a few years ago indicated less than 8% of people tr...
Summerfield Browne Solicitors in London, Birmingham, Cambridge, Oxford, Market Harborough & Leicester: For some, the fact they use email sometimes is the pinnacle of their 'modern' achievements.
For many the term 'Solicitor' still brings up the image of an old building in the centre of town and old men in old dusty wigs. This has the obviously knock on effect:
c...
Thaxted Legal Ltd Immigration Solicitors in Chislehurst, London: It's not as if any firm will say they are NOT experienced, dedicated, and providing quality services. We even have a list of the most 'problematic' firms based on the complaints databases. There are also several other Ltd companies with Thaxted in the name so just pay close ...
Taylor Price Legal Ltd - Solicitors in Leeds & Levenshulme (Manchester): The most common typo we spotted was people searching for 'taylor and price' with others searching for their official company name which is 'taylor price legal ltd'. This can then make them feel less capable. A really great resource to help with this is any local law society...
Swain & Co Solicitors Ltd in Southampton, Liverpool & Havant: We've been writing about and working with law firms for over twenty years now. Remember, though, that if you search for the firm name only when researching a law office you may get pages of general reviews about the company as a whole. Since the 90s the government has gutted...
Stowe Family Law - Divorce Solicitors in Harrogate, York, Beverley & Other Locations: However this statement alone should qualify our decision. We always recommend speaking to someone at the firm before going ahead. Some people believe they will be 'lost in the pack' at a large firm, whilst others think the weight of a large firm behind them will increase t...
Stenfield Ltd Solicitors in Norwich & Harrow on the Hill, London: For the past few years https: www.actionfraud.police.uk alert fraudsters-hacking-into-emails-to-divert-house-purchase-payments" thousands of people have handed over millions of pounds< a> to scammers during property sales purchases.
class="infoquote "very impressed ...
Springle & Co Solicitors Estate Planning Wills & Probate in North Shields, Tyne and Wear: For example, Claire Springle qualified as a solicitor in 2001 so that's at least two decades of real experience under her metaphorical belt. Springle & Co.
At one point, more than two thirds of people were dying without leaving a will . So whilst we're clearly not pus...
Smith and Graham Solicitors in Hartlepool, Peterlee and Middlesbrough: They also have actual prices listed on their website which is rare and great to see . Unfortunately some negative ratings had no comments with them in order to know if the complaint was valid or even about the correct firm. So the fact Smith and Graham solicitors have a wi...
Simper Law Ltd - Solicitors in Norwich & Great Yarmouth: But the main reason people probably prefer the third party independent review boards is that they will also include any negative reviews. For some reason though, the legal industry still has the complete opposite mentality.
class="infoquote "Victoria is the perfect Sol...
The Search Bureau from Premier Searches Ltd - UK Conveyancing Search Provider: SDLT.co.uk help stop stamp tax form rejections by pre-populating the forms and providing a printed SDLT5 certificate - they've handled over 3.6 million submissions to the HMRC already. However, as already mentioned at the outset of this piece, there often isn't as much to go...
Reynolds Macdonald Solicitors in Hackney:
A quick note on navigation as the firm branding is mainly 'Reynolds Macdonald Solicitors' but the web address and logo follows the 'RM Solicitors' style. The one review we did see:
class="infoquote "provided a really helpful and professional service to help me mak...
Richmond Legal Ltd Solicitors in Middleton, Manchester: Therefore whilst the case range across this particular firm isn't wholly niche - it is still limited and therefore you would expect the solicitors within the practice to have considerable knowledge in these two areas.
class="infoquote "Contact us on 0161 637 7177 or 0...
Reid Black Solicitors Ltd in Belfast, Antrim & Ballyclare: Obviously there could be mis-spellings of the Reid part with the whole 'i' before 'e' thing many of us still have stuck in our heads from school. We've also seen many people searching for 'reid and black solicitors' or 'reid black & co solicitors'. The Law Society of England...
Pump Court Chambers Direct Access Barristers in London, Swindon & Winchester:
Now whenever there are various court matters where you will need a barrister - you can usually hire one yourself directly. But the setup of chambers barristers across the UK and why their names are all so related is for another article. Pump Court Chambers don't handle...
Penerley Commercial Lawyers in Islington, London: The Law Society of England & Wales has a great user-side display of information and the majority of legal professionals will register with their national, county and sometimes even city law society. This is because some people's complaints can be ridiculously petty, and so...
Pacific Law Estate Planning Solicitors in Manchester: This is an area of law where we do think a specialist firm can be of benefit, the same as with something like Motor Offences. Never discuss bank details or payments via email. We've also seen dozens of negative reviews followed by comments from the firm stating 'this person...
OTS Solicitors Ltd Immigration & Family Law in London, UK: Even if someone phones you, you can always hang up and call your known solicitor back on the actual number you were originally given. So stars don't always reflect real position in the minds of previous clients.
There are quite a few ways to check the differences betwee...
OneLaw Chambers - Solicitors, Barristers & Advocates in London:
class="infoquote "ONELAW CHAMBERS and its lawyers provide a specialist and bespoke legal service in Civil and Commercial Litigation, Business Immigration, Personal Immigration, Landlord and Tenant and Probate matters"< div>
That being said, the government has come...
My Law Matters from Fentimans - Solicitors in Wolverhampton, Manchester, Solihull & Waltham Cross:
class="infoquote "we always strive to maintain consistently high standards throughout our work and aim to provide the best legal advice available."< div>
. the one word capitalised and heavily exclamated 'AVOID!!' hysterics) - if there is a general complaint theme tha...
MJV & Co Solicitors Ltd - Law Firm in Thornton-Cleveleys, Blackpool: Tens of thousands of pounds have ended up in the pockets of fraudsters. For example, there is a big difference between a firm saying it has '50 years experience' versus '50 years of combined experience' or even '50 years experience within the firm'. Negative ratings aren't...
Milners Law LLP Solicitors in Leeds, Harrogate & Pontefract: Multiple offices, a wide case range, and various solicitors working on their own specialist case subjects. That's great because that is who https: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk office 393193 milners" this firm is listed with< a>. We’re flexible and approachable, tailoring ...
Michael Leighton Jones Solicitors in Bargoed & Tredomen, Wales:
A quick note on navigation as the name of the firm is quite long. There is a firm call 'MLJ Legal Ltd' based in Hull, but at the moment searches including MLJ acronyms also brought up the michaelleightonjones website. This is very different to a firm that offers a wide ...
Mckie Legal Solicitors in Penrith & St Helens (ConnectMeToaLawyer Ltd): Not vice versa. We're not sure about the Wigan office the law society is still showing, but www.mckielegal.co.uk is the official website which we link to above with www.mckielegal.com not currently being owned by anyone and most of the variants (e.g. We've seen negative revi...
Mason Bullock CCJ & Employment Solicitors in Coventry: There always are. Some people are handing over entire house deposits to fraudsters based solely on an email asking them to change the bank details they pay to. Scammers are getting millions from people every year by pretending to be the person's solicitor.
This niche ...
Mackenzie Jones Solicitors in St Asaph, Menai Bridge & Chester: Always make sure you are on the correct website and never discuss payments or bank details via email.
If you are searching for a lawyer in England or Wales you're in luck because there is a third party website providing independent information about most law firms i...
LRose Law Ltd - Litigation Solicitors in Wigan: The main reason they haven't managed to pick a legal help provider already is often an inability to tell each of them apart . It seems that communication is good and there is definitely some feedback about LRose Law's goal of displaying geniune compassion for their client...
Bell Lax Ltd - Solicitors in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham: Despite all three statements seeming to indicate 30 years of 'something' - it is only the second statement that is a real indication that there is an actual 30 year experienced solicitor at the firm. Sometimes the law office provides testimonials on their website. That's a...
Lindsays Solicitors Offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow & Dundee: Please note that the following article relates to the law firm Lindsays as a whole. After reading through the comments we saw three one star messages all regarding the same thing - with comments such as "Don't sell 20 stanley Road!" Apparently some of the local people wa...
Lefevres Law Firm - Litigation Solicitors in Edinburgh, Glasgow & Aberdeen:
class="infoquote "We strive to learn everything about your company and truly get to know you on a personal level, so as to serve you as a trusted advisor for the long term."< div>
The first place people tend to visit when researching a firm is the public review b...
KRS Estate Planning Ltd - Will & Probate Advice in Leicester: In the quote above the amount of experience is being attached to the actual person you will be dealing with - i.e. There's obviously a massive range of variants people could attempt such as www.krs.co.uk or www.krsestateplanning.co.uk so we would recommend bookmarking the...
Khan Law - Raees Khan Personal Injury Solicitor in Glasgow: Always make sure you're on the correct website and never discuss bank details or payments via email .
. The quote above is from the Khan Law website and, in our opinion, is being used appropriately. That's fair enough. But you also get firms that cover a huge range of ca...
JPS Walker Solicitors Ltd in Manchester: JPS Walker Solicitors don't just provide regular testimonials on their website, they actually https: jpswalker.co.uk case-studies 6500-award-for-scott-after-drill-injury-at-work " have a few case studies< a> detailing the incident, an overview of the issues, and the outco...
Jacobs Law Solicitors:
One thing we're very keen on is firms having profile pages of their staff including a photo, name, and case types covered. You can also see what each solicitor specialises in. There are dozens of alternates to try such as jacobslawsolicitors.org no to mention tld varia...
Howe + Co Solicitors in Brentford, London: So with so many variants such as www.howeandco.com being available and www.howeandco.co.uk being owned by someone else - make sure you're on the right website and never discuss payments or bank details via email . Often those little badges at the bottom of law firm's pages ...
HooperHyde Business Law Solicitors in Solihull: Sadly, some businesses use marketing jargon to try and cover up when they don't have a good deal of experience.
class="infoquote "We're not stuck in our ways, we'll find the best solution for you and your legal challenges."< div>
There are literally (and I'm using...
Hill House Chambers - Barristers Based in London:
class="infoquote "I have barristers based in different parts of the UK and they are also more than happy to travel for work so wherever you have a hearing we can find someone for you."< div>
This is another difference between a solicitor's firm and a barrister's ...
Hawkridge & Company - Hawk Law Solicitors in Gillingham, Medway:
class="infoquote "you will be able to talk through your options with a knowledgeable, friendly solicitor at a time to suit you"< div>. No unsubstantiated claims, just clear examples of their status showing good immersion in the industry as a whole.
One thing peo...
Fulton's Solicitors & Estate Agents in Clarkston & Mount Florida, Glasgow: Many low ratings can simply be from people who wished their house sale had gone faster. Hazel managed to keep my spirits up as well as using her knowledge, experience and "determination to see the purchase go through"
"always available to answer any question and keep me...
Frazer Coogans Ltd - Solicitors in Ayr, Prestwick & Glasgow: There are many advantages to using alternatives such as Direct Access barristers which can save considerable time and money depending on the case you need representing in court.
If you see a firm stating they are 'one of the leading' without any further information ...
Fair Result Ltd Divorce Settlement Mediation Services in Leicester: You could get a 1-year qualified solicitor from a 200 year old company and a 40-year experienced expert working at a 1-year old law firm. Although according to our poll last year, not even single digit percentages of the public put much faith in company testimonials. But you...
Education Law Service Ltd - Special Educational Needs Lawyer in London:
There are quite a few large firms that will take your Education Law case on. That's still much better of course than charging you full price just for an introductory discussion about whether they can even help you.
A specialist like the Education Law Service tha...
Dylan Nair Solicitors Ltd in Preston, Lancashire: Although the branding name used is quite unique and the possible spelling typos not likely to be too multitudinous. The main points you need can often be gained from a local Law Society. As you can see from the snippets above, they're largely quite positive .
John Hou...
DV Solicitors (Deo Volente Legal LLP) Law Firm in Bedford & Luton: They prefer to source reviews from independent review forums such as Trustpilot, Google Reviews, Yell, Yelp, etc.
However these ancient establishment date claims are mostly just marketing. But those are all very positive too . But there are no 200 year old solicitors ...
DisrepairClaim.co.uk - Housing Disrepair Claims Company based in Brighouse, West Yorkshire: They will put out spammy posts in groups offering cash or supermarket vouchers if you refer a friend for a claim. They are a Claims Management Company specialising in the very niche case focus of Landlord Tenant disputes about https: www.itv.com news 2021-04-13 investigati...
David Stinson & Co Personal Injury Solicitors in Aylesford, Kent: A lawyer who is expert in one can usually handle any of the others just as well. However, we've been reviewing and working with legal professionals for over twenty years so it's part of our daily lives.
On the David Stinson & Co website there is https: www.davidstin...
Cooks Solicitors in Newcastle under Lyme & Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire: So make sure to read the reasons for any negative rating that has been left. That's also something we would consider a good sign that people outside the industry might not be aware of. But it stands out to us . So the fact Cooks Solicitors have kept the same branding ev...
CEL Solicitors in Liverpool - Housing Disrepair, Knotweed, & Data Breach Claims: We know firms that don't have a website or won't accept email communications, and the amount of printing and letter posting is simply absurd in this day and age. There's even a wider selection of payment setups these days including no win no fee, fixed fees, conditional fe...
Catteralls Solicitors in Wakefield:
class="infoquote "very polite and explained everything to us in detail"
"Extremely friendly, efficient and courteous at all times"
"We have dealt with Catteralls over the last 20 years on several occasions and have always had expert service"< div>
Howev...
QualitySolicitors Burton & Co in Lincoln & Sleaford: There are 1-star ratings from people on the other side of a matter such as a property sale.
class="infoquote "Acted quickly and very professional"
"Things were moved quickly and Felicity was always on the ball"
"Fast, efficient and helpful"
"was very hel...
Brown & Co Solicitors in Greenwich, London: If you https: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk office 509558 brown-and-co-solicitors" check the page for this firm< a> you'll see contact details, case types covered, and most importantly - the number of years each qualified solicitor has been so. They have an actual fees pag...
Bridge McFarland LLP - Solicitors in Grimsby, Hull, Lincoln, Louth, and Market Rasen: Some people have handed over the entire deposit of their house to a fraudulent bank account simply because they received an official looking email saying the payment details had changed. The negative ones all seemed to relate to delays in a house purchase. If you've already ...
Branch Austin McCormick LLP Solicitors in Mayfair, London: There were also several comments about how fast the process had been whether for a property sale or immigration matter. So giving the impression they are well established and experienced is their last gambit for impressing any potential clients passing through their websit...
BLZ Solicitors NIHL, PPI & Immigration Lawyers in Stockport:
class="infoquote "BLZ Solicitors is a modern law firm that is committed to fighting our client's corner."< div>
Over the past decade at least, pretty much every firm has added some variation of 'we are modern' to their sales language. So to specialise in them mo...
Bilkus and Boyle Solicitors & Estate Agents in Glasgow: But can you actually find out the expertise and experience of the firm's lawyers independently?
class="infoquote "Our highly motivated and skilled team have a long-standing reputation for providing efficient and cost effective legal services."< div>
Most legal pro...
Beers LLP - Solicitors in Kingsbridge & Plymouth, Devon: The branding is always Beers LLP but searches such as 'beers solicitors' or 'beer llp' still brought the correct firm to the top of the results. The only negative comment we saw was a complaint about a solicitor called 'Monty'. If you https: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk ...
Aspire Licensing & Administrative Services in Whitley Bay, Newcastle: Aspire Licensing point this out themselves as well stating they have:
class="infoquote "...
Other benefits of working in such a specific section of law include building up a huge amount connections and expertise with the various organisations themselves around t...
Argue & Co Legal - Allan Argue Personal Injury Solicitor in Glasgow: (And I'm missing a couple of those.) It's just that unlike reviewing the food or service at a restaurant - people are not nearly as quick to share their experience of being defended in criminal court, a messy divorce, or dealing with the probate of a dead loved one. You can ...
Antony Hodari Solicitors Housing Disrepair Specialists in Manchester: To us that's a bit of a cheat. It will tell you alternative trading names they use, other possibly more local offices to you, languages spoken, speciality case types, and more. Over the past few years alone https: www.theguardian.com money 2020 feb 29 bank-scam-solicitors-...
ABS Lawyers Ltd Solicitors in Corby & Maghull, Liverpool: Or two solicitors with 40 years' experience and one with 5.
The problem with this is that ABS Laywers handle conveyancing which has been https: www.propertyinvestortoday.co.uk breaking-news 2019 9 average-property-scam-costs-victims-107-669-research-finds" the targe...
Two Harcourt Buildings Chambers - 2HB Barristers in London: As you can see, each is still specifically about one particular barrister. But still make sure to flick through and chat with a few different options for your case type before settling on someone. Not the chambers as a whole. But of course they will all say that. But make su...
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