Why It’s Important to Instruct A Solicitor You Can Trust
Posted on 3rd March 2020
When you’re instructing your local solicitors to deal with your “No Win, No Fee” Personal Injury Compensation claims, or you are selling and buying your new home, you need to instruct a solicitor who you can trust.
In one case, Mr Lonsdale, a solicitor who, for some of our clients, was working at a firm of solicitors in Morecambe – right on their doorstep, was removed from the roll by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal in 2019, after withdrawing over £6,000.00 of a client’s money for his own, personal use.
Mr Lonsdale had been a solicitor since 1990, and had been appointed by his 85-year-old client (known throughout the proceedings as ‘Mr D’) as his Attorney. In this case, this meant that Mr Lonsdale was given authority by Mr D to deal with all of his property and financial affairs.
Mr Lonsdale was accused of withdrawing £1,500.00 between 18 February and 6 March 2015 from Mr D’s Barclays bank account, a further £4,600.00 between 3 October 2015 and 17 June 2016 from Mr D’s NatWest bank account, and failing to properly take care of four rings given to him by Mr D.
Having admitted to the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s allegations, Mr Lonsdale was struck off by the tribunal and ordered to pay £3,193.00 in costs. According to an article on The Law Society Gazette, Mr Lonsdale fully cooperated with the investigation, and had already repaid the money to Mr D shortly before his resignation.
The moral of the story here, is that whoever you decide to instruct to deal with your legal matters, it’s important to make sure that you trust them.
All of our team of solicitors in Lancaster and our solicitors in Preston are available to discuss your matter with you, and to make sure that you understand the process. We are up-front and transparent with our fees and, in most cases, we offer fixed-fees so that you know where you stand.
You can read about our Wills and Probate team’s fixed fees, here.
You can find out more information about our Divorce and Child Law fixed fees, here.
Lastly, you can find out what our charges would be for property sales and purchases, here.
In our Personal Injury and Medical Negligence Compensation Claims, we deal with all claims on a “No Win, No Fee” Conditional Fee Agreement, meaning that if you don’t succeed in obtaining compensation for your injuries, you won’t be landed with a huge bill for legal fees and disbursements!
To contact our team for a quote for our legal fees, or to find out who will be dealing with your matter, click here, or email enquiries@mglegal.co.uk. If you’re local to one of our three offices – Garstang, Lancaster or Longridge – then pop in and meet the team; they will be happy to have a chat with you to put your mind at ease that we are a local solicitors who you can trust.
MG Legal – Your Local Solicitors
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