Solicitors are highly trained legal professionals that can represent people in the lower courts and offer advice about a range of legal issues.
Our Solicitors study law, and have the opportunity to specialise in specific aspects of the law such as personal injury, property, probate or corporate.
If you have a legal issue, then you will want to feel confident that it is being dealt with in a professional manner. This means finding a solicitor that you feel you can trust.
Recommended Solicitors
Recommendations from friends and family can be a good starting point for finding the right solicitor, but you should not use a company just because someone you know has worked with them.
One solicitor could be a specialist in car accidents which was exactly what your friend needed but they may have very little knowledge about medical negligence, so not be ideal for your situation.
Be wary about law firms that advertise on TV. While some of them are large, reputable law firms that have experts in a lot of fields, some of them are not.
It could be that there is a solicitor local to you such as DPH Legal that has all the expertise that you need, but that they are not advertising because they prefer to invest in other areas.
Location of Law Firm
Note that the location of the solicitor is not something that has to matter a lot in many modern cases.
Thanks to the Internet, you can deal with companies that are some distance away from you without too much trouble.
As long as the solicitor is familiar with the laws in question, and has expertise and knowledge of recent case law, then you can deal with them primarily online.
If face-to-face consultations really matter to you for peace of mind then you may prefer to deal with someone with an office on your local high street but it isn’t a requirement.
One thing that a lot of people don’t think about when they are hiring a solicitor is who they will actually be dealing with.
There are companies that will have paralegals take on simple work, so the person who is dealing with your case may not be the person who did the initial consultation.
These firms may be OK for minor legal queries, and they are often inexpensive.
However, for more complex cases it is a good idea to have your case handled from start to finish by the same person.
Understand Who You’re Dealing With
When you are going through that initial consultation, make sure that you know exactly who will be dealing with you and at what stage.
Discuss the processes that the solicitor follows, and lay out expectations early on.
A lot of solicitors will “get the job done” but are lacking when it comes to customer service.
They may communicate only when there are updates to give, and they may be slow when it comes to returning calls. This is sadly a common thing in the legal industry.
It is hard for a solicitor to give a clear idea of how long a case may take to handle.
There are so many variables, but you should be able to expect a ‘service level agreement’ laying out how long they will take to respond to letters and calls, and what sort of communication you can expect from them.
Pick a solicitor that matches your expectations, and that you will not find stressful to deal with.
Disclaimer: The contents of this article are for information purposes only and should not be relied upon as formal legal advice. We cannot accept responsibility for any loss as a result of acts or omissions taken in respect of this article. Specific legal advice should be sort tailored to the individual circumstances in all cases.
For any information relating to our services please give us a call and we will be very happy to help.
Locations we cover
Basingstoke, Bristol, Chelsea, Guildford, Harrow, High Wycombe, Kingston, Mayfair, Oxford, Reading, Richmond, Slough, Swindon, Twickenham and Watford