In 2021, when the students began crowdfunding on the specialist legal website CrowdJustice, they instructed the law firm Harrison Clark Rickerbys, which has ten offices around the country. Under the site’s rules, money raised goes directly to the nominated law firm, rather than to those taking the claim.
But when the claimants realised that the firm had spent the £34,000 donated in just six months, they instructed a different practice.
Rosario Sánchez then complained about the firm to the Legal Ombudsman, which concluded that it had provided an “unreasonable service”.
…
Mark Carlisle, the founder of Check My Legal Fees, a subsidiary of the law firm Richard Slade & Partners, which acted for Rosario Sánchez to set aside the default judgment, stresses that scrutiny of law firm charging is “particularly important where the fees are met by crowdfunding” to avoid the risk that such cases are seen as a “cash cow”.
I'd forgotten about this earlier case. This makes a lot of sense, - thank you for the share token. What a well-written and useful article.
archive version: https://archive.is/lk1jZ
RS has been through so much with these various actions and following-up with the Ombudsman. She's remarkable.