Conduct and service

The cost of inaction

Why would solicitors ignore instructions, then make it worse by ignoring the client when he tries to communicate with them?

Moreover, why would the solicitors not carry out an agreed course of action and then ignore the letter of complaint and subsequent Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS) correspondence?

That is what happened after solicitors, who had not acted in the complainant's divorce, were instructed to represent him on assessment of the costs.

The firm had been recommended by a costs draughtsman who had been retained by the client's original solicitors.

Unlike the original solicitors, the new ones practised in the district where the assessment proceedings were to be heard.

A week after the solicitors accepted instructions, the client asked them to ensure that they replaced the previous firm as the solicitors of record with the court.

The firm did not do so.

The client, who did not live in the vicinity, sent the solicitors faxes and also phoned.

The solicitors then asked their client to attend a meeting at their offices, which he did.

A month later, the client advised the solicitors that he had been given a date for the assessment.

However, it was the costs draughtsman, not the solicitors, who attended the hearing.

After the hearing, the client requested information from the solicitors.

The request was ignored.

The client then asked the solicitors if they were on record.

Again the request was ignored.

Finally, the client enquired the position of the court.

On learning that so far as the court was concerned he was acting in person, he terminated the retainer.

Finally, the solicitors wrote to the client confirming that they would continue to act if he wanted them to.

The client asked for their views on any action that could be taken.

Again, his request was ignored.

The client then lodged a formal complaint which went unanswered, as did correspondence from the OSS.

A year had passed since the solicitors had been instructed - and they had done nothing.

As a result, the solicitors were ordered not to render a bill to the client, and to pay him 1,200 in compensation.

Every case before the adjudication panel is decided on its individual facts.

These case studies are for illustration only and should not be treated as precedents

Lawyerline

Facing a service complaint? Need advice on how to handle it? Contact Mike Frith at LAWYERLINE, the support service offered by the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors, tel: 0870 606 2588.