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,

Well if this is a real post, let them take you to court and have your say

what court would they take me to?

That really is over egging the pudding.

You were held up, and treated poorly yes. But come on.

I was joking. It was over lost time

You don't seem that bothered about how many hours you are wasting now..

You didn't receive a service, you didn't pay them and you went away and left a negative review.. why escalate it further?

What is the point of it?

Why have you started a second thread on this??

Oh FFS @PoisedPearlHelper, just drop the whole thing and ignore the solicitor. Nothing will happen.

You were daft to demand compensation, they're just trying to put the shits up you so you'll drop it. So drop it and move on. You had a bad day, shit happens.

I have a friend like you, just can't let any annoying experience go, she has to put in a complaint and try to get compensation. She's literally never stayed in a hotel without making a complaint, not once. It's exhausting just hearing about the amount of effort she wastes on this kind of nonsense, not to mention the money she's wasted on solicitors fighting these stupid battles.

@Blank1234 I think @mrssmurfspointyhat didn't realise that the SRA is an abbreviation of Solicitors Regulation Authority and may now be feeling a bit defensive.

Some of them do. I know one who's exactly like that - a bully and aggressive. He even tried during his own parents, whole thing was completely ridiculous. But he was like this with every case he took on. Amazed he hasn't been struck off. Actually, just googled and he has now been suspended by the sra (but only for 12 months!)

So lawyers like this do exist and it seems like the op has come across one. Although the claim for £150 compensation is somewhat antagonistic. If just have left the bad review and maybe made a complaint, not demanded compensation.

I think you’re pushing it for lost time to be honest.

I get it’s infuriating and I get they were rude to you and I get the complaint.

As others have said, contact SRA if you think the solicitor is acting against their Code of Conduct, and send them the letter.

😂😂 That really doesn’t matter .. SRA was mentioned 12 times in the first 3 pages.. @mrssmurfspointyhat rocks up on page 4, after over a dozen mentions of it and suggests the very same thing 😵‍💫😵‍💫😂😂 Come on.

She was advised to get her thread moved to the Legal board. Looks as though she posted again on that board instead of getting the thread moved.

I assumed that. Silly thing to do. I think she just doesn’t like the answers here so is hoping for a ‘fresh’ board with a more sympathetic audience.

Some people have not given advice in good faith on this thread. It would be better for her to have a fresh thread in Legal.

"You wrote a review, you asked for compensation. It doesn’t matter if you did it in sequence or together."

Well it matters because the solicitor is claiming she blackmailed him. If the two things were separate, how is that blackmail?

If they were unprofessional at the original appointment it could be quite likely that they are over egging now to make you withdraw your complaint / bad review.
You would be much better seeing a real solicitor with your letter and their letter and see what's what, rather than have a load of armchair legal specialists on MN giving their opinions when you keep having to repeat yourself.
Personally I would have left them a poor review and nothing else. However, people probably get away with bad service because people don't complain!

That’s not true at all. I think everyone has given advice in good faith, as they believe it. But even if OP thinks that, then get this one taken down before starting a new one elsewhere. Also, she should stop commenting here and concentrate on her new TAAT 🤷‍♀️

Multiple solicitors have given advice on this thread.

It is true. Some of the advice is just to scare OP.

And it’s not a TAAT when it’s your own thread and you’ve had to leave one due to rampant bad advice.

Omg. Grow up.

I suspect you got yourself wound up when you were waiting for the appointment and were not forthcoming with the solicitor when they questioned some of the errors on the document. They then refused to witness it as they were not satisfied with your responses and it may well have appeared that you had something to hide. I have also refused to work with clients that are not forthcoming about their finances or other errors on documents that make it difficult to verify their identity and how they have accumulated their wealth. It would be interesting to hear the solicitor’s version of events and they probably will have written an attendance note they can use as evidence for the SRA if you are determined to escalate this.

I think you were wrong to expect £150 compensation for your time being wasted when the solicitor will probably argue it was their time wasted for being provided with an incorrect document and not enough evidence to verify their client so they were unable to witness the document. However, they didn’t charge for the appointment which is reasonable in the circumstances. The document was proven to be incorrect with the handwritten amendment as the second solicitors had to redraft it before witnessing it.

She’s not left it though ….
No one is deliberately trying to scare OP that I’ve seen 🤷‍♀️

OP has also had advice from multiple solicitors - she’s just choosing to ignore them 🤷‍♀️

Telling OP that she tried to blackmail them for £150 and she needs to withdraw her complaint is trying to scare her.

No it’s not. It’s really not.