Feel let down by my solicitor, work related.

[getfunked]

I have recently had to employ the services of a solicitor, following some major issues at work. I had been signed off with anxiety, and felt like I could not return after my employers let me down in a big way. I was in the middle of the grievance procedure when I was recommended a solicitor from a friend. All has been going well, between my solicitor and I, we decided that the issues at work were to big for me to return therefore we asked for compensation from my employers for loss of earnings. The offer was sent by my solicitor to my employers last week with a deadline of Friday, Friday comes and goes and I have heard nothing from my work or my solicitor, so I sent a email to my solicitor and at the end of the day a phone call, with no response. The weekend has been and gone and yesterday sent another email followed my a phone call in which I was told by my solicitors secretary that he was in a tribunal all day, and she would send a urgent message asking him to call, I heard nothing.

My concern here is that if my solicitor did not chase the offer on friday that my employers will not be taking things as seriously as I would like, also my anxiety surrounding this is getting worse as I just want it to be over.

Am I being unreasonable to expect my solicitor to keep my in contact and be chasing my employers? I have paid a fair amount of money for his services, and would really like a resolution so I can move on with my life, and wondering where to go from here so any advice would be appreciated.

I would just keep chasing it. The deadline was Friday and you were feel;ing very let down by Tuesday not to have heard from your solicitor. I think you expect too much of someone who probably has quite a lot of clients on at once. In practice deadlines are often not met or are extended every week I am afraid. Also if you chase both solicitors and solicitors chasing your employer too much it can all back fire - you get a worse service from the solicitor and your employer can get so cross by being chased too much that they lose any goodwill too. It's a fine line.

If you have given a deadline otherwise you will sue or go to ACAS then if you hear nothing this week go on to that next stage with your lawyer.

I expect the solicitor will be in touch in a day or two. Keep telling everyone how wonderful they are - it tends to get you everywhere in life.

Deadline of friday - essentially means end of play friday.

It's possible they sent your lawyer an email or call yesterday but he was in court all day, so didn't get it. He will need time to read it and figure out the best next steps and if he was in court, he will not have been able to do that.

You are by far from his only client; while I appreciate you are angsty and want this over with, he is the expert on dealing with this sort of negotiation. He will know how best to handle a company that extends deadlines, etc; try to take a step back and let him do his job.

it's not possible to tell from the information in the OP but it's entirely possible that your employer will ignore the letter. you and your solicitor have decided that you can't return in the middle of a grievance procedure. if I was your employer I wouldn't feel obliged to offer anything to settle on the basis of what you have written. I am sure there's a lot more to it and would not suggest you putting it on the internet but I do think you need to manage your expectations and avoid increasing your stress - this is obviously a horrible situation to be in but don't make it worse for yourself by expecting your employer to be nice about it all.

It could well be that it's gone to your employers' own solicitor and that they'll be looking their views before coming forward. As a PP has already said, often these deadlines mean very little. I think for your own anxiety you need to appreciate that things move very slowly when it goes down the legal route. Try to manage your expectations; it's only been two working days since the deadline expired. The timescale might have been somewhat unrealistic in the first place, especially if it's something your employer will need to seek advice on or refer to Insurers or something. Leave it a week from deadline and if there's been no movement then ask how they intend to proceed.

If you chase your own solicitor too much it could have the opposite effect of what you want, and suddenly you become the case they avoid dealing with. You call asking for news every other day and they don't want to speak to you because all they have to say is, "nothing yet". It's not nice but it's true; there's a balance to be struck between attentive and unrealistic. I hope you're feeling better soon

The deadline given was Friday, which meant end of play - or strictly could mean any time up to midnight. Sending an email and calling your solicitor on Friday was completely unnecessary. If anything happened yesterday, your solicitor could not have dealt with it as he was out of the office. Constantly calling will not achieve anything.

Your employers don't have to reply to the letter by the deadline imposed by your solicitor, or indeed, reply at all. If the letter was only sent last week I am surprised that the deadline was the same week and am not surprised you haven't heard anything yet. That would barely have given them time to take their own legal advice. If the deadline was Friday, it is entirely possible that they wrote to your solicitor on Friday, a letter which he may not even have received yet.

I think you have to be prepared for possibly many more letters, reminders, negotiations etc before you have a resolution to this situation.

Don't expect that because the deadline has passed you'll get an immediate response from your solicitor. He will no doubt need to consider the implications of the lack of response by your employer and the potential next steps before dictating a letter to you setting out your options.

I would also add that every time you call or email, you will simply be wracking up the legal costs and your bill!

I have just been told by my lawyer that there is a short fall in the sale of my flat; they advised me to sell my property for £105,000 when I had bought it for £125,000 and it was sold at the price they suggested. I now can't pay off my mortgage so with the sale going through on Friday it seems that I could end up being in breach of contract. He has stated that it was all due to my ignorance rather than anything to do with the advice I received from him even though I was told by my Mortgage Provider that it should have been the lawyer who ensured that all the money was there before proceeding with the sale. Any thoughts?

I really think you should have started a new thread about this.

1. It isn't a solicitors job to advise on how much to sell a property for.
2. Didn't you realise how much you needed to come up with to repay the mortgage?
3. Look at all of the bumf your solicitor sent to you. There's probably a warning in there that you are responsible for ensuring all of this.

How much is the shortfall Remember it is not what you paid for the house but what the outstanding loan is

Can you get it somehow,family perhaps

Did you tell your solicitor how much was outstanding on your mortgage

How did you think the mortgage would be paid off

Potentially you are liable to purchaser for their losses eg storage,solicitors fees ,temporary accommodation

So if you can would be better to get enough money together to pay the mortgage off as otherwise you are just paying money to the purchasers to no gain to yourself

Unfortunately you will be liable to the buyer who is not interested in whether you or your solicitor got it wrong

I have to say I think it would be difficult for you to succeed in a claim against the solicitor,based only on the limited info in your post