Has my Solicitor been negligent. Advise please.

[9sleepstilxmas]

Hi, I am currently completing an MBO of the company I work for. We have agreed an amicable way forward for me to buy the business and we hoped to complete the transaction by the end of December/middle of Jan at the latest.

I instructed a solicitor to act on my behalf on the 8/11/11. I emailed asking for an update on the 14/12/11 to which he replied, by email, that he was awaiting my responses re the documents and emails he had sent me. I had recieved none. Turns out he was sending the emails to a .com address rather than a .co.uk. When he informed his office they resent the emails to my proper address.

Yesterday I recieved all of these documents. They date from the 8th November starting with his t & c's letter, which obviously I haven't had time to sign as I only got them this week. They further include 30 pages of due dilligence, debenture, sale share agreement, loan agreement and compromise agreement; all of which contain extremely confidential information and sensitive information about the particular sector I work in.

I had to spend all day yesterday trying to respond to the many questions raised in the communication. In all honesty I felt like kicking the firm into touch but I managed to bite my tongue and not send an irate email.

The issue/s for me though are that this material has been sent to someone other than me, (if I done that in my line of work I'm sure the Information Commisioners Office would be giving me a hefty fine, probably in the tens of thousands). I know the incorrect email address is an active one as I emailed it this morning without receiving an undelivered notification.

I think also if I and two other colleagues had been sending numerous emails to a new client and none of us had recieved a single response, at least one of us would have picked up the phone after no longer than a week- I wouldn't let it run to a month.

I'm torn because I want the deal to go ahead in timely fashion so am reluctant to appoint new solicitors on the other hand I feel I have been let down by my solicitor and will end up with a hefty bill for what is, imo, poor and shoddy practice. Any thoughts or advise would be gratefully recieved

Lack of an undelivered notification does not mean the email address exists. Many organisations don't send non-delivery notifications. The domain (i.e. the bit after the @) clearly exists but there is no way of knowing whether or not the email address exists or is being looked at by anyone unless you get a response to a message sent to that address.

Unless the documents contain personal information the ICO couldn't care less if you sent them to the wrong email address. The ICO is only concerned about personal information. Any information which is not personal is outside the ICO's remit no matter how confidential or sensitive it is.

Don't forget that unless you have agreed a fixed price it costs you money every time your solicitor rings you or writes to you.

If you want to complain you should start by complaining to the firm.

Why didn't you ring him to check progress sooner?

Why didn't you ring him to check progress sooner?

I'm not sure what the legal definition of "personal" is, although the documents do contain my full name, personal address etc.

I didn't email him sooner as i dont have any previous experience of this type of legal work and don't know how long these things take.

Re sending emails to wrong address- was that not some sort of disclaimer at end of email about destroying it If not recipient? If so that may mean they have some defence. To be honest the lack of initiative ringing you would worry me more.

Also I suspect that you will be facing costs whichever way you do it.

The other thing about engaging someone new is that there will be a delay sorting out finding someone and doing all the initial admin so you are looking at prob a week on timetable possibly more.