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: For example, if you https: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk office 26041 all-law-limited" look up a firm< a> on their database it will tell you alternate contact details, other names the firm may go by, languages spoken, and more. Their site is HTTPS secure though so you shou...
WYM Legal Ltd Conveyancing Solicitors in Watford: You will see a large number of negative reviews as well. However, in this instance, CLC accreditation is not the only stamp of approval. Tens of thousands of pounds being transferred to a fraudster's bank account simply because someone didn't check with their appointed sol...
Woodstock Legal Services Ltd - Solicitors Law Practice in Poole: But please read on and see if you would agree. Having worked in the legal industry for over 20 years we're still surprised to come across some firms that we'd not heard of before. Click on our profile pictures for more information."< div>
A quick word on navigation. W...
Wolf Law Solicitors Ltd in Wirral:
class="infoquote "Our expert team of personal injury specialists can help with any type of claim."< div>
Luckily for the English and Welsh, the national Law Society has an amazing website full of userside data to help you verify a firm's claims about 'experts' ...
Wilford Smith Solicitors in Sheffield (Meadowhall) & Rotherham - WS Strategic Ltd: This is because the majority of people involved in a property transaction experience problems, delays, and general misery. While these are obviously good things to describe your firm, there is no-one claiming the opposite (i.e.
class="infoquote "always on the end of t...
Wildcat Law Ltd Solicitors in London & Southampton: Although our services are often Barrister led, we use a range of lawyers and legal associates on a matter to ensure the most cost effective solution to our clients."< div>
Another third party website we often recommend is that of The Law Society of England & Wales. Fo...
WH Law Ltd - Immigration Solicitors in Woking: That's good. Make sure you're on the correct site and only call answer numbers you know in relation to your case.
.
That's not to dismiss larger firms with multiple specialists on board. The main thing to remember is that a lack of reviews is not a negative sign. ...
Waterstone Partnership Solicitors Ltd in Bradford: This includes any alternative trading names, contact details, areas of law covered, languages spoken and so on.
When there is a difference between the firm name and the web address it is sometimes a good idea to bookmark it just in case. Of course, if the firm's webs...
Walker Foster Ltd Solicitors in Skipton, Barnoldswick, Silsden, Settle, Ilkley, Northallerton & Harrogate:
class="infoquote "We aim to provide valued and reliable legal services to generations both now and in the future."< div>
This statement, also from their website, sounds great.
class="infoquote "Walker Foster is delighted to have been awarded the Conveyan...
UVS Law Immigration & Visa Solicitor in Burton-on-Trent & London:
This includes Business Immigration such as Sponsorship Licences and Skilled Workers, Personal Immigration such as Partner Routes (e.g. For a barrister this can be a bit more difficult as the Bar Standards Council don't have the best user-side information setup.
...
TWB Probate Solicitors Ltd - Estate Planning, Wills & Probate in London:
But there is an area of law with some confusion when it comes to specialisms.
class="infoquote "All case work is undertaken by a solicitor who thereby provides a customised, personal service. However, considering the changes governments can make and even the hu...
The Law Partnership Ltd - Solicitors in Coventry:
It may therefore be an idea to bookmark the correct site if you plan on coming back. So a conveyancing solicitor with a high rating is actually a rarity. (I know, it sounds simple now.)
class="infoquote "We provide sound, practical advice in many aspects of th...
Thomas and Thomas Solicitors Ltd in Maesteg, Bridgend & Port Talbot: This can be incredibly useful in sifting out those with real experience and real specialism versus those attempting a jack-of-all-trades approach to law. They do use some of the wording we mentioned before, such as:
class="infoquote "Our team of experienced solicito...
The Legal Practice Ltd - Solicitors in Rickmansworth & Wembley Park, Greater London: People https: www.express.co.uk finance personalfinance 1497866 Lloyds-bank-scam-warning-fraud-money-box-uk" have handed tens of thousands of pounds of their savings< a> over to these fraudsters bank accounts. But 'the law practice' or 'the lawyer practice' (if you've not...
Stephanie Heijdra - The Lady Barrister & Clerksroom Chambers in London: We try to make sure you know about the different types of legal help you can get in your area including the typical high street solicitor but also things like will writers and accountants that can sometimes help with legal issues at a fraction of the cost. So at the moment ...
Thaxted Legal Ltd Immigration Solicitors in Chislehurst, London: But if you see a firm of 1 or 2 solicitors stating they handle every case type you can think of from Personal Injury to Family Law, Criminal Law and Immigration as well - chances are they are probably not able to keep themselves as well informed or up to date as a specialis...
Summerfield Browne Solicitors in London, Birmingham, Cambridge, Oxford, Market Harborough & Leicester:
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. 'summerfield browne birmingham') to get reviews only on that office rather than the firm as a whole. Why not call us today for a free quote...
Stowe Family Law - Divorce Solicitors in Harrogate, York, Beverley & Other Locations: However this statement alone should qualify our decision. So you can't just go on Google, type the firm name, and see all reviews in this instance. But more importantly there are details about the staff including their speciality areas of law and the number of years they'v...
Sternberg Reed LLP Solicitors with Offices in Romford, Barking & Grays: Some people just click to purchase the first listing on Amazon to save time. 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 ...
Solidaire Solicitors - Solidaire Law Ltd in Milton Keynes: While many firms provide customer testimonials on their website, most people prefer to read the independent boards such as Google, Facebook, and Trustpilot.
class="infoquote "We aim to provide a fast and efficient service, with Settlement Agreements often completed ...
Smith and Graham Solicitors in Hartlepool, Peterlee and Middlesbrough: But it actually contains two of the main things we think you should look at when picking a firm. Unfortunately some negative ratings had no comments with them in order to know if the complaint was valid or even about the correct firm. But hopefully from the examples and re...
Rose Fendlen Law - Solicitors in Wigan (Formerly LRose Law): Personal Injury ...
We've worked with law firms for over 20 years and the things we look for on a law firm's website when deciding whether to include them on our network are probably very different from what members of the public or even the law firms themselves thin...
PCS Legal Ltd Conveyancing Solicitors in Basildon, Ongar, Wickford, London, Rayleigh &Harlow: Again, many people end up picking the conveyancer they like without checking with their mortgage provider first which can cause issues. Their site is HTTPS secure for submitting your contact details for a callback. There's the https: www.sra.org.uk consumers register " ...
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 . Most preferred to read the experiences of previous clients on independent boards such as Facebook, Google, Trustpilot, etc. A selection of seasoned min...
Nicholson Jones Sutton Solicitors in Macclesfield: Probably around 90% of the articles on this site are about firm's who are not current advertisers or paying us anything. Take this one also from the NJS site:
class="infoquote "With combined experience totalling over 60 years, they wanted to find a way to make excep...
SG Murphy & Co Ltd - Solicitors in Newtownabbey, Belfast: If they all claim to be that way, then it doesn't help anyone to tell them apart. As we've pointed out in other articles, firms that are involved in buying and selling properties tend to have lower star ratings simply because hardly anyone thinks their sale is going fast eno...
MJV & Co Solicitors Ltd - Law Firm in Thornton-Cleveleys, Blackpool: If you https: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk office 595126 mjv-co-solicitors-ltd" check out the page< a> for this firm you'll be able to see any alternative business names they use, their specialist areas of law, alternative contact details, and the qualification dates of e...
McCarthy + Co LLP Solicitors in Dublin, Cork & Clonakilty: In the end, all it showed us was the address and phone number for McCarthy & Co. That's terrible and we'll explain more about why later. That's tens of thousands of pounds at a time. Even this quote above from the McCarthy & Co site about being award-winners is a claim mad...
Mark Croft Driving Offence Solicitor in Derby: So that could be 5 members of staff each with only 4 years of experience. It's a shame the Scottish and Irish do not have such a resource. Because if you've already flicked through a few dozen legal service websites today, you'll have noticed that many use the same wording, ...
Mackenzie Jones Solicitors in St Asaph, Menai Bridge & Chester: in public as they are about the local pizza place. Normally you have to dig through several 'Excellent! Would recommend!' quotes to get to something useful.
class="infoquote "In a tough legal world we are here to fight your corner."< div>
If you've scrolled thro...
Lyons Solicitors - Law Firm in Kingswood, Westbury-on-Trym & Chew Magna (Bristol): That included a small range of firms and often you'd just get a firm's name, address, and phone number to decide whether to give them a call. It's common for companies in any industry to provide customer testimonials on their website. The most common complaint we hear is tha...
LS Legal Solicitors Ltd: So what are the independent forums saying?
class="infoquote "highly professional and super helpful"
"professional and approachable, explaining anything I wasn’t sure about"
"extremely efficient with clear and concise communication"
"very knowledgeable, expe...
QualitySolicitors Large & Gibson - Law Firm in Southsea, Portsmouth:
class="infoquote "We have been meeting the legal needs of those in Portsmouth, Hampshire and beyond for over 120 years."< div>
So when you read about the actual firm or check out reviews of them, you will be reading about Large & Gibson themselves. The brand co...
Kee Solicitors Ltd in Glasgow & Aberdeen: But you never know what fraud might come your way, so be vigilant about what site you're on and what you discuss via email.
. Apart from that though, the site is happily concise providing the information you would want to read rather than hundreds of pages with bland arti...
JPS Walker Solicitors Ltd in Manchester: These days with the internet people can instead search for the best representation for their particular issue from firms all over the country. This can make spotting differences between them to evaluate very difficult. As a (ridiculously basic) example - it would obviously...
Horsley Law Solicitors in Stafford aka Horsley Holdings Ltd: But if you don't find many reviews of a firm, don't take that as a negative sign. Their official site is at www.horsleylaw.co.uk but be aware that the .com version does not redirect you there. So checking for an SRA number is a good idea before filling in a contact form. P...
Hill House Chambers - Barristers Based in London: On some occasions this can mean you're paying two firms for the job one could do. Biggest things to watch for are emails about money, payments, or bank details as that should never happen . Typically solicitors are not authorised to represent clients in actual court.
T...
Heritage Park Family Law Ltd - Barrister Chambers in Ampthill, Bedford: But variants such as www.heritagepark.co.uk and others all seem to be owned by other firms. It's very important to https: en.wikipedia.org wiki Phishing" keep aware< a> of where you are on the web.. In fact, we would say the majority we know of still work 9am-5pm Mon-Fri....
HCR Legal LLP Solicitors Law Firm incl Medical Accident Group in Worcester, Birmingham & Hereford:
class="infoquote "As an award winning Top 60 UK law firm we provide the full range of services that you would expect to organisations, business leaders and individuals."< div>
One great resource we always recommend to people is the website of The Law Society of...
Harrison's Solicitors - Conveyancing in Reading, Caversham & Woodley: It provides a huge wealth of data to users on the firms and individuals registered with the organisation. Property sales are also the only service we know of where people feel free to leave negative comments about the other side's firm complaining and even use review boards ...
Guardian Law Ltd - Employment & HR Lawyers in Nottingham: So what other resources are there?
class="infoquote "Experienced employment law solicitors with empathy and loyalty for employers."< div>
If you've been through a few other legal company websites today you'll probably have noticed they all use very similar langu...
Goldsmith Bowers Debt Recovery & Litigation Solicitors in Bradford: The idea being that the older the firm, the more experienced it is. The age of the actual brand name over the door at that point seem quite irrelevant. Unfortunately, though, there are far fewer reviews about law firms than other industries. We did notice negative reviews ...
Girlings Solicitors LLP & Girlings Personal Injury Claims Ltd in Sandwich, Ashford & Canterbury:
class="infoquote "A list of our numerous accreditations can be seen at the bottom of the page, demonstrating our proven competence in the areas of personal injury and medical negligence."< div>
Many firms will also make claims about being 'award winning' or 'acc...
Frei Solicitors Ltd - Luxury Asset Law Firm in London: This is where being a niche firm can sometimes cause an issue. (A thing we assume they learned from the rise of Kardashian-style role-models before them.) So while a specialist firm to help people with the 'problem' of massive wealth might sound odd to most - it will be w...
Foster & Coleman Ltd Solicitors in Bromley, Greater London: Many even have the same images of people smiling and shaking hands.
A good alternative resource we've recommended multiple times for backchecking legal professionals is the website of The Law Society of England & Wales. It's common for solicitors to make huge claims ...
Eve Lake Conveyancing & Legal Services in Hope Valley: The first thing people tend to do to check up on this, though, is read public review boards such as Google, Facebook or Trustpilot. That's a tactic you simply don't see anywhere else in legal matters. Both deal with preparing contracts, land registry searches, local author...
Amy King Legal - Personal Injury & Litigation Solicitor in Gillingham, Kent: (Yes, even law firms use sneaky marketing tricks.)
Is experience the only driving factor in choosing a solicitor? Of course not. We've watched utterly confident large firm barristers get ignored by juries in a trial. Solicitors no longer need to work for a brand loca...
EMD Law LLP Solicitors in Staplehurst & St Leonards-on-Sea: That's not for the same reason many of you stated in our poll last year - i.e. It might suprise you to know that not all law firms have made this recommended change to their site yet. On this occasion the firm's official web address also matches the branding being located at...
EDC Lord & Co Solicitors in Southall: 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" new="target have handed their entire house deposit< a> to fraudsters after believing an official-looking email telling them the payme...
Eatons Solicitors in Bradford, Bingley, Yeadon & Leeds West Yorkshire: You can look up any firm registered with them and see alternative trading names, contact details, languages spoken, all office addresses, and so on. Domain names are only around £10-£15 a year, so we don't understand why so many property firms don't buy at least ...
Drummond Miller LLP Solicitors in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Bathgate, Musselburgh, Dalkeith & East Kilbride:
Many of our articles try to introduce you to some of these new firms and point out ways in which you can research whether they are on good ground or merely pretending to have the experience they claim. On top of that, property buying selling is the only legal servic...
Dispute Resolver Consultancy - Mediation & Alternative Dispute Resolution ADR in London: However it was difficult to find any on the public review boards such as Google or Trustpilot. ADR describes different ways you can solve a problem without having to go to court ... At the time of writing this, the Dispute Resolver Consultancy states 14 years of experience o...
Defank Solicitors in London: Ancient founding dates are often touted to make people think the firm is well established and therefore that must mean they have plenty of experience. For all you know the award was for best logo design which doesn't help with your legal matter.
A note for securit...
CWJ Solicitors & Notaries - Clarkson Wright & Jakes Ltd in Orpington, Kent: While not a foolproof way of ensuring experience, it can certainly help. It's the only way you'll get a proper picture. too much choice. Always be vigilant over which site you are on and always ring the official number you have if unsure.. In particular - property sales clie...
Scotland Injury Solicitors from Baker Hardman Ltd in Glasgow: There were several negative comments left but they were difficult to get a grip on.
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 ....
Cullimore Dutton Solicitors Ltd - Conveyancing & Legal Services in Chester: Never discuss payments via email. So the quotes above are taken from the usual public boards https: www.google.com search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tZP1zcsSTe2zDOqMGC0UjWoMLEwT0xJMbFMM7JMMjIxNrUyqEi1MDM3MjQ0NU81TDFNTkr2EkguzcnJzM0vSlVIKS0pyc8DALG3FQQ&q=cullimore+dutton&rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GB...
Calio Claims Ltd - Personal Injury in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth & Dundee: For legal help south of the border we always recommend people check out The Law Society of England & Wales' website to get a wealth of background information. This really should just be a matter of what logo is at the top of the emails and letters you receive.
If yo...
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.
class="infoquote "We are a long established...
Brown & Co Solicitors in Greenwich, London:
class="infoquote "If your solicitor hasn't got time for you, it's unlikely that he or she has time for your opponents, their solicitors or others involved in your transaction or business deal."< div>
Typically someone with a legal problem will scroll through se...
Brodies LLP Solicitors in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh & Inverness Scotland: That's a range of solicitors with experience throughout the past four decades .
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 . This is true for all services from barristers to b...
Bridge McFarland LLP - Solicitors in Grimsby, Hull, Lincoln, Louth, and Market Rasen: One thing to remember though is that when a firm has multiple offices you often have to type in the company name and location to see any reviews. Take this example:
class="infoquote "Bridge McFarland LLP is a leading regional law firm that holds an exceptional local, ...
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.
If you https: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk office 490026 brian-barr-limited" look up the page< a> for this fi...
Bell Lax Ltd - Solicitors in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham:
Along with making sure the law firm is https: www.sra.org.uk solicitors firm-based-authorisation abs-register 621777 " registered with the SRA< a> (Solicitors Regulation Authority), these tips above are all very basic things to check up on with a any firm you're cons...
Backhouse Solicitors in Chelmsford, Essex: So the fact Backhouse have only mentioned this statement tucked away on a separate section of the site is something we literally nod our heads in approval at. This is because of the huge number of scams currently out there. We would have thought by now that all law firms w...
ACSL Solicitors Ltd in Liverpool: ACSL does have https: www.acsl.org.uk team" such a page< a> on their website. If you https: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk office 469101 a-c-s-l-ltd" check out the page< a> for any firm they will show you alternate trading names, all office locations, languages spoken, a...
A City Law Firm Ltd in London:
class="infoquote "We can be flexible with our fee structure and will consider different models for different clients."< div>
The official site we link to above is www.acitylawfirm.com and www.acitylawfirm.co.uk will redirect you there. For example:
class...
Two Harcourt Buildings Chambers - 2HB Barristers in London:
However before we get into that, we should probably share the opening line of this particular chambers' website. Sadly, many of them do you not help you pick a firm. Clarity for the public should be just as important to the Bar Standards Council but, at the moment at l...
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