AIBU - do I have to pay this bill?

[Mindblowninbrisvegas]

Around 2 years ago I lost my sister. I was the executor of her will. Due to a few issues dealing with the estate took quite some time. Halfway through the case the solicitor in charge moved firms. She had been personally recommended to me and I liked her so asked if I could transfer the case to her new office. I paid the bill from the first firm and transferred my file. She carried on dealing with the case and everything was finished and resolved.

After around six months the first firm got in touch and told me that I owe them around £1000. They said that the first solicitor had done something that she was not authorised to do and that they had had to do work behind-the-scenes to correct her error. It was acknowledged that all of the work charged was done after I had changed firms and asked them not to do further work on my behalf as I was changing solicitors. They have also admitted that the work done was to protect themselves as a firm and not to assist either me or my sister’s estate.

I refused to pay the bill and had nothing further.

Now almost two years later I have been contacted again and the first firm are threatening to sue me unless I pay a bill of more than £1000. I don’t have the money to pay this bill but I am very worried about being sued. I am a single mum to 2 small children and don’t have the time, energy or money to fight a legal case.

Am I being unreasonable in not wanting to pay this bill?

It depends. Are they saying the first lot of work they were responsible for was not done correctly and had to be fixed?

Again though I think this is their responsibility as the solicitor was in their employ.

I'd say to them it was their responsibility to do the work correctly in the first place and fixing ,their employee errors is at their expense

Thanks all - makes me feel a bit better this morning. They are saying that she gave an undertaking that she didn’t have the authorisation in her role to give and therefore they had to various work to make sure that they didn’t ever get into trouble for the breach of that undertaking . They are saying that I should have known that as she wasn’t a partner she couldn’t give an undertaking and therefore I have to pay for them covering themselves because she did. I did know she gave an undertaking (to a very nervous French Solicitor) but onvioisly I had no idea she wasn’t allowed to / hadn’t followed the internal procedures to allow her to.

There’s no way I would expect a client to understand my Firm’s rules on undertakings (I’m a solicitor). Any solicitor can give an undertaking - but they are serious business so most firms don’t allow anyone not a partner to do so - but if she did then that is their problem, not yours.

Definitely contact the SRA.

Hi OP - Can I suggest you get this moved to Legal as you'll get some very good guidance there.

Nope no one would expect you to know she wasnt covered to do the undertaking at all

Either say you will report or do report them - this is nothing to do with you at all

You need legal advice on this and agree firm needs reporting. If their error its daft they billing you. You need breakdown of bill asap

This is tricky. If her will was with the solicitors firm, the solicitor had no right walking away with the case. It didn’t belong to her personally.

She won't have "walked away" with it. Either she had permission or OP terminated the retainer with the original firm, as she is fully entitled to do, and decided to instruct the new firm. And even if she did walk away with it, it doesn't entitle the original firm to charge OP for their employee's error.

The argument about the undertaking is a nonsense unless the firm spelt out to you when they were first retained what their rules on undertakings were, and unless they can show that you authorised or asked their employee to breach those rules.

The reason you hire them is because you don’t know any of that stuff. I’d say I regret your then employee failed to follow your rules, clients are not responsible for your lack of training and oversight of staff. I think you should take this up with whoever’s responsible for that before someone else makes errors which cost you far more.

The SRA won't usually look at issues until you have exhausted the firm's internal procedures. How to do this would have been set out on your engagement letter. If you don't have that then write your response to the managing partner.

Reputable firms don't charge former clients for work they do for their own benefit. Not how it works. Agree you need to contact the first firm and ask for their complaints procedure and a copy of their terms of engagement in force when you instructed them.

Firms' standard terms generally provide that they will discuss any changes in scope with you / consult with you.

You didn't consent to or instruct the later work and on that basis alone i don't see how you could possibly be liable for it.

Over and above all that, you had expressly instructed them to cease acting for you and they acknowledged that instruction and acted upon it.

Simultaneously contact SRA for advice.

No advice OP but hope you get it sorted. To someone who hasn't a clue about legal matters this all sounds crazy!

Good luck

@Xenia i think you’re a person that knows about the law? Any advice to the OP?

I would not pay this bill on principle, OP, even if i had the cash. Glad the others are already offering practical advice on next steps but the salient points are that you had never instructed them to carry out the additional work beyond the stop instruction, and even if it was done whilst you were paying for their services.. lack of oversight and management on their part isn't something they can reasonably expect to just bill back out to the ex-client years later.

My advice is to exhaust (but not have faith in) their internal complaints procedures so that it can be referred to the Law Society - I'd make it clear that you're willing to go all the way to push back on this unreasonable action on their part, and state in writing that it should be considered as a formal complaint so that you can escalate to the Law Society in due course.

You are not responsible for this money. Your solicitor may be and will have insurance to cover this kind of thing. Complain to the Law Society.

Citizen’s Advice offer free legal advice as a one off. It could be worth you phoning to check your local one, and ask what paperwork to take. Most branches have a lawyer available.
My sympathies for your loss, and this stress must be the last thing you need. I hope it’s resolved soon.

See if any lawyers do some pro bono (free of charge legal advice) work in your area so you can get some advice on this. Contact the Law Society for advice.

Ensure you keep copies of all correspondence, dont speak to them on the phone. If they have the cheek to try to bill you for correspondence, ensure you can do the same.

Your home household insurance may also have legal cover - best to give that some consideration OP (mine's a separate addon that i buy, but i've previously had ones where it was bundled in).

If you don't have the original correspondence, you are entitled to ask for copies, although they can charge you for providing them.

Nope. They are trying it on. No way you pay them for work they "had to do to protect themselves". Why does their employee insurance not cover it? And no client is expected to be an expert in what they hire somebody else to do, so that is just a whopper. Lodge formal complaint asap.

You are not responsible for their firm's incompetence. Write a letter saying this. Go to the ombudsman / regulator if they continue to pursue you.