Debate on Wikivorce selling legal services

No wikisellout to just another bunch of solicitors and barristers.
"We considered lobbying for changes in the divorce process, and putting pressure on solicitors to improve their service levels. But we decided that this would take too long to achieve any real improvements. It was clear that to make a real difference we had to take action ourselves and charge for it."

maggie

im not quite sure what point you are trying to make in your post.

the new wiki divorce service is a godsend to many, and is already well-used by those seeking advice, either at the start of the divorce process, or those who are further down the line.
The legal proffesionals who are helping to provide this service aresome of the "good guys (and gals!)", not all those in the legal proffesion are "vultures" as you put it!

Ruby

PS the text from the home page reads as follows:

We considered lobbying for changes in the divorce process, and putting pressure on solicitors to improve their service levels. But we decided that this would take too long to achieve any real improvements. It was clear that to make a real difference we had to take action ourselves.

I see no mention of "charging for it"!!!!

i'm not too sure what you mean maggie.I feel were lucky enough to have this site and solictors on here that allow you to ask questions for free.Been brillant for some of us that have lazy sol's we can go back to them and say no that is not correct you can do so and so .

Puzzled here too maggie. We cannot expect highly qualified and experienced professionals to give all of their services for free - they have to earn a living too.
They do a huge amount for nothing on the site because unlike a lot of real vultures, they do actually care about fairness and recognise that a lot of us are getting bad settlements because we are being poorly represented .. often at huge and spiralling cost.

And with the range of options available there is real choice about how much you pay etc. I do not imagine too many solicitors out there would willingly support self reppers as these are going to be doing. As a lifelong campaigner for justice in all sorts of areas, I applaud what wiki is doing .. and I will do whatever I can to help support this work.

On a personal note,I am so pleased to have found this site ... and the wikilegal people. I wish there were more lawyers like them. Maybe one day there will be. They are desperately needed.

Hadenoughnow

Maggie,

Sorry you feel that way.

Wikivorce believe that going through divorce (and especially ancillary relief proceedings) in the UK is far too costly due to a combination of:
1) serious problems with the state of family law in England and Wales and the highly bureaucratic court process.
2) a lack of freely available information, advice and support for divorcing couples
3) the inefficient working practices, absence of customer focus and lack of price competition amongst solicitors.


Wikivorce is determined to change things for the better, and quickly. Being realistic, Wikivorce is not in a postion to change item (1) in the short term, but we can do a great deal to change (2) and (3).

We began by launching this free support site for anyone going through divorce and will continue to add more and more useful free support features.

It is quite possible to complete the straight forward divorce process without spending a penny using all of the free guides, forms, information and support on Wikivorce.

For more complex cases it is still essential to get legal advice and if necessary legal representation at court. This is the area that can be very costly. But we fully intend to change all that.

We simply do not believe that lobbying for change will work. We have to take responsibility and make it happen.

Let me give you an analogy.

The cost of flying in Europe is now dramatically lower than it was 10 years ago. Not because people stood outside parliament and complained about British Airways.

But because new companies (Easyjet, Ryanair) entered the market with a great product at a great price and forced the whole airline industry to change. And so now BA have had to cut their prices too - everyone wins.

It is our hope that Wikivorce will completely change the divorce legal landscape in the UK. People getting divorced in the future will spend far, far less money getting divorced than they do now. We think that is a good thing.

Maggie - if you have any suggestions of things we could do better then we would be delighted to hear your ideas.

Three cheers for people power!!! Everyone who agrees send the Wikiteam a Thank You!

my thank you is on its way !