Solicitor falsely accused me of blackmail and identity fraud – what can I do?

[PoisedPearlHelper]

Hi everyone,
I’m feeling extremely distressed and could really use some advice.
A solicitor I approached just to witness a deed poll (literally a 10-minute job) has now written me a formal letter accusing me of identity fraud and blackmail, all because I left a Google review and asked for £150 compensation for the poor service I received.
To be clear:

• I turned up to the appointment on time, waited over an hour past the scheduled slot without apology, and was treated incredibly rudely throughout.
• The “identity fraud” claim appears to be based on my use of a perfectly valid house name (e.g., “The Croft”) in the deed poll, which is how my address appears on HMRC letters and utility bills.
• I corrected a typo on the deed by hand with their permission before it was witnessed.
• I later went to an independent solicitor who confirmed everything was fine and properly re-witnessed the deed poll.

Despite this, I received an aggressive letter warning me I would "hear from enforcement agencies," and treating my Google review + complaint as a criminal blackmail attempt. It’s left me shaken. I’ve now written a response asking them to:

• Retract the accusations
• Destroy my ID documents unless legally required
• Justify their data handling under UK GDPR
• Comply with the law around AML and GDPR disclosures

I’ve said if they don’t comply by 19 August, I’ll report them to the SRA, ICO and Legal Ombudsman. What else can I do to protect myself? Has anyone else experienced this kind of intimidation from a solicitor? Is it worth actually taking this to the police under harassment laws, or am I overreacting? I have a paper trail and am confident I’ve done nothing wrong, but I’m worried this could escalate or damage my name. Any legal or practical advice much appreciated – even just solidarity would help. This has genuinely shaken me. Thanks so much,

As a solicitor myself I can absolutely guarantee that no reputable firm would have written to her in such terms. But it’s a regulatory matter, not a “her vs them” matter.

Please keep us updated with how this pans out…

@PoisedPearlHelper your first post suggests the first solicitor did witness it after you corrected the typo but you decided to then go for a second opinion and the second lot said it was fine but it sounds like you got them to redraft anyway. Your later posts suggests the first firm didn’t complete things after you corrected the typo, so I’m not really sure. But if the work was completed originally (albeit you had to wait), asking for £150 seems a bit high.

Yes this would be the adult thing to do. I don't understand the issue though TBH - how much did you pay the first solicitors? And why didn't you just return with further information to reassure them so the work could be completed?

It's going to cost you more than £150 in legal bills and therapy if you pursue this. Just let it go or complain through the proper channels.

You'd be jumping to huge assumptions.

Unfortunately even being a solicitor does not in my experience make people entirely above dishonesty themselves.

Op did you send that chat GPT rambling letter to them??? Please don't. Maybe a phonecall to apologise and take the review down may be best course of action? This could all get stupid and expensive for you!

Good lord some of you have clearly never met or worked with any solicitors. Some of them are absolute weirdos. They are highly regulated and supposed to follow a very strict Code of Conduct - which includes things like professionalism, fairness to clients, timely work completion, and this solicitor sounds like they have not complied with it so the SRA are who to contact.

When we evicted our tenants their energy bill was £4k.
It was sold to a dodgy company who employ legal team and have used intimidating language to force us to pay it.
Initially I provided proof of the tenancy contract stipulating the tenants were responsible.
Eventually after being told by phone ( I wish I'd recorded it) that they could ruin my credit rating I told them to do their worst and have ignored them since.
There are some very dodgy law firms imo.

No but solicitors don't tend to be dodgy. Certainly not whole firms of solicitors. We are very conscious of the fact that we can get struck off for anything vaguely dishonest and that's our entire livelihood gone.

Its not all Tom Cruise and Gene Hackman territory in the real world.

For future reference, there's absolutely no need to get your deed poll witnessed by a solicitor.

At the very least get another solicitor to word your reply, you are likely to dig yourself a deeper hole trying to handle this yourself. He knows the law better than you do and probably has more resources.

I'm afraid you may have committed libel or even apparent attempted blackmail, by posting on social media (I haven't seen exactly what you posted, and there are always two sides to every disagreement), people don't understand how legally dangerous it can be to vent in such a public place.

Did you follow their complaints procedure first or go straight to social media?

This is so bizarre I have to know what happens next! Here for the updates ...

This is why you don’t get legal advice from AI…

The first thing you should have done is complained to the solicitor firm to let them respond. Then you can leave a review or report them to other bodies as you have given them an opportunity to put things right. You went about this in a strange way, like you were using your bad review to pressure them into giving you money. You can surely understand that you would come across more reasonable had you contacted them first?

Personally I have never had a bad experience with a solicitor but I have received compensation eg after a potential complaint to the financial ombudsman service. Never at any point did I ask for compensation or put a figure on what I want to resolve things, the company offered it. So never ask for £x to resolve a complaint. You can make reference to expenses you have incurred but you should fall short of requesting the funds unless you know you are entitled to them, as opposed to relying on a goodwill gesture.

Fraud and blackmail are criminal, not civil. I'm actually dealing with an accusation of blackmail in a work context, the police aren't interested.

FAFO!

After my dad died we received terrible and extremely slow service from a local solicitor. I wrote a perfectly factual and polite complaint to the senior partner who responded immediately, resolved the ongoing issue and waived all fees associated with the work.

A poor Google review and demand for compensation based on ? is a terrible way of resolving a genuine complaint, and to do it to a solicitor is idiocy.

I’d be interested to see if this solicitor has previous on the SRA register or has been in front of SDT previously.

Anyone who belueve solicitors are all squeaky clean should take a look at all the cases on the SDT - some are appalling.

Jesus op. Why use 100 words when you can AI-generate ten thousand, eh?

You've sent them a ream of almost senseless word salad, much of which I'd guess you have no idea if it's actually correct.

Some solicitors are total money-grabbing, dodgy, immoral, lazy, bordering-criminal wankers. I get it. But it's still really not worth getting into a dispute with legal experts over such an inconsequential situation and cost. Totally ridiculous.

You’re missing the point. This is not about potential dishonesty on the part of the solicitor, it is about intimidating conduct in the way they have interacted with a member of the public.

I’d bet that this is a sole practitioner.

This in spades. You should have then given them an opportunity to refund the fee you'd paid them.

This

You aren't entitled to compensation. Their letter sounds unreasonable but you sound, in Mumsnet terms, unhinged. Just delete your review and forget about the whole thing. It's not worth your time and energy

(Also a solicitor)

Can this organisation help you?

https://www.sra.org.uk/

I can't specifically advise you but I would like to counter those who seem to think you're definitely in the wrong because the other party is a solicitor and thus wouldn't make these claims without a solid legal grounding...

I've known a practicing solicitor that was an absolutely nasty piece of work and 100% used her professional title to try to intimidate other people. She would say all sorts of unhinged legalise shite that wasn't remotely true. So being a solicitor doesn't de facto make the claims true, in my experience.

She did in fact lose a civil case with the people she was in dispute with.

As the old joke goes, what do you call 500 debarred lawyers?

... a good start

Losing a civil case is nothing to do with her practising.

It’s one thing to use some legalese to intimidate. It’s another to make serious accusations on a firm’s headed notepaper!

Tell me haven't properly read and understood the OP without telling me haven't properly read and understood the OP...