My solicitors (who were not my choice but chosen by an insurance company for us) are incredibly slow. So slow that not only have I and the insurance company chased them numerous times for updates when nothing seemed to be happening, but, also, I have discovered that the other side's solicitors have been getting increasingly frustrated with lack of response and inability to move the case forward. They have recently had to apply to the court to adjourn our trial and pre-trial review. This was done as a 'consent order' application with the other side agreeing as they couldn't move the case forward either without the cooperation or our solicitor and hence were also not ready for the trial. However, these court hearings haven't yet been 'cancelled' and the application is still sitting with a judge for a response. I am told the waiting time for a decision is far longer than the time left to the dates of our court hearings that the solicitors want to cancel although they have asked for it to be dealt with urgently which might speed things up.
Are there any solicitors/barristers out there who know what the chances are of the pre-trial review and trial being adjourned when both sides have consented to it? And what else might happen instead if the judge doesn't agree to what is in the consent order. E.g. might the pre-trial review hearing have to go ahead with the judge wanting to hear why things haven't progressed?
I wondered how common is it for this type of thing to happen? My solicitors seem to be behaving like this is not a big deal and it is all sorted now but I am wondering if that is likely given there is no agreed court order from the judge yet? I personally am feeling quite appalled at how hopeless the solicitor has been but I am somewhat trapped as the process to change solicitor is slowed down by having to go through various hoops with the insurance company who have taken various steps to try and stop it. Therefore, currently trying to make the best of things and understand more of what is going on.
Thank you to anyone in the legal field or experienced litigation clients who can give me some insight!