I have never hired a lawyer before, except when buying a house, so I have no idea where to start. Recently, I received an opposition to a trademark application, so it looks like I need to get some legal advice. So I have a few questions! 1. Is it best to get a local lawyer, or are most meetings done by phone or Skype? 2. How do I evaluate if the lawyer is any good? 3. When you are making initial enquiries, do they charge you when you speak with them? Or do you tend to speak with their assistants on initial enquiry? 4. Should I speak to a couple of different lawyers first? 5. Do most lawyers charge by the minute? Anything else I should be aware of? Thanks, Jon

Hi Peeps Slowly making my way through Payplan DMP..aiming to obliterate them all at last. Lloyds Current Account O/D £900.00dr sorry been paying them £1 month recently payplan. 10 year old debt - fallen of CRF. obviously being fleeced as debt not really gone down. What letter do I send to Akinika ? unsure of this one as current account. Thanks Peeps

I've been reading through the forums for a while but just am getting a bit nervy now! Im at the stage where after submitting the defence, ive got the Defence questionnaire re the small claims track. Hoist still haven't responded to my requests for info, and ive not had anything back from Cohens either and the requests were sent at the end of April. Before it got to this stage, Id spoken to the litigation department twice requesting correspondence - in the second call, the Hoist person said that they wouldn't be sending me any requested info... Am i correct in thinking that i now tick the mediation box and take it from there? I then explain about the requested information not being provided - assuming it still hasn't by then? Sorry if this has been said loads before, but i just need to know for my own peace of mind!

I was hoping that if I ended up on JSA, I could do their token jobsearch on the abysmal Jobmatch site and then do my own jobsearch later on at home at proper sites like Indeed or whatever, but it seems they're not letting you do that without a sanction. Why is that? Don't they trust us to look for ourselves? They honestly don't want people claiming benefits in the first place so it would be obvious that they would help us in our OWN jobsearch rather than theirs. In fact, I heard a rumour that those upright machines with the touchscreens that print out jobs for you have disappeared entirely from ALL JCPs - is that true?

Hi CG In Civil procedure rules if the Defendant is an individual, the case is automatically transferred to his home court. what if the defendant is a limited company? Can a claimant (another limited company) select a court at his home court? pls can some one advise me on this thank you all the best BF

READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/mod-choose-the-royal-british-legion-to-lead-help-for-veterans

Hello, I was wondering if anyone knows if I can find a written statement anywhere that states that as a consumer, under UK law, I have a right to shop around for the best deal on goods and services. I have spent a couple of hours looking around online but cannot find a statement like this anywhere. Any help anyone can give would be very much appreciated Thanks in advance. Pickles18

My personal accounts are with First Direct whom I moved to from Smile after receiving bad service and a 'couldn't give a stuff' attitude to helping me when their system decided of its own accord to stop paying my standing orders even though my salary was there Anyway, had no issue with FD but am now looking to start up a small venture I will initially run in my spare time but am hoping to build into a business. Now I know I need to set up a business account but I know FD don't do them. I had an HSBC credit card some years ago I paid off and shut down because of the dire offshored Customer 'Service'. More recently I opened a savings account with their M&S Bank JV and had to ring up to reset my password, it took me 15 minutes to actually get this done as the person was struggling with their English. (it usually takes me 5 minutes tops to deal with anything with FD) I wrote to close the account and explained that the CS was why I was closing the account. Anyway I digress. The point of explaining the above is that I don't really want to go to HSBC or co-op. So anyone have any suggestions for one that: Has UK based CS Doesn't cost a fortune to run (brief research indicates there are a couple that have fixed monthly fees) Doesn't require a trading history (I will not be needing credit facilities from the bank and until such time as it is generating sufficient turnover will have a standing order in place to fund the account with the capital required to pay the monthly running costs) Any suggestions appreciated.