Can you report a Solicitors actions to Trading Standards?

[RainingBows]

I feel totally done over by my prior solicitor.

My previous solicitor whom I was advised by a number of people as being 'the best around' locally...was wholly unsupportive and I began to wonder what she was even doing for me.

I realised I could no longer continue to ask my parents to pay the legal bills which seemed to come to 'thousands' upon each invoice. ('Respondent ' in a divorce and financial remedy)

Upon the last invoice; I emailed her to advise her that I could no longer afford this and did not have the finances to pay it and asked what I should do.
She advised she could therefore no longer represent me.
I asked her what payment plans were available and stated I would have no choice but to represent myself.

Then my xH then confirmed 'agreement' toward a financial consent order...

At no point did my solicitor clarify with me if I wanted her to prepare the statement of information.
She literally sent me an email telling me my xH had responded that afternoon and enclosed (already prepared!) was the statement of information reponce that my solicitor had drafted using my Form E (which obviously Id prepared myself).

I asked her to clarify how much it would cost if she was to deal with the consent order to the end and she estimated £2k.

So obviously, I then dealt with the consent order myself, corrosponded with my xHs solicitor myself from that point onward...its now done and dusted.

However my solicitor has just now sent me a bill at nearly £1k! (the week before Christmas argh!!!) and yet my parents had paid her over £2k for the previous to date invoice just prior to the consent order?!

Im gob smacked that a bill of this sum could even be totalled.
She seems to be referring to the fact I didnt make it 'clear' that I no longer wanted her representation! Id have thought she'd have had the damn curtosy to ask me that if it was anything other than uncertain after my emails about this fact!

Im so so angry.
Is there anyway I can argue this?

As others have said you need to complain to the firm first. Set out clearly what your complaint is and what you would like the firm to do to resolve it. Their complaints process should be on their website site and in your initial paperwork. If you aren't happy with their response you can go to the legal ombudsman..

Yes this wouldn’t be a matter for trading standards

Update:
I complained to the solicitors directly. They have provided me with a time ledger breakdown of their calculated fee's - however it is still confusing for me to figure out to be honest.

For example Time: 0.06 seems to be quoted on everything.
Rate and Value are different?
But it 'appears' that they are charging £146.70p for any email I sent, and £220 for any email they send out. (Blows my mind if this is what solicitors charge to read and respond to a general sentance)

However we are arguing over the interpretation of my wording - Im saying its obvious that I stated I could no longer pay, they have stated they (I quote) "took it the client wanted to proceed"....
They have offered to knock £300 off the bill, stating that this is just a gesture of goodwill.
However whilst im happy ive got anything knocked off that ridiculous unexpected bill, its still a lot of money when I cant afford it. Is it worth going to the legal ombudsman, I just dont know - can they argue I didnt make it clearer, or can I argue the fact that I was explaining I couldnt pay any longer and yet they continued with work I did not ask for...

Doesn't much depend on whether she completed that form before or after you told her you couldn't afford it any more?

Solicitors charge in units. Each unit is 6 mins, or 0.06 (10 units in an hour). You should have been given an hourly rate (usually net of vat), and then each unit is 1/10th of that.

So say an hourly rate of £250 (exclusive of vat), each unit (0.06) would be £25. Time is recorded for receiving and reading emails, considering the issue, responding etc. If an email took 8 minutes to read, you would be charged 2 units (£50). Then say it took another 20 minutes to write a response, and 15 minutes to read the file and check something, that would be another 7 units (£175).

£225 in total plus vat.

@Harridan1981 The solicitor completed the form 'after' Id said I couldnt afford it and would be looking to represent myself. But that was just a form, what I seemed to be charged for is a lot of emails also...so thanks @thirstyformore, I will take another look at this breakdown of costs, although they assure me its accurate, my complaint is more about principle that I was looking to represent myself due to lack of funds.

Any thoughts as to wether this could be disputed by the ombudsman?
Thanks

It doesn’t sound like you have actually made a complaint against the firm yet. You have just asked for a breakdown of fees. Next step is to set out as you have here, in writing, why you think they should not have charged you. The name of the person responsible in the firm for dealing with complaints will have been on your engagement letter sent to you when you first instructed them. This gives them a chance to justify the euro dine and the timing. If you are not happy with that explanation you then refer it to the SRA.

It sounds however that you generally don’t understand how solicitors Work and how much they charge

*work done not euro dine

@vancleefarpels a few messages above my update is Ive complained to the sols directly, theyve reviewed it and it is a case of us arguing that they made a 'presumption' to carry on work. This is what Im complaining about, in my opinion I made it clear I couldnt pay and was looking to represent myself. (which I then did)
One of the posters did mention that it was bad practice for my solicitors to continue chargable work after id disclosed this fact.

I dont know wether to accept their resolution (quarter of the bill reduced) or take it to the ombudsman, as its still a bill I cant afford to pay :/

Would the 25% reduction take the fee down to a figure reflecting the work they did while they were definitely representing you (by your definition?) . If so then it’s a reasonable offer.

Id probably go back to them with an offer (lower than theirs-maybe 25% of the bill ) based on the actual work they completed, even if it wasnt authorised. That is a reasonable course of action and i am guessing would hold you in good stead f you do complain ro the ombudsman.

Did you ever actually say that she had t o stop acting for you? The wording I’ve seen so far seems a bit ambiguous, eg “I can’t afford it” “have to look at representing myself”. Neither of these is actually an instruction to stop acting for you.
I’m not being awkward, just trying to get to the actual words used, as that’s how the solicitor will have to view it

Take to the legal ombudsman - no cost to you

@JudgeRindersMinder

Did you ever actually say that she had t o stop acting for you? The wording I’ve seen so far seems a bit ambiguous, eg “I can’t afford it” “have to look at representing myself”. Neither of these is actually an instruction to stop acting for you. I’m not being awkward, just trying to get to the actual words used, as that’s how the solicitor will have to view it

I agree. These words if they are what you actually used do not stay I want you to stop acting for me. They say I can't afford that. I am going to look into representing myself ie. find out what I need to do not STOP acting.

I must agree that it seems unclear as to when you actually asked her to stop acting for you.

It is quite difficult because sometimes stopping acting in an instant even if the client has not said stop acting can damage the client is a vital task has to be done.

In this situation I WOULD have stopped acting right away (unless there were a legal duty on me not to do so) because I would not want to risk not getting paid and/or I would have emailed right back saying - no further work will be done unless you say otherwise (and also set out important work the client or their new solicitor would need to do urgently so nothing was left falling between two stools).

However I do not think the instruction from the client here was clear enough to me stop doing more work. It is quite common for clients to say they are running out of money and may be looking for litigation loans or loans from family members. UT does not mean stop working for me immediately - it just is flagging up to the solicitor there is an issue. Eg it may be civil litigation where the solicitor might be persuaded to move to a no win no fee agreement after negotiation of the terms and signature (but not immediately).

I will highlight my wording below.

Upon reciept of an invoice I stated:
"I do not have the money or any savings to pay this."

My solicitors responce was
"You will appreciate given you have now provided notice that you are unable to continue to pay for our representation, we will be unable to do any further work on your matter.
Please can you therefore arrange for the balance on our invoice to be paid. We will notify the Court that we are no longer instructed to act on your behalf if your position remains the same."

This was interpreted by me that they wouldnt be conducting any further work and letting the court know also. (Unless I paid the the current invoice AND paid their quoted upfront charge for any future work.)

So I replied:
"I will subsequently have no option but to represent myself going forward."
(I then go ask for a copy of my filed documents for me to represent myself and I asked if there was any payment plans available re my outstanding invoice.)
"I aim to write to the court and explain my position. If there is a direct contact I can utilise for this reference I would be greatful of this information?"

I felt this was clear - we were just in a 'process' of discussing how to pay the outstanding bill and handing over my file etc.

Yet right at this point started to work on a new form.
(A really basic form which I could and did fill in myself; The Statement of Information etc) a form which wasnt 'urgent' etc and they continued to charge me for all their actions surrounding this work.

They sent me the 'COMPLETED' form along with a huge email explaining the Consent Order. At which point I asked how much this estimated bill would be. They stated £600.
(Thats a lot of money to me, especially whilst I had an outstanding £2k bill. My solicitor knew how vunerable my personal situation was)

They then repeated their own initial advice to me. Yet in my opinon they'd contradicted it? (which is my complaint):
"Since our last invoice, we have carried out a considerable amount of work on your file (even though your account with us still remains outstanding)
You will appreciate that we have explained in our previous correspondence that until our outstanding costs are paid in full we cannot carry out any further work on your behalf."

I then made it undeniably clear that I couldnt afford this and had to represent myself, which they accepted.
I thus so represented myself.

Then over a month later I got this new bill from my solicitors, for £1k. I was shocked, as if Id expected anything it would be the £500 they quoted.

The offer they have made following my complaint is that I only pay £600.
(They stated they wont accept any offers or any blame.)

I hope that helps clarify why I felt they should not have continued to charge for work on my behalf.
Their explination of their actions was that;
"This was done out of courtesy" (yet they charged me for it) and
"We took it the client wanted to proceed" - the vital part by their own admission, is basically they have made a 'presumption', they didnt check that fact before continuing, yet they'd stated they wouldnt act on my behalf as I still had not paid their invoice.

I have to respond to their offer next week, Id appreciate your thoughts. Thanks

The offer is £100 more than you thought you'd have to pay if I understand it right?

Bumping

It’s almost impossible for anyone here to say whether what you’ve been charged is reasonable or not.

Your initial client engagement letter should contain two key pieces of relevant information - the scope of the work that they are instructed to do; and a cost estimate for that work. If the scope changes (ie additional work is requested) then that should be outlined clearly to you before costs are incurred.

Sometimes litigious matters can be fast moving but I would always check with the client and outline costs in writing before completing further work. However if you instructed them to continue with the order (as opposed to them doing this off their own back) then they would be entitled to charge for that work.

They could also be entitled to charge for any work completed after the first invoice, but prior to your instructions to cease any further work.

I suspect that they will have offered £300 as a goodwill gesture as if a complaint goes to the ombudsman, the firm is automatically charged £400 by them, regardless of the outcome. But as a rule of thumb, if work goes over 10% of the initially quoted costs (AND the work is within scope) then it’s unlikely they can charge for it.

However as above, if you instructed them to do more work, and the hourly rate was outlined in the client care letter, it could be reasonable for them to charge you for it.

So without seeing the initial terms, I can’t say if a complaint would be successful or not, but the ombudsman won’t hear your complaint until you’ve exhausted the internal complaints procedure first.

Well the complaint is regarding the fact I didnt instruct them to continue with the order, I thought we were in the process of handing over my file to represent myself (see exact wording in my post prior to this one)

Rather than me pick apart every penny, my fact is they told me they wouldnt be able to continue to act for me, then they just did...

I would have down tools as a solicitor at the exchange of emails you quote in your post. If the work has been carried out after that I think they are on a very sticky wicket indeed to say you should have paid for it. But check the breakdown of the time recording relating to invoice as to exactly what was carried out when. It might have been billed a month later but carried out a week before that exchange. I don’t think they should be charging for any work subsequently though, unless you had subsequently corresponded with them in a way that was clear you wanted more work done.

Thanks @Familylawso1icitor.
If its worth me letting it go to the hands of the legal ombudsman I will.

My solicitor is using reference to their specific sentance of:
"You will appreciate given you have now provided notice that you are unable to continue to pay for our representation, we will be unable to do any further work on your matter.
Please can you therefore arrange for the balance on our invoice to be paid. We will notify the Court that we are no longer instructed to act on your behalf if your position remains the same."

That, because I did not specifically clarify/respond that: "yes my position remained the same" - they took it I didnt respond.
Yet my responce was:
"I will subsequently have no option but to represent myself going forward."
(I then go ask for a copy of my filed documents for me to represent myself and I asked if there was any payment plans available re my outstanding invoice.)
"I aim to write to the court and explain my position. If there is a direct contact I can utilise for this reference I would be greatful of this information?"
My responce was clarifying that I wanted to now represent myself.

Granted it got messy because when I was writing this - the applicants solicitor, unbeknown to me, was writing to my solicitor to accept the offer to settle.
But as I say, my solicitor knew I had stated I couldnt pay the previous invoice - I feel they should have in the very least emailed me at that point to say we have just recieved this off the applicants solicitor, do you wish us to proceed to respond or represent yourself.

I have consulted with a couple of other law firms in this time, whom also question the actual 'guidance' I was given in the case, which has lead me to accept a Consent Order that may not have been in my best interests.

(EG I asked about Mesher Orders and my solicitor stated I couldnt request this in court as they no longer do them? I may create a seperate post about this)
So I now feel completely side swept by this solicitor whom really made me feel small, stupid and emotional.