Possible action against a solicitor

[parkesquay]

If I need to take action against a solicitor is the Law Society the best channel to use.
Is their advice free.

[exdc]

http://www.legalombud...uk/aboutus/index.html

http://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/consumers.page

[Eve]

Depending on the nature and seriousness of the complaint there is the Legal Ombudsman...

http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/

If they work on the same lines of the former Solicitors Complaints Service they usually say to go through the firm's own complaints procedure first. There is normally a dedicated Complaints Partner and procedure and this should be detailed in the initial confirmation of instructions sent to you when, if it is the case here. Just trying to cover in case it's not, say, a situation where you are complaining about a solicitor you have instructed.

It does depend on the circumstances and the outcome you are seeking and what is appropriate in the circumstances (eg a complaint and appropriate redress, professional sanctions or more along the lines of legal action) as to how best to approach things.

The Law Society should be able to give some initial advice on how best to handle things and who to approach in your specific circumstances.

[CanisMajor]

Going to the law society is like complaining to Alex Ferguson when Rooney's playing up!

[margaret-nice]

We had trouble with a solicitor a few years back over my Mum's will. He did nothing so we reported him to the Solicitors complaints bureau which is in London. You have to keep writing to them as they are extremely slow. In the end my Husband and I attended a tribunal with him present and they struck him off. It took ages to convince them but eventually they got the message. I just kept on writing until eventually they took notice. I think it took bout two years in all before they did anything. It did not cost anything and they paid our fares to London and meals for the day.

[Peter Pedant]

margarete nice's answer is 'the best'

if you want money from your solicitor because they are bad bad bad,
then you have to sue them, and this means finding a firm that will sue solicitiors.
Hmmm

Solicitors complaints bureau was so bad and slow they have changed its name and constitution on a regular basis. and yes in the end they may just may get struck off, but is that what you want ?

Difficult one

[murraymints]

In Scotland I found the Scottish Law Society VERY helpful when ivolved in a conflict of interest case.....Drumsheugh Gardens, Edinburgh....

[margaret-nice]

I have to add that the solicitor concerned was so shocked that we had reported him that he did sort out my Mum's will and we did get the money that we were entitled to. We still carried on with our complaint and as I have alreay said he was struck off. I took a long tine but it was well worth it, only to see him grovelling to the panel.

[parkesquay]

Thank you all for taking time to reply. Just out of interest, without getting too specific,this is a case whereby my purchasers solicitors searches/ers discovered a 'technical' problem that my solicitors searches/ers should have highlighted when we bought the property(2 years ago). Consequently this has meant that I have had to make a financial remuneration(effectively)to my purchasers and i would like to recover this from the solicitor who acted for us when we purchased the same property.