Garton Shires goes on the offensive to counter Which?

Wakefield firm Garton Shires - singled out for specific mention in last week's highly critical Which? magazine report on solicitors - has hit back at the consumer group for its failure to contact the firm over its potentially damaging allegations.Which? surveyed almost 350 complainants after inviting responses through national press adverts from 'people who felt they had had shoddy service from their solicitors in the past three years'.The report said complainants described solicitors as arrogant, contemptuous, patronising or rude.

It focused on failures to give estimates of costs, delayed cases, clerical mistakes and faulty complaints-handling procedures.Garton Shires was singled out in the report for its alleged failure to file a damages action in a child abuse claim for client Sharron Fox.But Simon Shires, managing partner of the Yorkshire firm, said Which? had not contacted the firm.

Mr Shires said the firm fully assisted Ms Fox's new solicitors in making a claim against the Solicitors Indemnity Fund, and maintained that her new firm praised Garton Shires for 'our honesty and integrity' in dealing with the matter.'This firm wholly supports the Law Society's new strategy to persuade solicitors to adopt a client-focused approach...

this case in no way reflects the present standards of service,' he added.The report's focus on Garton Shires seemed 'highly unfair when we have done everything possible to co-operate with this complaint', Mr Shires added.Of the report, Law Society President David McIntosh said: 'While we agree with Which? that standards must improve, this survey was only based on a small sample which could not claim to be representative of the public's experience as a whole.'Mr McIntosh emphasised that the Law Society's practice standards unit would incorporate an inspection team and that firms found failing to improve could be fast-tracked to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.Which? references to a huge backlog at the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors were untrue, he added.Jeremy Fleming