Solicitor - Major Data Protection Breach

[wkdlass123]

In a court hearing my solicitor was ordered by the court to prepare the bundle for the next hearing. Despite being assured I was eligible for Legal Aid, this was later revoked as I was not pass the financial means (a whole other complaint). 3 days before the court bundle was due to be given to the court the solicitor emailed me saying I must immediately collect the 1 bundle she had prepared and get it copied 4 times and lodge with the court (3000+ pages). This is despite it being ordered as her obligation. I was furious with this however did as I was told. In court there was confusion from the Judges as to how the bundles had come to be as neither of us were represented. When they found out the Solicitor gave me the document, which contained a police disclosure detailing violence, witness statements etc between my ex and his wife, all hell broke lose. I then revealed to them that I had also been sent electronic copies of the police disclosure on 2 occasions via email. The Solicitor emailed it when she got it and I read it believing I must be able to have it. I did later find out my ex was not allowed a copy, however assumed this was in case it caused him to become violent to his ex over her disclosures.I was told by the court usher that the matter was a serious data protection breach and my solicitor was going to lose her job over it. My ex hasn't been allowed access to the disclosure despite requesting it from the Judges. Going forward I do not know what to do. I was told by Judges that I must complain about the whole situation, including that I was never given any fees to prepare me in case Legal Aid was not granted - all I know is the current amount outstanding. They also put me in a highly vulnerable position having that document in my possession. It has been ordered in the court papers that I must return the 1 paper copy of the police disclosure that was handed to me by the solicitor, and delete all material references which were sent to me electronically. The Judges fully acknowledged that I had seen the document through no fault of my own and that when i was emailed it i was told to read it, we discussed some content via email and then she arranged a telephone call for us to go through it in detail. The doc contained highly distressing details for serious accusations and I had to seek counselling for this after as it was almost identical to the abuse I suffered when i was with him. Some advice would be much appreciated!

In a nutshell neither of us should have seen the police disclosure but I was sent copies and handed a copy. At the first hearing I was represented by a Barrister as I had an emergency legal aid certificate. The barrister said he could get a higher level of disclosure than CAFCASS and due to the serious nature of the situation between him and his wife they wanted as much info as poss. My solicitor was then required to request the disclosure

Yes, that's what normally happens. The issue about whether your solicitor gets in to trouble over this shouldn't affect you one bit.

Surely it's an issue though that I was put in that impossible situation with a document I shouldn't have had access to with such short notice and that the solicitor delegated that legal obligation of the bundles to me? Not to mention the legal aid certificate was for Just over £1k and I'm being billed for over £2k having never seen or agreed to any private work outside the certificate (in fact I didn't even know how much the certificate was for until it was revoked). Surely the Solicitor should never have told me one of my witnesses was her friends daughter? I'm just not happy with the whole situation to be fair. They assured me I was eligible for legal aid and I have them everything possible for them to look at

Firstly, concentrate on your case, not the solicitor (whatever trouble they're in, it deflects your attention from what is important).

When you get an emergency certificate you should be told that if it is revoked you will owe the amount of the solicitor's claim to the LAA. They can only bill the LAA at LAA rates, and you'll be served with a copy of their bill and be asked to comment. they should have given you a cost estimate at the outset.

They cannot bill you for any private work without making that very clear to you in writing, and telling you how much they think it will cost. They cannot bill you for any work they undertook while you had an emergency certificate.

Sending you restricted documents and causing you stress, and telling you incorrectly that you had to sort the bundle are a separate thing to the costs.

Those you should complain about, and if they don't deal with your complaint to your satisfaction you can go to the Legal Ombudsman.

www.legalombudsman.org.uk/?portfolio=complaint-form-legal

As regards the costs, as Collaborate says, they have to show that
A) they told you about the risk of revocation and the consequences
B) they gave you a costs estimate

Are they asking you for money at this stage, to cover work done before the certificate was revoked?

The 3rd court date has now been set for 3 months time and I do not have any obligations within the interim (disclosure now safely returned to the court and electronic copies deleted), therefore I can concentrate on sorting this issue.
The Solicitor applied for an emergency certificate to cover £1,350 from mid Feb to mid March. This is the extent of the works and the certificate carried on acting until she told me it was revoked on 8th May. When I found out it was revoked I asked for the paperwork which is how I found out all the info. I was not told about the time frame or amount.
I was however told in a care letter that i was "most unlikely not to be eligible for legal aid" but they were obliged to tell me works were estimated to be between £1,000 and £8,000. She was aware I worked 22.5 hours a week on National Minimum Wage and was £4.5k in my overdraft so would have hoped she would have been more careful at advising me that I was eligible having not been aware of all the Legal Aid means rules.
At no point was I made aware of any costs - whether under LAA or private. I have emails where it is confirmed they were not acting privately for me.
The Solicitor emailed me 3 weeks back (she has been on hol since) saying what my bill estimate was (£1,800 not inc VAT). I have no idea what this includes as no one has sent me an invoice, despite my requests.
The Solicitor got back from holiday on Monday but can imagine she didn't have the best welcome back party and my ex and his wife would be gunning for her as his wife sent numerous emails to my solicitor reiterating that she did not consent to her disclosure. This was before the solicitor sent me anything.
(PS thanks for your help on getting my head around things - my son and I have been having to use foodbanks so I can try to save money. The only reason I didn't get Legal Aid is because my tax credits award wasn't reduced in line with a new job before my solicitor delegated functions - not because I am actually over the threshold)

First off, stop asking them for an invoice! They can't invoice you.

They have to prepare a bill for assessment, which is a much more complicated thing than the kind of invoice solicitors send to private clients. The form will depend on whether they are just claiming the fixed fee (likely) or trying to claim hourly rates (unlikely for long complicated reasons I haven't fully got my ownhead round since going back to a bit of legal aid). You get to see it, then it is assessed either by the LAA or by the court.

Only once they are paid will the LAA ask you for any money.

The maximum will be the costs limitation, £1350 in your case. They can't get more than that even if they incurred costs. They can't claim for any work done after the emergency certificate time limit. I can't see how they can charge you privately for any work at all.

Dear Lord, she's made a proper mess. It's easy to get in the shit with legal aid, I am incredibly unwilling to delegate functions for emergency certificates for this very reason, because the LAA will shaft you every way they can, but that's quite bad.

It sounds to me as if you need to see if another, better solicitor can get you funding, now your tax credits have changed. If you're in Kent/Surrey/Sussex I might have a suggestion.

Thanks for your replies. I am starting a new job in 4 weeks which will send me over the threshold and the whole thing has put me off wanting anything to do with Solicitors/LAA. I am confident that I will be able to represent myself going forward as going forward my sons Father has a million hoops to jump through and it is unlikely he will get any access as our son wants nothing to do with him (backed by CAFCASS).
There is however still the outstanding issue that there is no non mol despite the solicitor being aware I wanted one. She has not properly advised regarding this as she said it was an application within the Child Arrangements Order - which I now know is not possible! I have seen that this is considered to be solicitor negligence.
Going forward I have no clue how to play this out - wait for the bill to be sent to me and then raise the complaints... or follow the complaints procedure now? Thanks for your ongoing advice - you've all been brilliant! PS Is anyone aware whether there is a timescale that the solicitor must issue me the bill? I have read I have 21 days to respond to the bill before it can be sent to LAA? £1,350 will cripple my household.

I would complain now.

It would seem sensible to me that, having upheld your complaint, they compensate you by not claiming their costs, which would relieve you of that potential liability.

If they are crackers enough not to uphold your complaint, the Ombudsman can deal with the poor service aspects. Negligence goes beyond their remit, you have to sue for that. The SRA deal with professional misconduct (if the solicitor signed an undertaking not to copy or lose control of the police disclosure, fir instance, that's a matter for the SRA.

www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page