Solicitor help

[cathbath03]

if a solicitor tells you that you will not go to jail for an offence you committed but you end up going to jail, do you have a fair case against that solicitor?

[andy hughes]

Hopefully a legal expert will advise, but I'm pretty sure you undertake to obtain 'advice' from a solicitor, and somewhere in the proverbial small print, you will be informed that they are not legally bound by any advice they give, but as always i am open to correction on this.

[sft42]

Put simply no.......You would have to bring a civil action for breach of verbal contract, during which procedings I am sure the soloicitor would argue they were merely assuaging their clients fears of going to jail and trying to buoy their spirits, and that their statement was not a legally binding contract.

Furthermore you would have to actually prove this had been said and if it was on a one to one basis then corroboration would be hard to come by, plus it would be a convicted felons word against a member of the bar....whom do you think a judge would side with?

[FredPuli]

We are not concerned here with the law of contract.Your claim would be in tort, for negligence. (The problem is not that he may have made a negligent missstatement but that you suffered any financial loss in consequence of it. The Court jailed you so you'd have to show that you suffered some loss not because you went to jail but because of the statement of the lawyer. It is not immmediately obvious to me quite how that could arise ! I suppose there is some such state of affairs possible but I cannot think of one.

[treaclefight]

well you would have found the only solicitor in the country who had said something for definate, solicitors qualify everything they say, law is not as black and white as its made out to be, it's a very fluid grey mushy thing that contains very little certainty. if law was straightforward we wouldn't need lawyers. if you are currently in jail and you're 100% certain that your solicitor said you wouldn't be there, then i think maybe you weren't listening properly or your solcitor was a not a lawyer at all but a con artist. you see i can't even answer this question without pointing out how many variables there are :-) ( oh and no you wont have a case against your solicitor unless his negligence has resulted in you going to prison, negligently stating that he doesnt think you will go there go there will not be sufficient).

[treaclefight]

yes fredpuli, pure economic loss wont be compensated, but the loss of liberty would be if you could prove that it was the solicitor that was supposed to be defending you that put you in jail and nothing else. hypothetically i can see it happening but i cant come up with a likely scenario either. and there would be so many other ways (probably more profitable than litigation) to deal with that.

[Maudlettice]

The person who posted this matter accepts guilt. Therefore if when interviewing a solicitor the conversation went "I stole �10 from the firms petty cash box and have been found out. I shall plead guilty. My only previous are two speeding convictions" and if the solicitor replied "with these facts I can keep you out of prison if you give the job to me" and providing thes facts did not change at the time of trial then a sound contract was entered into. It is perfectly sound whether orally or in writing and can be sued.The claim would be for breach of contract and/or negligence and would be for the full amount of the loss including lost earnings or compensation for time in prison. There are solicitors who deal only with claims against other solicitors, and in a case like this it would be best to go to one of them. Phone [phone] for a list.

[Maudlettice]

To deal with the other matters raised. It does not matter one jot that the claimant is in prison. It does not matter one jot that it may be the claimants word against the solicitors, all cases are one or a group of persons words against a similar opposition, that is why evidence must be given in person so that the judge can make the necessary assessment - they are very skilled and do not often get it wrong. Remember also that the degree of proof is less than that for a criminal matter - on the balance of probabilities not beyond all reasonable doubt.

[sft42]

Your assertion Maude that judges don't often get it wrong is laughable....Tell that to the Birmingham Six and numerous other high profile cases where the Judge has totally misled the jurors....also you may want to consider judges like Widgery who colluded and conspired to cover up huge travesties of justice.

[vittoria]

I may be wrong here but this is what I think. If you did something wrong; and then (later) the solicitor tells you you will not go to jail; and then they send you down; it's your own fault (what you did) that you are now in jail, not the solicitor's.

[Maudlettice]

Based entirely upon what you say, vittoria, it is quite possible that you could successfully sue the solicitor.

[Miss Zippy]

The person(s) who decided that a custodial sentence was appropriate was the magistrate(s) or judge that heard your case (you don't say whether your case was heard in the Magistrates' or Crown Court). Whether or not your solicitor told you you would not go to jail is largely irrelevant; what is relevant is whether he or she managed your case competently. Your solicitor is not responisble for the decisions made by those hearing your case; they can only advise you on the likely outcome of your case based on their experience. Your solicitor is, of course, responsible for ensuring that all relevant and appropriate witness and other evidence is obtained to improve your chances of obtaining a lesser sentence, so if you think your solicitor was negligent in representing you, you may have a case.

[Maudlettice]

Garble.