Anyone any experience of dealing with SRA and reporting a solicitors behaviour ?

[peridito]

I'm beginning to wonder if they are even bothering to read the content of the emails I send in reply to their requests .

They never respond to any of my queries ( eg why can't document X be considered when the submitting solicitor has confirmed in email that this was the doc sent to court ? ) and their latest reply is almost entirely devoted to querying an accusation ( that we have not received payment ) which we not only have never made but in all our communications with them have clearly explained that we have received .

They seem to be keen to completely ignore why we are contacting them - to draw their attention to the actions of a solicitor .

They dismiss the incorrectly completed ( by which I mean ticking a box to indicate that something doesn't exist ,when we have shown that it does ) forms submitted to UK gov depts because they "don't show intent " . Even though we have shown that this wasn't a one off error and given other examples of the same error/action .

Are they normally like this ? I feel I am just banging my head against a brick wall .

Could our case have been assigned to a very inexperienced person ? Is there any way we could ask for someone else to look at it ?

I am really worried that they will soon just dismiss the whole thing because they feel they've spent enough time on it .

As I explained as friend owns a rental property with stbexh she doesn't qualify for legal aid.

My question is what she is supposed to do

If she can't afford a solicitor and can't get legal aid then she will have to represent herself.

Lawyers don't make the shitty legal aid rules, we campaigned against the changes, but people hate lawyers so they didn't listen.

If I take on your friend for free, I would have to slap a rate rise on paying clients to make up the shortfall. Because the landlord the staff the insurers the IT people and the council won't cut thrir rates because of her.

That's not fair. None of it's fair. But people vote Tory and they hate lawyers. Blame them for your friend's shitty situation.

She might be able to approach a specialist lender to fund her case. They would take a charge on her half interest in jointly owned property.

If she doesn't want to do that she will have to do her best to navigate the court system without advice or representation.

I have no idea if this chap could help but maybe it's worth looking into ?

john.hemming.name/jff/casework.html

I am aware that he has been suspended from MN www.telegraph.co.uk/women/10547625/Mumsnet-bans-MP-John-Hemming-after-he-outs-users.html

She isn't looking for free representation. She is just wanting that the bill will be presented at the end. There us money but it is all under her stbexh control. 2 properties, a business, pension etc. Whilst the properties are in joint names she is tied because he wont sell anything unless a court says he has to.

Friend is completely incapable of navigating the court system.
She has brain damage from a previous injury inflicted by stbexh and dyslexia which means she struggles with reading and writing.

She is living in the family home (injunction taken out after he was removed after the final time he assaulted her and the police were called). It is a large 4 bedroom detached house. But she has to rely on the food bank and friends to pay the gas bill or council tax etc.
I think he thought he could starve her out so she would accept any crumbs he threw her.
He has even said he isn't working so he doesn't have to pay her any maintenance whilst the divorce proceeds. He has not filled in any forms and the first hearing has been suspended twice for him to get his act together from last year to possibly she has been told September.

The whole thing is the biggest joke going.

She cant even get her decree nisi as he hasn't filled out his form. He refuses to answer dome questions

So how do you divorce someone who has raped you, beats you up and is emotionally and financially abusive to you over years.
Are you saying if someone plucks up the courage to divorce them they can't because they have no money. All the money is either in the abusive partners bank or in property that abusive partner wont consider selling unless instructed by the court but as wife has no money they can't take the husband to court.
Or are you saying that the only option is to wait till the mortgage is not paid and she gets slung out of the family home then what?

So are you suggesting that because the government have decided they will not support people in this position by passing the Legal Aid and Sentencing bill, lawyers should work for free? Ex legal aid lawyer here, the ones that are left are on very poor salaries anyway. A lot of my friends do pro bono work, that is, work for free sometimes, but they also have mortgages and children to support. Just so that you know, a legal aid solicitor at the time I was made redundant was paid 190 pounds by the government for a file they may have spent 15 hours on. So work out the hourly rate on that! Pay office rent, admin support and profession fees, insurance etc out of that. Most legal aid/social welfare solicitors worked in legal aid because they wanted to make a difference to people who often were very poor and often without a voice. I get so fed up with the 'let's slag off all lawyers who are all earning hundreds of thousands a year's. It really isn't like that for most high street lawyers.

@Oliversmumsarmy Your friend's case sounds like exactly the kind case suitable for litigation loan.

Cases can take a year or more to conclude. Staff need paying every month. It's a rare firm that can afford to receive nothing until the end of a case.

Imagine you're getting an extension built at a cost of £50k. The builder isn't going to be happtygetting paid at the end. They'll want to be paid as they go along.

So are you suggesting that because the government have decided they will not support people in this position by passing the Legal Aid and Sentencing bill, lawyers should work for free

As I have said before she isn't expecting a solicitor to work for free. Just that the bill comes at the end.

The builder analogy (I renovate properties) and no I wouldn't expect money till the end.

I have a friends who are carpenters, plumbers and electricians who don't get paid till the job is done.

The builder analogy (I renovate properties) and no I wouldn't expect money till the end.

I have a friends who are carpenters, plumbers and electricians who don't get paid till the job is done.

Even if it takes a year to complete the job? You must have deep pockets. Most solicitors firms run with overdrafts maxed out, especially the ones that derive much of their income from legal aid.

OP why don't you lend your friend the money?

Litigaton loan sounds like a good idea.
I only work on the basis people pay me and pay me monthly because I have my own bills to pay but some lawyers (now the rules allow it) operate on different bases.

Most builders in the UK expect regular payments or they down tools actually. Mmy central heating company in the Autumn took payment in advance for 50% of each piece of 10 bits of work and 50% the night after the work was done. It is not unreasonable and similar to most UK workers.

OP why don't you lend your friend the money? Very pertinent question @MrsBertBibby.

Unfortunately whilst it may appear that Oliversmumsarmy is the OP, the OP's thread has been hijacked, and is now going in a completely different direction to that initially intended.

Hah, GPWM!

If the lending money was directed at me. I and her other friends are already funding her. We have an agreement in place. Just the solicitors bill to be sorted.
I told her about the loan route and someone at the solicitors office confirmed there were loans she could get to cover these things

She is left so angry that instead of her solicitor shouting at her about the unpaid bill she could have suggested the loan route.

Don't know if she qualifies. I will meet with her to help fill out the forms. I had already said I would pay for her Barrister but because her stbexh dicked around so much refusing to fill out forms etc he ended up with the bill for the day in court.

Maybe not so GPWM.

I have just joined and was wondering if you had any luck with getting the solicitor investigated by the SRA..thanks

I have had the most horrendous experience of a solicitor and the SRA. They are not fit for purpose and damage the integrity of the legal system in England and Wales. Happy to chat offline if anyone feels inclined to take matters further.