Hi. My family and I have experienced very poor service from a solicitor: They didn't complete the work they were meant to do, and they made errors - one with signficant implications - in the work they did do. Informally, 2 other legal professionals have confirmed that the work was shoddy and incomplete: The word 'negligent' has been mentioned. The whole saga has been dragging on for several years at this stage.
The solicitor still has a considerable sum of our money – enough to cover the original fee quoted and a lot over. At this stage, we want to close the whole thing off and get our money released. We also object to paying the whole fee that was originally agreed, as we have not received the service agreed.
We want to write formally to them expressing this, but are uncertain as to the best approach to take. A friend has suggested that if this letter is written by a solicitor, the original negligent solicitor can challenge it and force us to 'take counsel' (get a barrister?) which could result in a long-drawn out correspondence. They have suggested that instead we should get a barrister to write the letter, to short-circuit this possibility. But surely the barrister could still be challenged anyway???
Can anyone explain how the process works? Can we do it with a solicitor alone, or can the negligent solicitor provoke a situation where we've got to take on a barrister? Thanks.
The solicitor still has a considerable sum of our money – enough to cover the original fee quoted and a lot over. At this stage, we want to close the whole thing off and get our money released. We also object to paying the whole fee that was originally agreed, as we have not received the service agreed.
We want to write formally to them expressing this, but are uncertain as to the best approach to take. A friend has suggested that if this letter is written by a solicitor, the original negligent solicitor can challenge it and force us to 'take counsel' (get a barrister?) which could result in a long-drawn out correspondence. They have suggested that instead we should get a barrister to write the letter, to short-circuit this possibility. But surely the barrister could still be challenged anyway???
Can anyone explain how the process works? Can we do it with a solicitor alone, or can the negligent solicitor provoke a situation where we've got to take on a barrister? Thanks.