Solicitor coming off record

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John joe

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My solicitor is due to come off record in the high court. I understand from my solicitor that I will have to pay these costs. I dont understand why I should have to foot the bill for this as hes coming off record due to the Law Society of Ireland finding him for been dishonest in my client account.

Anybody have any experience of getting a solicitor off record?
 
The solicitor has billed for work done to date. If you are unhappy with the Bill you can ask for it to be taxed or complain to the Law Society.
 
ajapale said:
Am I missing something here?

Your solicitor is coming off (or is being struck off the legal register) and you (an ordinary client) have to pay the costs? What about his other clients? Surely he is liable for the costs himself. What costs is he claiming you are liable for?

Perhaps you are liable for costs all ready incurred by this solicitor when acting on your behalf? Do you have a new solicitor? What do they advise?

aj
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The solicitor is paid in full to date. The cost I am talking about are the High Court cost for him coming off record.? He is only coming off my record. He will continue to work for any of his other clients.

I do not have a new solicitor, I am representing myself.
 
Correct, you can represent yourself in any court in the land. Nothing to stop you, but the presiding judge will advise him of the pitfalls and recommend he seeks legal advice.
 
Ok I undersand that someone can represent themselves and its not uncommon for people to do this due to cost of the solicitors in this country and the loss in trust due to the recent media of the Law society of Ireland finding solicitors for corruption in the legal system.

In my first post I have asked of bill for solicitor coming off record? and who should have to foot the bill if it was the solicitor that was found guilty?
 
Hi John Joe
The Law Society and the H/Court will consent to the solicitor coming off record for you, however they (LS) must find another solicitor to then come on record for you if you cannot find one yourself. If your previous solicitor is seeking money for coming off record then talk to the Law Society, as far as I am aware he may try to seek these costs however you would then take an action against him under his Professional Indemnity insurance policy which covers such situations , therefore your loss will be recovered from his insurer. So you can tell him and his insurer (the Law Society will provide you with the policy number and insurer even if he will not) that you will not pay the money and if he seeks to recover the funds from you will take an action for those costs plus the costs (if any) for having to transfer a case to another solicitor since I am sure this will mean a delay in your proceedings amongst other things.

So do sweat it , call the LS to clarify the costs issue and inform his insurer that you wish to take an action under his PI policy. Oh by the way if you have difficulty with his insurer the LS will provide you with a list of solicitors who will take action against another however the insurer would be foolish to deny the allegation/negligence if the events as you described them took place.
 
Thank you very much Hasslehoff that was useful information to me. I will be writing to the Law society as its in the complaints procedure policy that all correspondence must be done in writing and not by phone- just for your clarification and thanks once again.
 
"Hi John Joe
The Law Society and the H/Court will consent to the solicitor coming off record for you, however they (LS) must find another solicitor to then come on record for you if you cannot find one yourself. If your previous solicitor is seeking money for coming off record then talk to the Law Society, as far as I am aware he may try to seek these costs however you would then take an action against him under his Professional Indemnity insurance policy which covers such situations , therefore your loss will be recovered from his insurer. So you can tell him and his insurer (the Law Society will provide you with the policy number and insurer even if he will not) that you will not pay the money and if he seeks to recover the funds from you will take an action for those costs plus the costs (if any) for having to transfer a case to another solicitor since I am sure this will mean a delay in your proceedings amongst other things.

So do sweat it , call the LS to clarify the costs issue and inform his insurer that you wish to take an action under his PI policy. Oh by the way if you have difficulty with his insurer the LS will provide you with a list of solicitors who will take action against another however the insurer would be foolish to deny the allegation/negligence if the events as you described them took place."

I'm a solicitor and I do not understand the above post. It does not appear to take account of the facts as presented.

Go back to the facts. JJ's solicitor no longer wishes to represent JJ in a case that JJ is taking. No-one can force a solicitor to act for someone. The Law Society have no obligation to find JJ another solicitor. None.

In any event, JJ wishes to represent himself.If JJ was going to another solicitor, there would be no need for the first solicitor to come off record - the new solicitor would simply come on record. So the first solicitor wishes to come off record and is obliged by law to make an application to Court for liberty of the Court to do so. As a matter of course, he will seek an order for his costs - if JJ was going to another solicitor he would not need to make the Court application. He is unlikely to get an order for his costs or even if he does, he is unlikely to pursue JJ. So the whole Professional Indemnity thing above is of no relevance.

The reason why this solicitor wishes to come off record is because he no longer wishes to act. He is allowed to do that

mf
 
John joe said:
......as hes coming off record due to the Law Society of Ireland finding him for been dishonest in my client account.
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Mf1,

Does it matter that the solicitor is coming off record because the LS found against him in relation to his dealings with the OP's money (presumably)?
 
I didn't understand Hasslehoffs post either but it sounded as if he knew more about the OP's situation than was posted. Because I could not draw the same inferences from what HAS been posted already.
 
There was a previous query on Askaboutmoney about a solicitor coming off record. The link to the thread is here.

The circumstances seem similar to those of John joe.
 
"Mf1,

Does it matter that the solicitor is coming off record because the LS found against him in relation to his dealings with the OP's money (presumably)?"

I think he is coming off record because he no longer wishes to represent OP. The fact that OP has posted that he is coming off record "due to the Law Society of Ireland finding him for been dishonest in my client account." (sic). only means that there was a complaint some or all of which was upheld by the LS.

We have only one side of this - I would be fairly ticked off and would not wish to act for a client who had complained about me to the LS.

mf
 
mf1 said:
I would be fairly ticked off and would not wish to act for a client who had complained about me to the LS.
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Even if the client had a valid complaint and this complaint was upheld by the Law Society ?
 
"I'm a solicitor and I do not understand the above post. It does not appear to take account of the facts as presented." Really ?? and Really ??, well possibly and I suppose the term "Misappropriation of funds" is chapter from Lord of the Rings too.
Go back to the facts. JJ's solicitor no longer wishes to represent JJ in a case that JJ is taking. No-one can force a solicitor to act for someone. The Law Society have no obligation to find JJ another solicitor. None. [ well actually JJ stated that the solicitor has to come off record at the behest of the LS , not JJ's choice, so if the practice is being wrapped up or suspended the LS after the investigation hands the files to other solicitors or a particular firm, but we do not know the exact background so the LS will advise JJ on that ]

In any event, JJ wishes to represent himself. If JJ was going to another solicitor, there would be no need for the first solicitor to come off record - the new solicitor would simply come on record. So the first solicitor wishes to come off record and is obliged by law to make an application to Court for liberty of the Court to do so. As a matter of course, he will seek an order for his costs - if JJ was going to another solicitor he would not need to make the Court application. He is unlikely to get an order for his costs or even if he does, he is unlikely to pursue JJ [ I take your point as I allured to in layman's terms (The Law Society and the H/Court will consent to the solicitor coming off record for you)]
MF1 - it is dangerous to presume that an order will not be granted and in that regard JJ should oppose the order and also alert the solicitors insurer.
" So the whole Professional Indemnity thing above is of no relevance." - Really so the potential for extra costs on JJ's part , the delay in his proceedings , the negligence of the solicitor both in tort and contract and perhaps something that smells of a criminal nature is of no relevance to the insurer of the solicitor! Are you crazy ?


MF1 "The fact that OP has posted that he is coming off record "due to the Law Society of Ireland finding him for been dishonest in my client account." (sic). only means that there was a complaint some or all of which was upheld by the LS. " Yeah , sure that's all it was only a little indiscretion on behalf of the solicitor, better now.JJ best to try Loomes & Burke Solicitors they are up on Tea Leaf Street
 
Hasslehoff said:
"I'm a solicitor and I do not understand the above post. It does not appear to take account of the facts as presented." Really ?? and Really ??, well possibly and I suppose the term "Misappropriation of funds" is chapter from Lord of the Rings too.

Go back to the facts. JJ's solicitor no longer wishes to represent JJ in a case that JJ is taking. No-one can force a solicitor to act for someone. The Law Society have no obligation to find JJ another solicitor. None. [ well actually JJ stated that the solicitor has to come off record at the behest of the LS , not JJ's choice, so if the practice is being wrapped up or suspended the LS after the investigation hands the files to other solicitors or a particular firm, but we do not know the exact background so the LS will advise JJ on that ]

In any event, JJ wishes to represent himself. If JJ was going to another solicitor, there would be no need for the first solicitor to come off record - the new solicitor would simply come on record. So the first solicitor wishes to come off record and is obliged by law to make an application to Court for liberty of the Court to do so. As a matter of course, he will seek an order for his costs - if JJ was going to another solicitor he would not need to make the Court application. He is unlikely to get an order for his costs or even if he does, he is unlikely to pursue JJ [ I take your point as I allured to in layman's terms (The Law Society and the H/Court will consent to the solicitor coming off record for you)]
MF1 - it is dangerous to presume that an order will not be granted and in that regard JJ should oppose the order and also alert the solicitors insurer.
" So the whole Professional Indemnity thing above is of no relevance." - Really so the potential for extra costs on JJ's part , the delay in his proceedings , the negligence of the solicitor both in tort and contract and perhaps something that smells of a criminal nature is of no relevance to the insurer of the solicitor! Are you crazy ?


MF1 "The fact that OP has posted that he is coming off record "due to the Law Society of Ireland finding him for been dishonest in my client account." (sic). only means that there was a complaint some or all of which was upheld by the LS. " Yeah , sure that's all it was only a little indiscretion on behalf of the solicitor, better now.JJ best to try Loomes & Burke Solicitors they are up on Tea Leaf Street
Click to expand...

I cannot understand your post at all. Maybe try reformatting it and try to make it clearer where you are quoting and where you are replying. That might help a bit. Maybe.
 
efm said:
Even if the client had a valid complaint and this complaint was upheld by the Law Society ?
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If you were the solicitor, would you wish to continue to act?
If you were the client, would you want the solicitor to continue to act?

Hasslehoff - you need to read the entire post. You are not dealing with the facts as presented. OP has stated that solicitor is only coming off record as regards him. No-one else. The fact that OP has posted that he is coming off record "due to the Law Society of Ireland finding him for been dishonest in my client account." (sic). only means that there was a complaint some or all of which was upheld by the LS. It does not mean that it is at the behest of the LS.

mf
 
ok just to clarify some things for the posters here. The said solicitor is coming off my record due to the Law Society finding him guilty on my client account which subsequently lead to the solicitor having to return my money!!
 
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