should i pay my solicitor?

[Barrea]

i used a solicitor in 2004. I was eligible for public funding
under legal aid. However he let me down by not fileing my case A- on time, B- he did not have the expertise in the feild, C he charged me nearly 2700 for the initial work he did that should have been under the legal aid scheme. Due to his incompetence. I was turned down legal aid first time as the means forms were not filled out correctly and secondly on the merits of the case.
however he did not appeal the desicion even though i asked him to verbally and in writing.
He sais there was nothing more he could do?!
However once i put things down in writing to his firm he satrted acting like a solicitor. However it took 6 months for him to appeal, by then the time limit for appeal had run out. He continued undertaking work on my case
assuming he would be able to claim agratia payment
from lsc. Based on the fact that i had a very strong case
and i should have been granted legal aid from the on-set
of the case, as the merits had never changed.
however i was granted aid some 12-13 months later based on the same information i gave to solicitor and LSC. Now he knew i could not afford to defend my case with out legal help from the very beggining.
for the last year he has been appealing to LSC to grant an agratia payment for work undertaken.
LSC have written back and said they wil not as the solicitor should not have undertaken instructions on the assumption that i will get legal aid. He is now demanding payment to the sum 4324 pounds which i cannot afford to give. he is now threatening to sue me
can he do this?

[joko]

i would see another solicitor. get their advice.

or try the crb

[seatrout]

When you instructed this solicitor he ought to have given you a "client care" letter which sets out the terms under which he would work and how much it would cost and how his fees are calculated. In a legally aided matter he should also have written to you explaining whether you needed to contribute financially and the effect of the statutory charge on any property recovered as a result of the proceedings. He is required to provide you with this information by the Law Society.

You should complain in writing to the senior partner in the firm to give them a chance to sort matters out.

You should also consider changing solicitors

[JanineG]

Write to him asking him to confirm details of the Complaints Handling Procedure - Tell him if you don't receive those details within 14 days you will go direct to the Law Society. The Complaints Handling Procedure will probably involve writing to the Senior or another Partner within the firm, but you need to make sure you confirm details of the basis of your complaint. Sounds to me like he didn't really know what he was doing - the Law Society should really be told about professionals acting in such a manner, so you could always report your concerns to them.

Best of luck