

To solicitors f***ing realise how there shit work Impacts on real peoples lives

(113 Posts)
Mightbemiddleaged Thu 10-Oct-13 17:42:34

....because I have been sobbing my heart out all day as the house we have been desperately waiting to move into for five months has now fallen through due to the complete ineptitude of all the solicitors involved.

There was a small legal issue to resolve wrt our sale and it can and should have taken no longer than a month.

Four months later and now no-one wil even respond to our requests for updates or try to hurry the fuck along on our behalf. The vendors of the house we should be buying have lost patience and pulled out, wo can blame them.

It's taken 15 months to get this far from putting house on the market and I literally cannot face the thought of going through this again. I actually feel desperate today and like I'm on the edge of some sort of breakdown.

I actually hate and despise these people the lazy heartless bastards sad

grovel Fri 11-Oct-13 18:15:44

My experiences with Probate and Conveyancing solicitors have been universally ghastly.

PeppermintPasty Fri 11-Oct-13 18:36:52

gah I did not put that other apostrophe in my last post either!!!! Bloody phone.

<pedantic and off topic. No doubt typical of all bloody dreadful solicitors>

Mrsdavidcaruso Fri 11-Oct-13 18:44:28

In my case as I said my solicitor waiting for the freeholders solicitor for THREE WEEKS to fax a letter and did nothing that was proactive.

They had the freeholders details but did nothing to alert the freeholder to say that his solicitor was not doing his job.

I took me 5 minutes to google the freeholder and although the address was not on record his accountant was.

My solicitor told me that contacting the accountant would not work and they would not do it, so I did it myself and as I said a fax was sent in under 3 hours.

I did my solicitors job for him and still had to pay him

mrsmalcolmreynolds Fri 11-Oct-13 19:17:33

Pinfold my post was in response to yours insofar as you appeared to be unequivocally supporting deepfriedsage's implication that solicitors are in the profession for the power it brings and to abuse that power. Your subsequent post is a great deal more nuanced and I agree with quite a lot of what you say.

IMO acting as a solicitor, if done properly, should (to paraphrase Marvel comics) be a case of "with great responsibility comes very little power". My job is to act on behalf of and in the best interests of my clients ( which includes being pro-active and following up without needing to be chased by them) but in return I get only the power that comes from being their trusted adviser - there should be no aura of "I'm a lawyer therefore my word goes" or anything like it. And if you are conscientious, the greater the trust placed in you by your clients, the greater the sense of personal responsibility.

mrsmalcolmreynolds Fri 11-Oct-13 19:19:13

Pindora not Pinfold - sorry not sure where that came from!

skaen Fri 11-Oct-13 19:31:48

I'm a solicitor. Given the astonishing regularity with which my clients completely ignore my advice, I'm certainly not in a position of power!

Alisvolatpropiis Fri 11-Oct-13 19:38:32


Probate is a fairly difficult area of law to make a pleasant experience due to it's nature. Feeling the solicitors aren't the best no doubt compounds it.

Sorry you have had unpleasant experiences at already difficult times.

TiredFeet Fri 11-Oct-13 19:41:06

As this thread has become generalised now, I just have to say, I am a solicitor although in-house in a specialised area. We recently appointed a conveyancing solicitor and dh was moaning when I explained the likely timescales for the transaction, as he couldn't see how it needed to take that long. But then when we got the paperwork I did my bit and put it all there for him to look through and he just sat ignoring it! He couldn't see the connection between him delaying looking at the paperwork and the length of the transaction! Ffs! So yes, if you want your matter progressing, send back paperwork etc asap and also chase regularly for updates. If they don't respond then of course escalate and complain to their manager, don't just sit around for weeks wondering! There are some rubbish solicitors of course, but I also come across lots of very conscientious ones.

PeppermintPasty Fri 11-Oct-13 19:45:12

Nailed it again mrsmalcolm. And good point skaen. Exactly right!!

ohnoherewego Fri 11-Oct-13 20:37:29

I just don't accept that the majority of solicitors are reactive rather than proactive, not least because it would be just such an incredibly stressful way of working. Stress rises when you have little control over your day. It is considerably less if you are pro active and progress matters. Why would anyone want to piss off their clients so much there was no joy in the relationship and they just rang up and shouted at them? I am amazed. I have 20 plus years PQE in both large and small firms and have run large departments. I have never met anyone who was purely reactive apart from a couple who were not coping with life generally because of outside stressors.

Twilightsparklesmama Fri 11-Oct-13 20:50:20

I know it's been answered but in response to the point about interest, we are subject to very strict rules regarding money. The SRA accounts rules provide that solicitors must account to clients for interest where it is fair and reasonable to do so. Previous rules allowed solicitors to keep amounts below £20, the firm must have a written policy on interest. In my firm money to be held for a long period is kept in a seperate deposit account all interest is paid to the client. If its kept for a short period in client account our systems do an interest calculation which we pay to clients.

TiredFeet Fri 11-Oct-13 22:35:57

Totally agree with you ohno and I seem to spend far more time chasing clients for stuff than vice versa. But equally I think it is fair to advise people to take ownership of their matters and if they have got a solicitor who doesn't appear to do much then to do something about it. Also I think it is important for people to realise their role in keeping things moving; dh couldn't seem to grasp the connection between him sitting on paperwork and the transaction moving slowly...

Fleta Sat 12-Oct-13 15:23:18

I'm a solicitor and a Conveyancer.

I am good at my job. But you do realise the amount of time I become the subject of vile abuse because of things outside my control?

For example, clients moving in and rubbish hasn't been cleared, items being taken that were supposed to be left.

I treat each and every one of my clients properly. And IME there is absolutely not such thing as "just a boundary issue"

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