Merits of a Case

[Namechanged75]

I am currently experiencing some employment issues and have asked for legal advice - I’m not sure whether what I am experiencing is normal (haven’t done this before) and would be grateful for your advice/experience.

I paid an employment lawyer £2000 plus VAT to ‘review documents and advise as to the merits of my claim’. They have said that they have started to look at some of the documents but haven’t yet completed a full review. They have , however , today sent me a list of questions (which are actually all answered in the documents I have sent but assume they haven’t yet read). I will answer these questions but am concerned. They have said they would like to involve Counsel at this stage to help them prepare a formal opinion on merits. They have said this will cost a further approximately £2500 plus VAT.

if it would substantially help with the case (and whether to take it forward or not) I would of course be happy to pay for this . However I can’t help but wonder what was the point in paying the solicitor the first £2000 plus VAT? They don’t actually seem to have done anything. However I’ve never been in a similar situation and realise it may just be how things go/that you have to accept it.

Grateful for any advice/clarification that you may be able to give. Thank you.

Do you have legal expenses insurance as part of your home insurance policy? They'll do a merits assessment. (Probably)
Have you already spoken with someone form Citizens' Advice or a local law centre? And checked the advice on the Acas website?
It may be that Counsel opinion is necessary but that's a lot of money.

Wow, join a union. I pay £14 a month and have been to 2 pre tribunals at no cost. Yes I have had some shitty jobs recently.

Thank you . I do have legal expenses and am a member of a union but unfortunately so far neither avenue has been great, so I am using my savings to pay for legal advice (just really wanted to see if there was any merit in my case or whether I should just accept it). ACAS have been really helpful.

I suppose I just wonder if this is normal practice and I just need to get with it/accept it or if I’m being ripped off? I haven’t been through anything like this before so would be grateful for advice or any similar experiences. Thank you.

Why won't your union help? If they are saying there is no merit in the case, you may be paying someone a lot of money unnecessarily.

On what basis are you seeking to claim and against what?

If you have spoken to ACAS and approached a legal expenses insurer and spent £2k on legal advice and you still don't know if you have a case then it suggests to me that it's by no means cut and dried. (And your employer hasn't conceded at an earlier stage??)
£4k ++ is a lot so there must be a chance of significant compensation for that to be worth it. - just to see if you should even take it to tribunal! (Let alone fight it).
And the fees sound a bit high to be honest - when you still don't know if you have a case.

If you are having to draft answers to the questions for the solicitor who is too lazy to read what you sent them then I wonder if you are going to be doing most if the legwork for this solicitor whilst they rake in fees from you. Could you put the documents together along with a brief of the background which essentially rewrites the answers to the solicitors questions into a brief for a barrister to consider and then send it to barristers chambers local to the main courts for your area to see if you could get a quote fromma direct access barrister to work on this and give you an opinion on the merits?

I think it can be quite common for solicitors to look for an up front payment to look at papers but if they told you they would be assessing the merits of the case and now want to charge extra for a barrister to do this for them that seems like you have been mislead. I suspect though they haven’t put anything watertight in writing as to what they would do for the £2k payment so have made it hard for you to dispute what they are doing.

I would assume you do not have a great case. The union is the first port of call and they have bottled it.

All sounds a bit borderline to me. Get the solicitors opinion first if you can. If his opinion is I'm not sure, I think we need to consult a barrister on this and see what they have to say. Then I'd cut your losses and forget it. The only winners in those kind of situations are the lawyers, you end up stressed out of your mind and paying huge legal bills as well. And these things drag on for years...

Thank you. Will do.