Client confidentiality

[Youhadmeathello1]

I have been attending the solicitors with my elderly mother whilst she re-drafts her Will. Got home this evening and the solicitors have sent her a covering letter enclosing her draft will - the problem being it is not hers! They have sent her the draft Will of another client! We are going in tomorrow morning to let them know what they have done but not sure where we stand. Has this other client had my mums will? We feel that this is a wholly inappropriate breach of client confidentiality but not sure if we are over-reacting/bu. What should we say? Any advice please

There's been a breach, presumably down to a moment's inattention/distraction on somebody's part. Obs it shouldn't have happened although on a scale of 1-10 for seriousness/consequence it's at the low end.

You could probably cause them a packet of trouble with their regulator and/or the Information Commissioner (ICO). I'm aware we had something similar, in this case in the charitable sector, and ICO involvement took up a lot of SMT time....

Personally I'd settle for an apology and perhaps a few £ to your Mum (or a charity of her choice) but YMMV.

It's not great but not the end of the world. They should apologise and you should get the very best service from now on.

Yesterday I had an email from a local estate agent about the property I'm selling, but I'm not selling a property! It included price offered.

I just sent it back saying this is not for me.

Everyone makes mistakes.

You will tell them tomorrow and they will have to report it as a breach of data confidentiality.

Thanks all. They were highly apologetic and gave my mum a big discount off of her bill. Never our intention to cause trouble. Human error.