Conduct and service

Get it right from the start

Caseworkers at the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS) are continually astonished by how often solicitors who receive complaints are their own worst enemies in failing to tell clients, at the outset, what their matter will entail, what will have to be done and how long it might take.

When that omission is compounded by failure to take necessary action as soon as the need arises, it not only adds fuel to the fire but is almost inevitable that the necessary step will then take far longer than it would normally have done.

A client instructed a firm to deal with the sale of her leasehold property, which was vacant.

The sale took five months.

The client considered this far too long.

It transpired that the solicitors had never explained to their client that they would have to obtain the landlord's consent to the assignment.

Even if they did not realise that at the outset, they certainly should have when they got the deeds.

However, not only did they still fail to inform the client, but they did nothing to begin the process for another two months.

The inevitable happened.

By the time completion date arrived, the landlord's consent was still outstanding and the solicitors had to agree to hold the proceeds pending its production.

That took another month.

Then the question of interest arose.

The solicitors had held the client's money for a month.

When they were finally able to account to their client, the question of interest was not mentioned.

This did not sit well with the client, who in the meantime had been obliged to pay another month's mortgage interest that she had not been anticipating.

As so often seems to happen, matters then went from bad to worse.

The client complained, raising several issues.

When the solicitor replied, none of these were specifically addressed.

The complaints were referred to the OSS.

Even then, the solicitor, while replying to correspondence, failed to give any explanations.

All in all, the deficiencies cost the solicitor about 1,000.

A complaint that should never have been allowed to arise in the first place had now cost the solicitor dear.

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

This case study is for illustration only and should not be treated as a precedent