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Two points:
1. In this complaints and compensation culture, customers (clients) are used to complaining and receiving a payout, usually no less than £50 a pop. I have no doubt that they consider solicitors the same as their bank, energy provider, mobile phone company, etc...

2. During my time in private practice, I was allocated the crown court case of a "difficult client" who'd intimated to the firm on his first court appearance that he wanted to transfer firms (read "the solicitor his co-accused wanted him to have"). I was instructed by the partners to try to convince him to stay with us (someone else had dealt with police station and mags court, so he hadn't met me before). Before the ink was even dry on the legal aid order, counsel and I had visited him in prison, arranged a bail app, provided him with a copy of the advanced disclosure, the full works. Client still wanted to transfer, but had no grounds (partner instructed me to oppose the transfer), so client complained to my firm, said he wasn't happy with me and counsel, and therefore wished to transfer. A blind man on a galloping horse could see he was just saying that to facilitate the transfer. It's a shame my boss couldn't see that also, despite the history of the case. I got a roasting, and was told that "this client wants to transfer because of you", etc. The fact is, the firm wasn't used to receiving complaints, because complaints were relatively unusual in crime, so this was an unusual situation.

In short: it's time the profession as a whole (including SRA and LeO) accept that we're dealing with human beings who love to moan. They'll complain about anything in the hope that it will result in some benefit to them. They don't care whether your job or your firm are adversely affected by their actions. And if you give them advice they don't want to hear, then you're a rubbish solicitor.

I now work in-house. The company receives thousands of complaints each month, some genuine, and some not so much. The difference is that the company doesn't take them personally, but does learn from trends and any mistakes.

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