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: It's user-side offerings far exceed anything it's counterparts currently show. People have ended up https: www.takefive-stopfraud.org.uk conveyancing-scams " handing their entire home deposit< a> to scammers. For a start, most of them look the same with the same sales lan...
WYM Legal Ltd Conveyancing Solicitors in Watford: Most will be cautious about what they say on a legal services website. by setting entry standards and regulating providers to deliver high quality, accessible legal services' . But 'leading' without stating what you are leading in or in what area - not so much. Since both ...
Woodstock Legal Services Ltd - Solicitors Law Practice in Poole: In most review articles we don't bother including them for the reasons just stated. 'we are unapproachable, confusing, and slow'.
There are several other things that stood out to us about this firm as well such as the professional https: www.woodstocklegalservices.co....
Wolf Law Solicitors Ltd in Wirral: Such as this cutting above from their website. The site is https secure for submitting your personal details via the contact form.
Wolf Law show a mix of abilities with solicitor Nadeem Akhtar qualifying as such in 1999 and Lyndsy Sword joining the profession in 2019...
Wilford Smith Solicitors in Sheffield (Meadowhall) & Rotherham - WS Strategic Ltd: compared to testimonials provided by the company themselves. This one from the Wilford Smith site is very clear , indicating that they have been serving clients for over 40 years. Many home buyers have https: www.takefive-stopfraud.org.uk conveyancing-scams " handed thei...
Wildcat Law Ltd Solicitors in London & Southampton: Sound results."< div>
Most companies use words such as modern, practical, friendly, professional, experienced, etc in their website text and it all sounds great. But a quick note on navigation. They have a very useful user side offering of data regarding a firm's conta...
WH Law Ltd - Immigration Solicitors in Woking:
class="infoquote "We're flexible with our fees with most cases – our fees are competitive and you will know in advance of what the fees will be."< div>
This is mostly important to remember due to the https: support.microsoft.com en-us windows protect-yourse...
Waterstone Partnership Solicitors Ltd in Bradford: However in our poll a few years back only 8% of you said you https: consumer.ftc.gov consumer-alerts 2022 09 should-we-trust-online-reviews" trusted such pages< a> on company sites anyway.
class="infoquote "competent, professional, knowledgeable and very helpful th...
Walker Foster Ltd Solicitors in Skipton, Barnoldswick, Silsden, Settle, Ilkley, Northallerton & Harrogate: You need to be extra vigilant when it comes to property matters and ensure you are on the correct website and talking to a genuine staff member. That's a big bit of praise considering we're a old Scottish company. We're bombarded with marketing at every turn.
Aside f...
UVS Law Immigration & Visa Solicitor in Burton-on-Trent & London:
It's often easy to check if a law firm or lawyer is valid in the UK by checking with the SRA and https: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk organisation people 32565 uvs-law-limited?Solicitors=True" Law Society< a> websites. Be careful of such wording on other sites. The ...
TWB Probate Solicitors Ltd - Estate Planning, Wills & Probate in London: The first is the https: www.sra.org.uk consumers register organisation ?sraNumber=804571" Solicitors Regulation Authority< a> (SRA) which lists all firms registered with them.
class="infoquote "One does not simply rely on replies to standard questionnaires, but on ...
The Law Partnership Ltd - Solicitors in Coventry: That could still be a 'specialist' firm if each solicitor is expert in each case type. Always read the comments. The comments for TLP are very positive . Although many firms provide 'testimonial' pages, according to our last poll not very many of you trust them (8%). saying...
Thomas and Thomas Solicitors Ltd in Maesteg, Bridgend & Port Talbot: Then you get companies claiming to be 'a large firm with a small firm feel'. Or 'founded in 1920' which makes the firm sound as though they have experience, but the solicitor you get could have qualified 6 months ago.
class="infoquote "Whether you are looking for le...
The Legal Practice Ltd - Solicitors in Rickmansworth & Wembley Park, Greater London:
class="infoquote "Whether you are an individual, small business or a more established firm, our approach is to work with you to provide clear, pragmatic, tailored advice from a qualified solicitor."< div>
The greatest resource we've found online for helping you c...
Stephanie Heijdra - The Lady Barrister & Clerksroom Chambers in London:
class="infoquote "In her immigration law practice, she represents a variety of clients facing serious matters which includes matters involving young and vulnerable clients."< div>
On navigation, as we said we're currently linking to her www.theladybarrister.co....
Thaxted Legal Ltd Immigration Solicitors in Chislehurst, London: etc.
class="infoquote "We are specialist immigration firm based in London, UK, experienced and dedicated to providing quality service to corporate and private clients."< div>
This snippet from the Thaxted Legal Ltd website says exactly the same sort of things yo...
Summerfield Browne Solicitors in London, Birmingham, Cambridge, Oxford, Market Harborough & Leicester: The firm states offices in London, Birmingham, Cambridge, Oxford, Market Harborough, and Leicester. Plus, for the public boards things can get a little more complicated. How do you check that? The best resource we've found so far online is the website for The Law Society of ...
Stowe Family Law - Divorce Solicitors in Harrogate, York, Beverley & Other Locations: It is important you are comfortable with your solicitor; you feel they understand your legal needs and, just as importantly, the emotional aspects of your situation."< div>
Obviously we are already in favour of Stowe Family Law because we list their services on this we...
Sternberg Reed LLP Solicitors with Offices in Romford, Barking & Grays: For example just entering the words sternberg and reed will bring up no reviews. For example, Sternberg Reed are listed in the Legal 500 which you can read https: www.legal500.com " more about here< a>. It seems that no matter what a firm is, they can usually spin it to...
Solidaire Solicitors - Solidaire Law Ltd in Milton Keynes: But that could simply mean they have 10x members of staff each with only 2x years of experience. So what phrases can you use to separate one firm from another? What resources are available to help you?
class="infoquote "We are experienced in what we do and aim to of...
Smith and Graham Solicitors in Hartlepool, Peterlee and Middlesbrough: People have ended up https: www.walesonline.co.uk news homes-property home-buyers-warned-scam-could-21957792" handing over tens of thousands of pounds< a> to fraudsters something based on nothing more than an official-looking email saying they need to pay the house deposi...
Rose Fendlen Law - Solicitors in Wigan (Formerly LRose Law): On that last one:
class="infoquote "Specialising in: ...
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...
PCS Legal Ltd Conveyancing Solicitors in Basildon, Ongar, Wickford, London, Rayleigh &Harlow: Their site is HTTPS secure for submitting your contact details for a callback.
class="infoquote "Welcome to PCS Legal.
In the legal industry there is no one main legal body covering everything. Again, many people end up picking the conveyancer they like with...
Oakwood Solicitors Ltd & Oakwood Property Solicitors in Leeds: It sounds great, is clear about their location, and indicates that they offer services for both private matters and commercial ones. Oakwood have a https: www.oakwoodsolicitors.co.uk all-things-oakwood the-oakwood-solicitors-team " staff information< a> section on their...
Nicholson Jones Sutton Solicitors in Macclesfield: So how can you tell whether one firm is better for your needs compared to any others? The wording may often sound great on all the sites. But you need to make sure you don't fall for any marketing jargon. Alternate searches such as 'njs law' or even typical mis-spellings s...
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...
MJV & Co Solicitors Ltd - Law Firm in Thornton-Cleveleys, Blackpool: Some variants such as www.mjvlaw.com are owned by different companies. It dawned on us straight off the bat with this statement on the front page of the firm's website:
class="infoquote "MJV Co is a firm of Blackpool Solicitors working across the Fylde Coast, includin...
McCarthy + Co LLP Solicitors in Dublin, Cork & Clonakilty: We had an issue trying to get reviews to come up on Google's site. Make sure the site is HTTPS secure if you are submitting your personal details via the contact form. So the phrase 'award-winning' is not of itself meaningful. The official site is www.mccarthy.ie but doma...
Mark Croft Driving Offence Solicitor in Derby: Because if you've already flicked through a few dozen legal service websites today, you'll have noticed that many use the same wording, make the same promises, and even used practically the same images of people shaking hands and smiling.
class="infoquote "I am availa...
Mackenzie Jones Solicitors in St Asaph, Menai Bridge & Chester:
For many years now https: monzo.com blog we-sent-our-house-deposit-to-a-fraudster-who-posed-as-our-lawyer" the property industry has been the target< a> of massive amounts of fraud due to the huge amounts of money being passed around in deposits mortgages. (More on ...
Lyons Solicitors - Law Firm in Kingswood, Westbury-on-Trym & Chew Magna (Bristol): In the middle of this are firms with multiple solicitors, each specialising in one or two areas of law.
Worse than this are the firms that claim ancient founding dates such as 'established in 1881'. That's a big difference, but at first glance they may look the same. ...
LS Legal Solicitors Ltd: For example, many people seek specialist firms for cases such as Motoring Offences, Divorce, and Conveyancing in the hope that the focused attention and specific experience will provide a better outcome in a swifter time.
class="infoquote "Our objective is to provid...
QualitySolicitors Large & Gibson - Law Firm in Southsea, Portsmouth:
class="infoquote "communication was great, always advising"
"the team was really helpful and responsive"
"systematic and efficient which ensured a speedy hassle free experience"
"very quick responses to any queries"< div>
At the time of writing they had 20...
Kee Solicitors Ltd in Glasgow & Aberdeen:
Their front page was a little more cluttered than we'd usually find on solicitors' websites. The site is also https secure for submitting your details via that callback form. We have one niche firm on our network handling only life-changing injury claims and another ...
JPS Walker Solicitors Ltd in Manchester:
For this we'll be using the website of JPS Walker Solicitors as our example. Especially when you consider no firm is going to claim the opposite (i.e. No win, no fee means there are no fees should your case lose.
class="infoquote "request a free consultation from...
Horsley Law Solicitors in Stafford aka Horsley Holdings Ltd: Horsley's website is HTTPS secure which means your personal details should be safe when submitted via their contact form. The snippets above are from testimonials posted on the firm's own site but many prefer to use independent boards such as Google, Facebook or Trustpilot...
Hill House Chambers - Barristers Based in London: Why it took so long to make this available to the public in the UK - who knows. At the moment of writing www.hillhousechambers.com wasn't owned by anyone and other variants such as hillhousebarristers were also available.
class="infoquote "Are you a solicitor looking ...
Heritage Park Family Law Ltd - Barrister Chambers in Ampthill, Bedford: Heritage Park are obviously specialising in Family Law.
The firm have provided a Frequently Asked Questions section on their site for you to get familiar with the basics before calling and have https: heritageparkfamilylaw.com jargon-buster " a jargon sheet< a> cove...
HCR Legal LLP Solicitors Law Firm incl Medical Accident Group in Worcester, Birmingham & Hereford:
class="infoquote "We put our trust in the medical professionals who look after us. Both sites are HTTPS secure for submitting your personal details in their contact form. Despite our trust, sometimes things go wrong."< div>
HCR Legal has several different tra...
Harrison's Solicitors - Conveyancing in Reading, Caversham & Woodley: If https: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk organisation people 545890 harrisons-thames-valley-solicitors-llp?Solicitors=True" you look up< a> the page for this firm you'll see the titular solicitor Ashley Harrison qualified in 1997 with David Woodward qualifying in 2008.
...
Guardian Law Ltd - Employment & HR Lawyers in Nottingham: This brings up an extra point about reviews - i.e.
This is all very important to consider though because there are a lot of scams targeting clients of lawyers these days.
class="infoquote "We offer fixed, retained or ad-hoc fees, depending on your requirements...
Goldsmith Bowers Debt Recovery & Litigation Solicitors in Bradford: If you check out https: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk office 475767 goldsmith-bowers-ltd" the page for any firm< a> they will typically show you any alternate company names used, a list of staff, areas of law practiced, and the qualification dates of solicitors there. But ...
Girlings Solicitors LLP & Girlings Personal Injury Claims Ltd in Sandwich, Ashford & Canterbury: Girlings point them out which is good to see.
Lastly some clarifications on navigation. Both are HTTPS secure for submitting your personal details via the contact forms. If a law firm handles only one case type such as Motoring Offences, they are clearly specialis...
Frei Solicitors Ltd - Luxury Asset Law Firm in London:
class="infoquote "We determine our client’s objectives during the initial meeting, and always work towards our client’s timetable. The company provides quite a few on their testimonials page:
class="infoquote "ability to cut through the predictable politic...
Foster & Coleman Ltd Solicitors in Bromley, Greater London:
class="infoquote "With a reputation of providing prompt, practical and cost-effective solutions in a number of practice areas, they can guide you through the most challenging of circumstances."< div>
The most common place people go to first when researching a f...
Eve Lake Conveyancing & Legal Services in Hope Valley: That's a tactic you simply don't see anywhere else in legal matters. 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.
Be aware though, in either case, most mortgage lenders wil...
Amy King Legal - Personal Injury & Litigation Solicitor in Gillingham, Kent: It is HTTPS secure for submitting your personal details via the contact form. It's a great resource to bear in mind. The idea being that the older a law firm is, the more experience it has. The internet allows you to find and use a Dover based law practice for your Newcas...
EMD Law LLP Solicitors in Staplehurst & St Leonards-on-Sea: Please note that even if you see a firm touting an ancient date such as 'established in 1881', that has absolutely no bearing on how good the office is today. That's not for the same reason many of you stated in our poll last year - i.e.
But all these changes and niche...
EDC Lord & Co Solicitors in Southall: Their website, www.edclord.co.uk, is an excellent representation of the firm's commitment to professionalism, expertise, and customer service. Therefore, it is extremely important to us that we provide an excellent service."< div>
One of the standout features of the ED...
Eatons Solicitors in Bradford, Bingley, Yeadon & Leeds West Yorkshire: There are other resources and other ways of simply thinking about things that can help spot genuine experience and positive qualities over those simply claimed on any firm's website. Will be using again"
"kept me fully informed throughout the process"< div>
Those a...
Drummond Miller LLP Solicitors in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Bathgate, Musselburgh, Dalkeith & East Kilbride: It's a resource we constantly recommend to people . There are usually easily spottable 'themes'.
A quick but important note on navigation though.
Right now the leading (by quantity) conveyancer in the UK has a Google rating of 3.2 stars. That's probably why i...
Dispute Resolver Consultancy - Mediation & Alternative Dispute Resolution ADR in London: But it's best to speak to an expert about your specific case to work out which will be the best course for you . They often need the name of the town they are based in as well before they will show extra details. Although, you don't get much information from the latter. ...
Defank Solicitors in London: For today's example we're using the website of the law firm Defank:
class="infoquote "At Defank Solicitors, we are committed to providing expert legal services tailored to meet your specific needs."< div>
A couple of things to watch out for when you're going thr...
CWJ Solicitors & Notaries - Clarkson Wright & Jakes Ltd in Orpington, Kent: That's because while people are often hesitant to discuss their messy divorce or criminal proceedings in public - people have no problem jumping online to complain about how long their house sale is taking. It's the only way you'll get a proper picture. too much choice.
...
Scotland Injury Solicitors from Baker Hardman Ltd in Glasgow: So we always recommend reading through comments when looking up a firm rather than simply flicking through star ratings. It sounds great, but most firms will make claims such as these on their websites too. There were several negative comments left but they were difficult ...
Cullimore Dutton Solicitors Ltd - Conveyancing & Legal Services in Chester: 'cullimore dutton solicitors chester'). However, the 2nd two versions will likely mean that firm has added up all the years of all the staff - e.g. Names, years of experience, any additional specialties and direct contact details. We don't typically give direct advice in t...
Calio Claims Ltd - Personal Injury in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth & Dundee: As the rules and regulations and guidelines flew around constantly changing - plus with government, law courts, and regulatory bodies constantly disagreeing with each other - it became easier for law firms to have a separate marketing brand. That's probably why only 8% of pe...
Buchanan & Co Ltd Solicitors in Staveley, Chesterfield, Kiveton Park & Sheffield: it sounds great but doesn't actually provide you any information to help you separate them from any other firm. If you https: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk office 589527 buchanan-co-solicitors-ltd" check the page< a> for any legal professional or law office they will sho...
Brown & Co Solicitors in Greenwich, 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. The first is whether a firm is actually experienced and the other about firms which cover...
Brodies LLP Solicitors in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh & Inverness Scotland: More importantly, https: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk office 16253 brodies-llp" they will also show< a> you the expertise and qualification date of any solicitor registered to each office. So while the words themselves don't really tell you why you should choose them - th...
Bridge McFarland LLP - Solicitors in Grimsby, Hull, Lincoln, Louth, and Market Rasen: It's not worth the risk.
. Not least so because it means they are registered with The Law Society of England & Wales which we have long praised as an excellent user resource for background checking law practices.
That means if you see a firm claiming a wealth of ex...
Brian Barr Solicitors Ltd Chronic Pain & Fibromyalgia Compensation in Manchester: Many use similar wording, similar images, and make similar claims. But expertise is not the whole story. But the comments posted on the Brian Barr site do include useful bits of information such as these snippets above. Experience is also a massive part of a successful and s...
Bell Lax Ltd - Solicitors in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham: Another couple of brownie points for Bell Lax then.
. Many of which probably wouldn't interest members of the general public though unless it related to their actual case. That's the type that has several specialist solicitors under one roof. To be honest, we didn't read mo...
Backhouse Solicitors in Chelmsford, Essex: Note that you may need to enter the full name plus location of a firm (e.g. We've stated many times in other articles how a firm promoting their 100+ year old brand name as some sort of definitive proof of their talents proves nothing. Because whilst every word in that sent...
ACSL Solicitors Ltd in Liverpool: We are a team of closely knit legal professionals who all enjoy our jobs every single day."< div>
There are many firms out there claiming foundation dates going right back to the 1800s. Unless there is a firm out there saying the like to use 'complicated English', are ...
A City Law Firm Ltd in London:
However for business to business service providers such as A City Law Firm such testimonials pages are usually a little different. We've seen a lawyer with a 5 star review for their 'new italian menu' and a 1 star rating for a Criminal Law specialist for refusing to h...
Two Harcourt Buildings Chambers - 2HB Barristers in London: But of course they will all say that. As you can see, each is still specifically about one particular barrister. They do not travel into those official addresses every day for work.
Coming back to the differences in setup mentioned before, a law chambers is not like a...
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