What not to do with solicitors

I got out of bed on the wrong side this morning. I often do that, and it leaves me in a grouchy mood for hours. So :
I thought I''d write a thread on the clients solicitors hate. Well, of course, without clients, solicitors would not eat ; but read on.
The first is the client who fails to supply his solicitor with full information, and in particular fails to disclose an embarrassing secret. I have had that happen to me and boy, it takes the wind out of your sails when the client has not told you about it and the other advocate knows all about it. You have to admit, to a judge that gives the impression that the client is shifty and unreliable, and if the judge is confronted with two versions of the same story, who''s he going to believe ?
As an illustration, which may strike you as rather amusing, I was once asked to advise a group of residents who were opposing a planning application for a change of use from a hardware shop to an Ethnic takeaway. The residents suspected it was nothing more than a glorified chippie and not the high class restaurant the applicant had made it out to be. We also knew that a previous establishment run by the same applicant had been shut down for breaches of the Food Hygiene Regulations. At the public enquiry the applicant''s barrister spouted about what a welcome addition this high class restaurant would be, it would be spotless and you would be able to eat your dinner off the floor etc etc. The applicant clearly hadn''t told his barrister about the conviction, nor was the barrister told that the applicant had put up a notice in his shop window that he would soon be open and on his first day would be giving free chips. When the local authority''s advocate mentioned this, the applicant''s case collapsed in a heap. Had he told his solicitor of his plans, he''d have been warned not to put up that notice.
The second type of client solicitors don''t like is the client who suspects that his/her ex is hiding assets but can''t produce any evidence to support it. This type of behaviour even has a name for it in the trade - the '' crock of gold syndrome ''.. Of course, we know that spouses are not always 100% truthful about disclosure ; and sometimes people are sufficiently daft to plead extreme poverty whilst at the same time having three holidays a year in Acapulco. There are people whose lifestyle is wholly inconsistent with their declared means and if that is the case, the Court is entitled to draw its own conclusions. But don''t make allegations like that without evidence.
Thirdly, the client who changes solicitors. I know some clients are more than justified in changing solicitors, but in too many cases the reason why clients want to change is that they didn''t like the advice they received and wanted a second opinion.
The reason solicitors don''t like clients like that is, of course, the if the client has done this once (s)he can just as easily ditch them. Changing solicitors is expensive but could be justified if the solicitor is obviously inefficient or incompetent.
And finally :
Always tell your solicitor :
if you intend to form a new relationship.
if your spouse is in serious financial trouble and bankruptcy is a possibility.
if the divorce proceedings could be brought in more than one jurisdiction.
If you have reasonable grounds for believing that your spouse is trying to dispose of assets in advance of a divorce.
and please do be aware of the information your solicitor is going to want (wage slips, tax assessments, utility bills etc ) and assemble them well in advance.
And if you do, you will be your solicitor''s favourite client.

LMM

If you have a solicitor or need one READ THIS POST, it could save time money and a ton of stress.

Question for a solicitor:

how do you feel about clients that need information regularly? Perhaps more regularly than you think they need it?

I am this kind of client. Mine is a child residence/contact case so I guess quite different to those that you normally post on. For me I need information on developments immediately. I suspect I am also not my solicitor''s favourite client!

Your probably right, solicitors do not have a single client, often they have a high case load, so you call they don`t answer in seconds you call they are in court, you email it takes days to answer, unacceptable, well no its just the way it is, there are only so many hours in the day, only so many days in the week, some are far better than others, not to be sexist but i tend to find female solicitors can juggle more than men, respond in good time, but that may be my limited experience.

There is a universal truth though, do unto others as you would have them do, how you approach people and yes solicitors are actually people is very important, if you demand shout get upset it becomes hard work for the solicitor, firm and reasonable fine, rude and you make a bad situation worse.

Trying to ''catch your solicitor out'' does you no favours either. If you obtain advice from a highly qualified solicitor then go on to say "..but my friend said that I wouldn''t have to pay anything" - don''t be surprised if your solicitor asks "How much did your friend charge for this advice? If your friend charged nothing you got what you paid for!"

Another favourite is "my uncle/ aunt/ nephew/ friend is a barrister and says the opposite" - only for it to transpire that the barrister works in a different area of law and gave an uninformed opinion based on a limited set of facts.

Charles

Without wishing to offend any of the legal profession on here one thing I have learnt the hard way ''not to do with solicitors'' is NOT to blindly accept everything they tell you to do as the best way forward. Its YOUR money so if your instinct tells you to do it differently then think very carefully...

Solicitors and Barristers are only human: they cannot be expected to know how your stbx will think or work, sometimes you will know best.

Being too trusting of the legal profession has cost me thousands of pounds...so far.

QPRanger wrote:

Without wishing to offend any of the legal profession on here one thing I have learnt the hard way ''not to do with solicitors'' is NOT to blindly accept everything they tell you to do as the best way forward. Its YOUR money so if your instinct tells you to do it differently then think very carefully...

Solicitors and Barristers are only human: they cannot be expected to know how your stbx will think or work, sometimes you will know best.

Being too trusting of the legal profession has cost me thousands of pounds...so far.

I agree they don''t know how your stbx thinks but there are very common situations and Family Law sols have experience. They also can advise you using law rather than emotion.