The story below is real and no names have been changed except the identity of the man aggrieved. This event took place in England and the amounts of money is in sterling.
I sold my home and used Robert Thompsons and Partners Solicitors to carry out the conveyancing. The senior partner Mr Kennedy and an employee Hubert Rodney carried out the work. At the end of the conveyancing and in breach of the contract for sale. Rodney used my entire proceeds of sale to purchase a home in Taunton Somerset for him and his family. He used the rest of the money to invest in property development.
I instructed Anthony Gold, Lerman and Muirhead Solicitors to assist me in recovering my money. They charged me over £30,000 and I did not recover any money. I simply wanted them to assist me in selling the properties that my money was tied up in, but they did not. They denied that this was what I had instructed them to do. Instead they presented my case as a partnership dispute which prolonged the legal issues for over three years.
I took legal action against the firm as a litigant in person and won the case against them for negligence. Unfortunately the judge covered up for them and awarded me £5 compensation. AGS had previously offered me £15,000 which could not cover my losses. Because the judge awarded me less than the sum they had offered by default I was liable to pay their entire cost, which amounted to over £90,000.
At the time I was living with my family and had several children under the age of 18. The firm could not legally make me homeless because of the children. They settled for £30,000 otherwise they would have had to wait until my youngest child reached 18.
In total I had to pay the firm over £60,000.
I followed the law society’s complaints procedure. It took me over six years to realise that the entire process is just an elaborate cover up designed to protect solicitors.
The Law Society do not investigate fraud against its members, you have to find between £30,000-£100,000 for legal representation if you wish to take them to court. Even if you had the money and found a firm to represent you, they would milk you for every penny they could get and abandon your case without giving you any legal advice.
Unlimited finance is available through the Solicitors Indemnity Fund to provide legal representation for solicitors.
If you are ripped off by your solicitors, it is very unlikely you will ever recovery any money. There is no organizations set up to investigate solicitor’s fraud.
It is a waste of time taking a firm of solicitors to court for negligence. As you can see from my experience, the judge has the power to make sure you do not benefit even if you win your case.
No record is kept of solicitors fraud and nobody in a position to stop it is prepared to do anything about it.
In 2004 the monopoly that solicitors had on giving legal advice was taken away from them.
In light of the above story, if something like this is happening to you, get mad and get involved in doing something about it. Know your solicitor/lawyer and what he is doing before he gets a chance of doing it to you.
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