Next Steps after Legal Ombudsman Decision

[Andrew-P]

I have recently submitted a complaint to the legal ombudsman about a solicitor who gave me advice that was misleading and unclear causing me to understand one thing when another was true (the direct question I asked was only answered by a barrister some months later).  In the mean time it cost me a lot of money and more importantly upset.

 

I went through the Legal Ombudsman complaint and procedure process and whilst, on appeal, they agreed with me in many aspects, they said the solicitor acted reasonably  -not sure how failing to answer a direct question and giving advice which clearly leads someone to believe the opposite can be reasonable.

 

Any suggestions as to what I can do to take this further even if it is to just warn others about this solicitor and the fact that when they advise the don't actually provide advice!

 

Any help greatly appreciated

[Homer67]

What is the value you would be claiming?

[Andrew-P]

Thanks for the quick reply.

 

To be honest its more about closure but I would be going for between £5 and 10k.

 

Small change compared to the fees I paid!

Edited April 1, 2022 by Andrew-P

[Manxman in exile]

You would almost certainly have to ask the opinion of another solicitor as to whether you had the basis for a professional negligence claim.

 

Depending on the nature of the advice sought, it would depend upon whether the advice given was the sort of advice that could have been given by a reasonably competent solicitor.  Sounds like the Legal Ombudsman concluded that it was.

 

Whether you asked the correct question and whether you correctly understood the advice given might be down to the way he provided the advice to you, or the way you interpreted it.

 

If the Ombudsman concluded that the advice could have been given by a reasonable solicitor, then you are probably pretty much constrained as to what you can say about him without straying into defamation areas...

 

You won't find out what options you have without speaking to another solicitor.  And you'd probably need one specialising in professional negligence.

[Andrew-P]

Hi Manxman,

 

Thank you for this - I really appreciate your thoughts and comments and you have confirmed my thoughts.  It's a shame when a solicitor seems to not be obliged to give a clear answer to a direct question - makes you question the point of the legal 'profession'.

 

I would have to think carefully about the cost and expense of a professional negligence claim.

 

Thanks again

[mantis shrimp]

Not all questions have simple clear answers. Many do, but not all. You have given no indication of the nature of the question. 

 

It is possible (and I may of course be wrong) that the problem was in the way that the difficulty was explained. 

[unclebulgaria67]

Depends on whether there was a clear answer that could have been given to a question asked.  A Barrister answered the question at a later date, but did they have more information and time to be able to provide the answer ?

 

And was it a situation, where anyone asked the question, would say that it would depend on many different factors.

 

You could ask the firm of Solicitors to look at what compensation they are willing to offer you, that relates to the service issues you experienced.  

 

 

[Manxman in exile]

7 hours ago, unclebulgaria67 said:

... You could ask the firm of Solicitors to look at what compensation they are willing to offer you, that relates to the service issues you experienced.  

 

 

 

I don't know, but if the OP has already had a complaint referred to - and rejected by - the Legal Ombudsman, wouldn't that suggest that he has already gone through the firm's complaints process* and got nowhere?  If so, probably unlikely to be offered anything now...

 

But just because the LO has rejected it doesn't necessarily mean the OP does not have a possible claim.  He really needs advice from another firm.

 

*I'm working on the basis that Ombudsmen generally won't entertain a complaint against a firm unless the complainant has already exhausted the firm's processes.  Dunno if that applies here or not.

[Andrew-P]

Hi sorry for not replying more quickly.

 

UncleBulgaria - A direct question was asked to which a direct answer could have been given - could something be cancelled (a yes / no question) to which I was given a response which led me to believe I could not whereas the barrister when asked the same question gave a direct answer.

 

Manxman - I did go through the firm's complaint's process which was embarrassingly bad and felt like information was being made up as it went along, used deflection tactics and seemed designed entirely to cover them.

 

The main reason I went into the process was to get closure due to the hurt this caused not to get compensation - it was only due to their arrogance during the complaints process that I started wanting what they cost me due to their terrible advice.

 

Thanks again for the help and support

Edited April 11, 2022 by Andrew-P