Grievance Against My Solicitor

[cricketer1]

Hi everyone
I hired a solicitor to help with financial matters/ancillary relief proceedings.
Final hearing which was booked for one day,couldn’t conclude and DJ ordered another day of Final Hearing.
I used to pay their bill on monthly basis. They hired a barrister to represent me at FDR and final hearing. I immediately paid bills for both these hearings.
After Day 1 of final hearing I wrote an email and Specifically asked my solicitor not to do any work for day 2 of my email and provisionally booked a barrister as well. She sent me an email about chasing an accountant to which I replied
“I thought I asked you not to do any work for the moment.”
To which her reply was
“I am not incurring unnecessary costs, merely conducting myself professionally.
I have a duty both to the court and to you to make sure that your case is correctly prepared. This report is vital to confirm whether, and how much xxx, is due on each property so that we can demonstrate to the court that xxx has sufficient capital to rehouse herself and to pay you a lump sum. If the report is not done then the court may opt to accept xxx personal calculations which are not acceptable to you. Please do not place either myself or xxx in a position of professional embarrassment, a term used in such circumstances, by attending in front of a judge and having to say "my client would not allow me to pursue the valuer for the correct report" - you will look even worse than either of us and come across as frustrating the case so be at risk of a wasted cost Order i.e. pay xxx costs for the hearing, albeit we are trying to find out who is not cooperating”
last week I settled out of court with my ex-wife,did all myself and submitted the document to the court myself.
In terms of work I have 2 x 6 mins conversation with solicitor and emailed her once to which she replied one and with scanned document with amended consent order.
Then I hand delivered a 2nd document and spoke to her for another 6 x min(1 unit) she said.

Yesterday I received an email from solicitor

“Please note that a portion of the work has been sectioned out as this was accidentally omitted from your bill dated 27ft March and represent some work that xxx did over the
weekend and had not put on the file prior to me preparing that bill.
The second section relates to all costs after the 28th March 2013”
Then there is a breakdown of costs.

“TO PROFESSIONAL SERVTCES: Pre-27 April costs
9 letters/emails out at f23 per letter (£207);4 letters/emails in at £20 per letter
(£80); 9 units of telephone attendance at £23 per unit (£207);27 units of
preparation and perusal at £23 per unit (£ 621): Total £,1115.00



Costs post 28.03.13
12 letters/emails out at £,23 per letter (£276); 4 letters/emnils in at £20 per
letter (£80); 7 units of telephone attendance at £23 per unit (£ 161); 3 units of
preparation and perusal at £23 per unit (£69): Total £586
+vat 340

I am upset to say the least, thinking this is extortion. I have been paying expensive bills for FDR and Final hearing.
What are my options. I don’t think writing to the solicitor may help. The actual work that I asked her to do couldn’t be more than 200£.and instead I am being billed to pay almost £2000?
Can this solicitor charge me for something which they “accidently” omitted? Should I pay for work which solicitor did herself and against my instructions?
Can I speak to Solicitors Reg Authority?

[FredPuli43]

Why did you not want the solicitor to do any work for day 2 ? What reason, if any, did you give the solicitor for that instruction?

[factor-fiction]

I assume the initial contract was for her to represent you throughout these hearings. They are then under an obligation to do the best they can for your case. I'm not sure you can pick and choose how they spend their time. Was there anything in the initial agreement that said you could dictate how they work? If the bills were incurred as part of the case and in accordance with the contract I think you need to pay even though they were notified later than you expected

[themas]

If you can't resolve it with the solicitor you need to go through the firm's formal complaints procedure & then to the legal ombudsman if necessary. Look at the Law Society website, which should give you some information on the procedure.

I don't follow the cost details you quote. The first lot says pre27 April, & sthe second lot post 28 March. One would assume the first lot therefore includes the second lot but it clearly doesn't as £340 is the correct VAT for the total of £1701. You don't say what the date of the hearing was so it is not clear how much of the cost you are disputing. When you make your complaint you need to set everything out in chronological order with dates, & make it quite clear what amount you are disputing.

I think you will have to accept the part of the bill which was omitted from an earlier one. No system (or person) is perfect & it would be unreasonable for you to be able to avoid paying just because there was some delay in the invoicing.

You could ask the Law Society (I think they have a helpline which may be able to advise you) whether you were within your rights to instruct the solicitor to cease work.

[tonywiltshire]

If you have a complaint against a solicitor I would first raise the query with the senior partner or person nominated to deal with complaints at the practice, you may have been informed of the identity of this person with the bill. If you are not satisfied with the response take the matter to the Legal Ombudsman, who may not deal with the investigation if you have not first given the firm the opportunity of investigation.

[Eve]

The names contact for complaints and complaints procedure should be named in the initial letter you got from them confirming instructions and setting out the basis for charges etc...

If you cannot resolve this matter through the firm's complaints procedure then you can go to the Legal Ombudsman.

http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/