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Shaming the rogue lawyers: List of Britain's worst solicitors to be published for the first time

A damning list of Britain’s worst solicitors who mistreat customers with rip-off fees, damaging delays and bungling behaviour is to be published for the first time.

The Legal Ombudsman, an industry watchdog, is to reveal the identities of the shoddiest solicitors and law firms.

Due in July, it will also list the names of every solicitor made the subject of an ombudsman investigation, and give details of whether it found in the customer’s favour and why.

For years, anyone who complained after suffering with incompetent solicitors ended up with a ruling that — regardless of outcome — protected the solicitor’s name and firm.

It meant others who spent hard-earned cash on the same lawyers then risked receiving the same lousy service, and being left out of pocket.

Jill Johnstone, director at Consumer Focus, says: ‘Consumers usually have little information, other than personal recommendation, to assess the quality of a solicitor’s work.

‘Hopefully, the threat of naming and shaming will raise customer service levels in this sector.’

Lodging an official complaint about anyone who works in the legal services industry has long been problematic.

The ever-present threat of expensive legal action routinely puts people off from even criticising a solicitor.

The Legal Ombudsman is designed to help anyone who has a bad experience with their solicitor or lawyer.

In its first full working year to the end of March this year, the Ombudsman received just under 76,000 calls from the public.

Around 8,400 of these contacts resulted in cases which have been, or are being, investigated.

The most common complaint is about cost, in a quarter of all cases, while the most commonly complained area of law is family law (18 per cent), residential conveyancing (17 per cent), probate (14 per cent) and then personal injury and litigation (both 9 per cent).

The ombudsman can award up to £30,000 compensation for anyone who feels they’ve been badly treated by a solicitor, conveyancer, legal executive or barrister.

By Sam Dunn

Comments (13)

Here's what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.

Strange, they use to be a web site called "lawyers form hell" listing all the bad lawyers out there, and guess what happened ? The law society and solicitors regulation authority had it shut down, guess they don't like being named and shamed.
- meme, uk, 13/5/2012 11:26

About time too. Every time I have had to deal with solicitors I have had a nightmare and in some cases ended up doing their job for them.
- Agent Provocateur, W London, 12/5/2012 14:49

Since the Legal Ombudsman only looks after lawyers in England, and presumably Wales, I think the DM needs to check their facts - again!
- Nik, Edinburgh, 11/5/2012 19:34

The last two times I moved house there was an 'error' in the solicitor's final accounts of £100 in their favour (two different solicitors by the way), I wonder how widespread these 'errors' are, am I the only [one] to check the accounts fully?
- Peter, Dorset, 10/5/2012 19:19

What is this great assumption that anyone these days feels shame. Shame as a concept probably became extinct in the 60's with modern youth not even aware of what the word means. It's soddom and gommorah in the streets and boardrooms of Britain today hasn't the DM noticed.
- ron, Cumbria, 10/5/2012 03:04

My first wife only married me for a "meal ticket",and finally left me when I ejected her mother who had brought her bed to my home. However, my solicitor insisted I should leave the matrimonial home and live with my wife and her mother. He also told me I had to sell our home and give half to my wife. I was not from a divorcing family background, and knew little of solicitors. When it was too late I found another solicitor who was appalled at the actions of my first solicitor. I lost my house for next to nothing because of him. However, I finally divorced my first wife because my new solicitor was a good one.I didn't even have to pay anything to my divorced wife , though to this day I am really sore at losing my first home because of a bad solicitor forty years ago. I guess it's too late to think of compensation from that solicitor now, though he is still in business.
- Maurice, Wales, 10/5/2012 00:37

There already is a site on line and the Law Society protects its own.
- Ron, Leeds, 09/5/2012 20:47

Now let's have a list of incompetent GPs!
- Dave, Cumbria, 09/5/2012 18:41

Wish there was such a list when I got my divorce, I would still have some savings left.
- John, UK, 09/5/2012 17:04

The same thing should be done for incompetent and dodgy doctors. Shut down the spineless general medical council
- Whitegates, London England, 09/5/2012 16:05

Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2141726/Shaming-rogue-lawyers-List-Britains-worst-solicitors-published-time.html#ixzz1usbvrnlN

SFH.net September 2012 Editorial

Lift off for Legal Services Ombudsman’s complaints data

Mid-September 2012 saw the launch of the Legal Service Ombudsman’s published complaints data service against named law firms. The data is sparse and the Law Society was not happy regarding the “partial and potentially misleading” statistics. It is true that the listed information as it stands is of little benefit to the consumer of legal services. After all, the examples listed include firms who have made run of the mill mistakes with token amounts of compensation awarded against them. There isn’t a legal practice in the UK which does not fall into this category from time to time. However, it is a start and in time to come progress, it is expected, will be made in refining and developing the complaints data.

Michael Cross blogs in the Law Society’s Gazette on 25 September 2012 that the time will soon come when “someone makes a business” out of complaints data on law firms. Paul Stock of Harold Stock and Co, Solicitors of Mossley, Thameside commented on the Gazette website as follows:

Legal complaints

Submitted by Paul Stock on Tue, 25/09/2012 - 15:47.

On the point about someone making a business about it----readers may well recall the debacle over the website "Solicitors from Hell"---which ultimately was shut down and the guy behind it all was on receiving end of numerous actions for damages + injunctions for defamation----so the idea of someone trying to make a business out of complaints is already out there!!

Point taken thank you. The Legal Ombudsman (LeO) was reacting to Rick Kordowski’s very popular SolicitorsFromHell.co.uk website but the LeO's new service will never let itself have the pazazz that SFH had. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal decisions printed every month in the Gazette do make excellent reading and should be made more widely accessible to the public. See the following link:

http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/in-practice/sdt