To think my solicitor has screwed me over!

[Lakes11]

Its 4 days before I attend the first hearing for a child contact court order that my ex as raised. My solicitor (she's actually a paralegal) has been away for a week and previous to that I had not heard much and thought she had everything in hand.
She had months ago told me she could attend court with me if I wished her too. She's put in a legal aid application for me too which I thought was in hand. Today after emailing her asking about court and what the process is and what's happening and can she attend and my legal aid, it is only now she's telling me she can't attend court with me as she has no advocacy rights and I'll have to pay for a barrister privately as my legal aid decision will not come though until next Wednesday at the earliest.

So she's said I may have to self represent. I've paid her so much money previously whilst waiting to apply for legal aid which I can't really afford but what has she actually done other then send some emails. She hasn't advised me even when I've asked questions.
On top of this we are still awaiting a court bundle from my ex which I knew nothing about until now and she's only just chasing up for. So I don't have that. Reading up on a court bundle.it states about having personal statements in there? I asked her months ago about me having my say as I haven't had any chance to respond she said that I wouldn't need to do that until the fact finding hearing.

I feel like she's absolutely screwed me over and is completely useless. I don't have the money to go to anyone else and there is only one other firm in my region who does legal aid but they are no use either and did not get back to me.

I am so stressed, I don't know what I'm going to do and I don't know anything about court!

The whole thing sounds extremely odd. She should've been aware she couldn't represent you in court as she doesn't have rights of audience. At best a judge might let her advise you / speak for you as a Mackenzie friend but that's at the discretion of the judge. As others advise you need to contact the managing partner or complaints handling partner and see if they can help sort this out.

Don't panic. You can represent yourself.
Write the statement and send it to the court on Friday - they read it a few days beforehand. If you look at the court documents, there should be a deadline for submitting it. If there's no email there, just find it from their website.

You can find a statement template online or just write one in a logical, easy to understand way.

In the email to court, apologise for the misunderstanding and briefly explain change in representation.

Family court is different to regular court - it's like a formal work meeting. You can have your day just don't slate him off in the statement or in court - make it revolve around the child.

My representation also fell through prior to my fact-finding hearing. There was someone in the court on the day who was on duty to represent parents. I did use him and he was okay, but I felt that I would have done a better job and got a better negotiation. For the second, and last hearing I represented myself.

If you are reasonably intelligent, and can present yourself in a decent and articulate way, you can represent yourself.

Paralegals can be highly experienced, often more than trainee solicitors. They work under the supervision of a solicitor but carry their own caseload.

It's commonplace to appoint a barrister to represent you in court. Solicitors can but barristers are typically more experienced in this area. Think of solicitors as GPs and barristers as hospital consultants if you like.

Having said that it's absolutely perfectly possible to self represent in family court. In my experience judges allow more flexibility/more guidance is given if this is the case.

You need to raise this with the partner as a complaint.

OP what work did you pay her to do, who did she send emails to?

🌺

I had a similar situation when my ex took me to court for a child arrangements order. I used a paralegal, they are generally great at wording legal stuff and cheaper than a solicitor. They can come to court with you, in a mackenzie friend capacity but they cannot speak on your behalf, so you would be sef representing anyway. I was advised to use a barrister, often they work out cheaper if you only need them to represent you in court. I had some issues with my paralegal too, she was very difficult to get hold of, was also on annual leave a lot etc... found it very frustrating!

I agree with what you say but this IS the complaint, and should be addressed to the partner named in the retainer letter.

I agree that going straight to the SRA is not the answer here.

Hi,

I’ve just joined specifically to reply to this post.

Firstly, I’m so sorry you’re going through this . Im going through similar with my ex and it’s all consuming.

I just wanted to try and appease your stress a little. I can’t help in regards to making a complaint against the paralegal but just wanted to tell you that similar happened to me before my first court hearing in that I wasn’t represented that first time. I’d had a solicitor lined up who had applied for legal aid but a few days before the hearing she contacted to let me know that her or her firm couldn’t represent me due to conflict of interests (I think my ex had used them before).

My would-be solicitor was really helpful though explaining that she’d try and find me another solicitor (which she did but he wasn't available to represent me at that first hearing).

She said I could try for a postponement but honestly that it would be better just to go ahead with it and that the judge was used to people self representing and that I should explain to the judge that the circumstances were that I’d tried for representation and was going to get some for next time.

On the day it was absolutely fine. The judge heard from my ex’s Barrister and then asked me a few questions (about what I intended the outcome to be - ex has gone for the children living with him full time) and then instructed what he wanted me (and the other side) to do before a certain date (think it was a month). All he asked of me was that I prepare and file a statement (in response to my ex’s statement which had been in the court bundle and which I’d seen before the court date).

After that court hearing I had a few meetings with the new solicitor who helped me with my statement and whilst things are still ongoing with my case things are (touch wood) sorted new legal representation wise.

Good luck try not to worry.

OP I would try to speak to the solicitor named in the retainer letter as a matter of urgency or failing that to the managing partner. It's a long time since I've been involved in this field but the firm are not going to want any complaints which may put their legal aid contract in jeopardy.

The most important thing is to make sure either that you are represented at the hearing or can apply for an adjournment or, in the worst case scenario, that you are prepared to represent yourself.

Any complaint to the SRA can be made later.

Op post this again under legal so you get people answering who actually know if a paralegal can reprint you in court or not!

Who has signed the client engagement letter OP. It will most likely be in a partners name. Call that partner tomorrow.

It wouldn't surprise me if she has lost control of her caseload and she didn't give you details of someone else to deal because she doesn't want to bring it to the attention of her supervisor.
You need to speak to a manager.

If it's a first hearing in child arrangements (FHDRA) it would be very unusual to have written a full witness statement.
You can prepare a position statement which just sets out an overview of what you would like the court to order, and your solicitor's office should help you to do that.
I would definitely push for the solicitors office to make someone available to represent you on Monday. Just be mindful that if they charge by hourly rates, and they are senior, they may end up costing more for a morning at court than a junior barrister on a fixed fee.

Fantastic advice here.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/fathersjustice/?ref=share

Please join this group. They'll help you. You do not need a solicitor. Waste of money.

It will definitely be more expensive to have a solicitor there than a barrister (although I’ve not done legal aid work for decades (literally) so have no knowledge of how that works)

I agree with a Pp that she’s probably lost control and is trying to keep it secret from her supervisor. It’s far easier for that to happen now that there is so much remote working

I'm a Solicitor and the firm I used to work in had paralegals who would carry out a lot of work themselves and in some instances were more knowledgeable that the solicitors / trainees.

I would contact the Partner in charge of the family department first thing tomorrow and try and clarify the situation.

Are you in England or Wales?

Just get on the phone tommorrow OP and ask to speak to a partner or her supervising solicitor, explain its urgent as she's gone away and left you with no representation for the hearing on Monday am and someone should at very least call you back tontalk through it with you. Don't take any nonsense from a reception fobbing you off with a call back ' later ' if they haven't called in 1 hr call back on the hour every hour and just explain how desperate you are to speak and basically howligjt how it's wrong for her to have upped and left you without nothing in place for Monday. Then do all of the above re official complaint sra etc if needed.

Please look at the FB group Children's Rights UK. They have brilliant advice on self representing

Very good advice from DelurkingLawyer and, as a fellow lawyer, this is what I would say. Also, kick up a fuss with the managing partner (head of department) so that it is in their interests to have you properly represented on Monday even if only to seek an adjournment whilst they sort this mess out. As a wider point, there is an increase in paralegals being given caseloads beyond their experience and knowledge (discounting the many experienced and professional paralegals) probably as a way of saving on the costs of qualified lawyers for firms but without the necessary supervision.

Solicitors' firms are required to write to you when they are first instructed to confirm things like hourly fees, complaints processes also; and also to confirm what your instructions are, what their advice is, and what is the plan of action. If this paralegal didn't do all of that, then the firm is not entitled to be paid. Also if they knew you qualified for legal aid and didn't expedite your application, that is a serious breach of their professional duty.

The client care letter solicitors have to send clients should also tell clients who is supervising junior staff. If by any chance they did that, you need to contact that person. If not, you need to contact the senior partner as a matter of urgency.

They will care about the prospect of a serious complaint to the Solicitors' Authority, which it very much sounds as if you would be entitled to make.

Thanks but this is for father's and i'm a mum.

I'm in England