How to Choose a Solicitor

If you need a solicitor, but you’ve never needed one before, how do you find the right one for you? This guide sets out the key things to consider when instructing a solicitor.

What can they do for you?

Solicitors can help with lots of legal issues, and some specialise in handling certain aspects of the law. Solicitors can: 

• Advise you on how the law might affect you in a particular situation;
• Set out the choices you face and advise on the best way forward;
• Write letters or make phone calls on your behalf;
• Prepare legal documents and court applications;
• Negotiate on your behalf;
• Arrange legal representation, should you need to go to court;
• Help you get funding, including legal aid, ‘no win no fee’ agreements, or fixed fee agreements.

When should you get advice?

If you can, get legal advice as early as possible, preferably before taking a particular action. This can save you much worry and expense down the track.

What’s more, solicitors have lots of experience of, say, buying property, drawing up wills, or dealing with personal injury or clinical negligence cases. They know what to do, and can guide you through the whole process.

Should you opt for a big or small practice?

In a big practice, if one partner is on holiday or cannot help, there is usually someone else who can. On the other hand, you may well find yourself feeling that they treat you as the ‘next account’ rather than a person with feelings and anxieties, and who may be in need of friendly reassurance.

Boutique practices that specialise in particular areas of the law may be a better place to start. If the practice is small enough for everyone to know each other, then the chances are high that there is a great deal of camaraderie and trust between partners. Why is this important?

Well, in a large practice, you can ‘lose’ a member of staff who is plain difficult to get on with. In a small practice, partners will have been selected for their expertise and because they’re nice people to deal with.

How important is liking them?

Actually, liking your solicitor is crucial. You need to be 100% at ease with them – you may have to talk to them at a very personal level about many aspects of your life. This is nearly impossible if you don’t get on.

The right skills and experience

The next thing to look for is their skills and experience. All solicitors in private practice must hold a practising certificate issued by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Crucially, you also want someone who specialises in the area in which you need particular help. For example, if you’re dealing with clinical negligence, get a firm that specialises in clinical negligence, and that has at least one member who is on either Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA) panel or is accredited to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Clinical Negligence Scheme.

If the firm does not have members on specialist panels, then aim for a team that has someone with at least eight years’ experience.

Because solicitors usually specialise in different areas of the law, it pays to go on reputation. Don’t be afraid to ask them for testimonials, and case studies that illustrate how they work.

Where are they based?

How important is proximity to you? Sometimes expertise matters more than location. Obviously, if the best experts are in your town, that’s perfect. But for cases like clinical negligence and personal injury claims, you want to talk to the top players.

Do they do legal aid work?

You may be eligible for legal aid if you have a low income or receive benefits. Some solicitors don’t touch legal aid work.  Barcan Woodward, however, takes on many legal aid cases.

Legal aid is managed by the Legal Services Commission. This makes sure that firms that offer legal aid meet their high quality standards.

What if English is not your first language?

If English is not your first language, mention this when you call to make an appointment, because a firm can arrange for an interpreter to be present.

How should you prepare for your first meeting?

When making an appointment, find out how long the meeting will last.

It’s a good idea to prepare for the first meeting as much as you can. There’s usually quite a lot of information you’ll want to get across.

• Outline the problem.
• Outline the points you want to make.
• Take any relevant paperwork – letters, emails, notes from phone calls, and other documents – and put it in an order than makes sense to you, so that you can refer to it when necessary.
• Jot down all the questions you want to ask.

Questions might include:

• Do I have a case?
• What experience do you have?
• How long have you been specialising in this particular field?
• What have been your recent successes in this area?
• What do your clients say about you?
• What are the possible outcomes?
• How long will it take?
• What will it cost me?
• Am I eligible for legal aid?
• Do you often do work with the Legal Services Commission?
• If so, what is your ranking with them? (See below.)
• What do I have to do to help myself?
• What happens next?

In the meeting

In the meeting, use your notes to guide you through the points you wish to make, ticking things off as you go. Don’t be afraid to question anything you don’t understand.

At the end of the meeting, ask your solicitor to send you a summary of any advice you’ve been given, and to confirm that they have taken on the work.

Also ask them to confirm:

• The name of the person handling your case;
• How long your case is likely to take;
• How much it is likely to cost and any agreed limit;
• What other information they need from you.

After you have met a solicitor

After you have met a solicitor and outlined the situation for the first time, you need to ask yourself the following questions:

• Did they seem to understand my problem completely?
• Do they think I have a case?
• Were they easy to understand or did they spew jargon at me?
• Do I like this person and can I work with them?
• How confident am I about using this person?
• If I have to pay, how much will this cost me?
• Are they proven experts? For example, if children are involved in the case, is your solicitor a member of The Children Panel Accreditation Scheme?
• Are they any good?

Are they any good?

The last question in the list above is the killer question. The thing to look for here is how often they win. How can you find this out?

When it comes to clinical negligence, you might want to check out their ranking with the Legal Services Commission (LSC, formerly the Legal Aid Board). In legal aid cases, if you win, the other party pays your legal fees. If you lose, the LSC pays your fees. Obviously the LSC doesn’t rank regular losers highly because it has to make lots of payouts! The national average success rate is 31%. Barcan Woodward’s success rate is 48% for 2004-2008.

You can also check out how they are regarded by other people in the legal profession in the Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession or Legal 500, a directory of law firms organized by practice area and location.

Minimising fees

Having chosen a solicitor, the next step is to ‘instruct them’ (explain what you want them to do for you). You will then need to negotiate their fee.

• How much will it cost you?
• Do they offer ‘no win, no fee’ for personal injury and clinical negligence cases?
• Do they offer legal aid for matrimonial cases?
• Do they offer a fixed fee for family cases?
• If they charge a fixed fee, what is included and excluded?
• What happens if the final bill is for more than the estimate? 
• What disbursements (expenses such as search fees, court fees, experts’ fees, and so on) will you have to pay?
• If they charge by the hour, what is their minimum ‘time slice’? Is it 6 minutes?
• If they are working on an hourly rate, you may want to agree a limit. If it looks like your case will take longer than the allowed limit, your solicitor will let you know and must get your agreement to continue.

Solicitors’ fees must be ‘fair‘ and ‘reasonable’ so if you do not understand your bill when you get it, ask how it is made up. If you disagree with it, you can ask the solicitor to get a certificate from the Law Society declaring that the bill is fair and reasonable.

If things change

Once you have appointed a solicitor, they must consult you at all important stages. You also need to tell your solicitor about any changes to your personal circumstances that might affect the case or, say, your right to legal aid.