I Want to Sue My Lawyer

FareEvader on 27/08/2022 - 12:43
Last edited 27/08/2022 - 13:17 by 2 other users

Hi OzLegal,

A mid-tier commercial law firm has been acting for me on a litigation matter over the last 6 months.

In the beginning, they made some effort to understand and take on the case - all seemed well with regular communication and updates.

But more recently, (last~8 weeks), they've gone radio silent. No response to emails and not returning my calls. I know they're busy but this is pathetic.

Where do I go to make a complaint? Is this a common occurence in the legal industry? Any other advice on how to resolve this?

I've paid ~$5,000 in fees but they've only done the ground work with no resolution.

Education & Work

Comments

  • virgo76 on 28/08/2022 - 08:44
    +2

    I engaged a reputable law firm on a matter. Requested itemised account from lawyer over 10 times.Told me itemised account would be more than their fixed amount. Ended up taking my complaint to Legal Board. Still under review.
    Lawyer no 2- started off good. Delays in getting back to me, says they will call and don't. Have paid $2800 thus far. They are quite slow. Lawyer seems over worked.

    • qvinto on 28/08/2022 - 12:05
      +2

      Greedy, not overworked. Its up to them how much work they take on

    • FareEvader on 29/08/2022 - 00:23

      Thanks, will ask for itemised account

  • jonkvh on 28/08/2022 - 09:02
    +2

    For those that consider that $5000 won't get you much, consider what a good reputable CBD firm does & charge. Without me having to turn up to court, I got surprised when the law firm that represented me in court twice, with two senior Barristers plus other costs, all up $8000. Signed an NDA & got a payout. Where it was beneficial was that the Barristers were already in Court on other matters.

  • Morphio25 on 28/08/2022 - 09:51
    +7

    From someone who works in the court system in the civil jurisdiction take it from me - litigation takes time and that is especially true depending on what type of claim it is.

    You could try getting a copy of the certificate of record from the court registry and then follow up the lawyer acting for you to make sure they're complying with the orders made by the court (assuming your matter has had a court appearance).

    The courts take a pretty dim view of lawyers who don't prosecute claims in an expedient matter.

    Happy to discuss things further privately if you wish.

  • LoserScott on 28/08/2022 - 10:55
    +1

    In regards to the post, just be patient head to their office enquire, if they refuse then(solicitor/lawyer) could be screwing you around but the question is was it a consultation payment or both.

    ["Who the hell uses their real name on reviews, just give it a week or two, then write the review (not in a rant, your entitled to express your opinion as long as it doesn't defame, harm or hurt, where harm and hurt could be confused and used to defend against someone)but let them due you, if your honest their business goes down, and think what that means"]

  • AlanHB on 28/08/2022 - 10:55
    +1

    Out of interest, what exactly would be the damage suffered in this instance? Suing a lawyer is no easy feat, and if your only claim is slow progress in a litigation matter you don't have much to stand on (unless a specific court set date was missed, and a quantifiable loss spurned from that).

    • FareEvader on 29/08/2022 - 00:24

      Pain and suffering. Waste of my time.

      • AlanHB on 29/08/2022 - 06:27

        So the only harm that has happened was that the lawyers were slow and you are upset that it's slow?

        How much do you think that's worth in court, realistically?

        • gromit on 29/08/2022 - 08:33

          Probably worth a few negative thousand if dumb enough to take that to court.

        • FareEvader on 29/08/2022 - 09:59

          They haven't met their obligations that I've paid for. They've done 1/3 of a job and disappeared. Not sure what is so hard to understand.

          • gromit on 29/08/2022 - 11:26

            @FareEvader: So you have it in a contract that they will deliver your outcome in a specific timeframe?

            • FareEvader on 29/08/2022 - 11:42

              @gromit: Yes

              • gromit on 29/08/2022 - 11:52

                @FareEvader: Then you should be all good to sue for Breach of contract.

                PS: you should probably have a close read of the contract, when timelines are specified in contracts they often also have the consequences/remediations for not meeting those timelines.

              • AlanHB on 30/08/2022 - 22:09

                @FareEvader: I highly doubt any law firm would commit to such a contract with that term in it.

                What did the law firm last say when you saw them?

  • LoserScott on 28/08/2022 - 11:18
    +1

    How do you get a certificate of practice (solicitor nsw)Volunteer: The holder is authorised to engage in legal practice both as a volunteer at a community legal service and otherwise on a pro bono basis, only

    Hmmm

  • raiseyoursteaks on 28/08/2022 - 11:27

    Are you ready for a counter sue in a few states just to bury you with paper work?

  • Davo1111 on 28/08/2022 - 12:18
    -6

    You could deal with this like an adult. Or just complain on ozbargain.

    • [Deactivated] on 28/08/2022 - 18:15
      +7

      He doesn't know where to make the complain, so he's asking. What's your problem.

      • Davo1111 on 28/08/2022 - 23:19
        -1

        He hasn't put his complaint in writing to them. Not an email, in writing or in person.

        • FareEvader on 29/08/2022 - 00:24
          +1

          I have emailed them multiple times and called the firm multiple times. What else can I do?

  • huggsymersh on 28/08/2022 - 13:18
    +5

    Firstly, sounds very frustrating for you. Sorry you have to go through this.

    Speak to the firm first. If you went mid-tier, likely some junior lawyer has carriage of your matter and is supervised by a more senior lawyer. Although you will have met with the more senior lawyer initially. Without knowing any details of the matter, some things take time. Seemingly endless delays can be a result of waiting on the other side to respond. Inquiries directed to the firm for updates on progress may be ignored if there's nothing to update on. It's not best practice to ignore correspondence, but it can happen. It could be the usual delays inherent in any legal matter being exacerbated by bad practice management. If you're able to escalate the matter it could be that someone has dropped the ball somewhere and this could be resolved. They may not seem it, but lawyers are only human and mistakes are made. In any event, a polite but firm request to 'speak to the manager' may actually have some result.

    If you wish to sue them, you'd likely be suing the firm for negligence. In which case you'd have to show that they were in fact negligent in their carriage of your matter, and that negligence resulted in financial loss. And this would involve engaging another lawyer to carry out the work! Likely difficult to prove negligence in this instance, expensive to pursue, and cost of action may approach any financial loss, i.e more frustrations.

    If you wish to complain to the Legal Services Commissioner here's a link with some more info:

    https://lsbc.vic.gov.au/consumers/complaints/making-enquiry-…

    Note, their powers are pretty limited. Typically confined to costs disputes and investigating instances of 'professional misconduct', or 'unsatisfactory professional conduct', which delays would not typically fall into unless they were egregious, or there was a significant pattern of them. A complaint may however bring them to the table to discuss a resolution, if approaching them directly doesn't work. This will also take some time, as you'd expect.

    Note also, I appreciate a $5k bill is a significant sum of money, but for a mid-tier firm it's unfortunately not. I don't know the circumstances of your matter, whether it could be transitioned to another practitioner without jeopordising time frames, but if you could show significant delays and poor communication, this could actually work in your favour and they may be more inclined to write off fees once you discuss this with them. With or without the assistance of the commissioner.

    Do you have your costs estimate? They are obliged to provide you with a breakdown of potential fees, which should also provide some kind of time frame for pursuing your matter. This will aid you in any discussion.

    Good luck with it.

  • Herbse on 28/08/2022 - 13:37
    +8

    This is ridiculous. Someone has a bad experience at a business, but because they are lawyers and have the resources to sue, no one can complain about them on websites and google reviews to warn others about their poor services.

    Old mate RHC Solicitors from the previous thread got all the negative reviews removed and somehow acquired 20 positive reviews in a single day just recently..

    • lachhelix on 28/08/2022 - 16:14
      +1

      I wish ACA would do something on this

    • bobolo on 29/08/2022 - 10:42

      bikies

      • Herbse on 29/08/2022 - 11:00

        Careful you might get sued for threatening physical violence

        • bobolo on 29/08/2022 - 12:03

          Imagine being sued for using 1 word lol.

          There's a tonne of bikies at my local skatepark :)

          Or maybe I mispelt biccies?? Who doesn't love a monte carlo :)

          Even "Sue" can be in reference to my lovely neighbour

          People are way too scared nowadays

    • [Deactivated] on 30/08/2022 - 07:30
      +1

      i think that could have been fought, successfully even, but it appears the person took the easy way out with that one with their carefully drafted retraction, which i doubt they wrote themselves.

      • Herbse on 30/08/2022 - 08:07

        Typical SLAPP suit result.

      • peppet on 30/08/2022 - 08:12
        +1

        And then promptly deleted their carefully drafted retraction after making a big deal of how they didn't have to post it but did anyway. Not weird at all

  • Porker on 28/08/2022 - 16:31
    +2

    My crazy neighbour sued me for issues outside of my control.

    They got a barrister to represent them while I represented myself. During my opportunity to cross examine my neighbour, I saw his barrister's laptop screen which was him online shopping for suits.

    They were never going to win because we had already been to court over this exact matter in the past. Rather than inform my neighbour that it was a fruitless exercise, they still took his money and wasted both our times.

    If they've done $5000 worth of work, I suspect you won't see them again and your recourse may be limited.

    • ankor on 28/08/2022 - 19:57
      +4

      You do realise that some lawyers will give their clients advice, and that the client will just say no do the opposite, don't you?

    • dtc on 29/08/2022 - 11:37
      +2

      They got a barrister to represent them while I represented myself. During my opportunity to cross examine my neighbour, I saw his barrister's laptop screen which was him online shopping for suits.

      Might suggest something about the quality of the cross examination

  • TEER3X on 28/08/2022 - 19:41
    +6

    Better call Saul

  • bigbadboogieman on 29/08/2022 - 01:09

    Wanted to say Bikies but I am scared now.

  • The Value on 29/08/2022 - 01:12
    +1

    What's the difference between a hooker and a lawyer?

    A hooker will stop screwing you once you're dead.

    • [Deactivated] on 30/08/2022 - 07:31

      same could be said for politicians

  • lonewolf on 29/08/2022 - 12:01

    Interesting you say that, I had a similar experience with both law firms i went to (second one was a lot better than the first but once the lawyer looking after my case moved on, i got no service till the end). The first law firm was useless and did no work or never got back to me on things and ended up costing me a few $K to move to the second one.

    • FareEvader on 29/08/2022 - 15:05

      The lack of transparency on their committment is concerning

  • redvaldez on 29/08/2022 - 16:26

    Actions speak louder than words: if you are not satisfied with the competency of your representation, take your matter elsewhere. A complaint to the Legal Services Commissioner (or similar) remains an option, but that process can take months to finalise, and you are unlikely to see any compensation or similar from it. You can only 'sue' your lawyer if you have suffered a loss, and unless a delay has caused you to miss a filing or limitation date, it would be hard to prove any loss that was actually worth suing on.

  • slow on 30/08/2022 - 08:01

    Had a similar situation. Turns out the person we were dealing with had left and not yet been replaced and it had been given to one of the senior people, who it seems had decided it was not worth his time for such a small matter and was the bottom of his list of priorities.
    They did eventually get back after much chasing from me, but my experience was that anything lawyers do takes forever.
    My matter was a simple one that could have been done in a week, but took over 6 months as it required 2 different lawyers to communicate with each other

  • Ash-Say on 30/08/2022 - 08:09

    I know it's a long short but is it possible to put a clause in the contract to state that full refund to be made if the lawyer doesn't respond within certain time period?

  • [Deactivated] on 30/08/2022 - 15:38

    Most large law firms don't provide bang for your buck. You need to choose smaller boutiques but these usually charge a premium. Solicitors mostly gather the facts of your case and do preliminary legal research. This leg work if done properly, and combined with a good barrister is the winning combo.

    Your $5,000 is most likely a deposit held on trust as part of the costs agreement. You have not mentioned you have been billed through an itemised invoice, so I doubt you would be able to get a cost assessor in to take a look at what has happened.

    I have a feeling your case is already hopeless, but this is never a good reason to dump a case to the side. Usually after a few consultations, you would at a minimum receive a written report about the actions you should take next, e.g. retain a barrister, mediate, or surrender. That would be billable to around $5,000 depending on how complex your case is, consultation length and costs. It is unclear whether this already has been done or not.

    Generally, most of the larger law firms are there to lose cases for the Government. This is purely my opinion though, but is nevertheless a common theme from high performing boutiques.

  • cupcake on 08/09/2022 - 15:38

    Perhaps your solicitor resigned?
    Have you sent an email in writing and requested an update on your matter? Everything has to be in writing.
    Have you called and left a message for the solicitor to call you back?
    You can always find another solicitor to take over the matter.
    They will only bill you for the work they have done already and you can sign an authority to release your file to your new solicitor.
    Some matters can take a long time, years even.
    I say be patient and follow up each month. No need to be calling every day. It's annoying.
    If you have questions, email it. If you don't get a response, contact the managing Partner and express your dissatisfaction.

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