Legal Help/Solicitor Not Responding

Post Reply
charmed1
Posts: 143
Joined: Sun May 26, 2013 2:11 pm

Legal Help/Solicitor Not Responding

Post by charmed1 » Fri Apr 09, 2021 12:55 pm

I have been granted Legal Help as my contact with my daughter has been reduced well below a reasonable level by the social worker and she simply won't budge. The solicitor doesn't return my calls or answer my emails and it's been three months since I was informed that I had Legal Help in place and two months since we last spoke. I was told that a letter would be sent to the social worker before my contact at the end of February. Still nothing has been sent. This has been dragging on as my initial contact with the solicitors firm was back in November. What can I do? I appreciate that she is busy but when the receptionist finally gets hold of the solicitor and I am promised a call back that never comes I am getting pretty desperate. I can't face the LA alone in court no doubt another substantial wait and in the meantime I hardly see my daughter. I originally spoke to the office manager. I wonder if speaking to her again might help move things along as I don't want to burn my bridges by making a complaint. They are the same firm that helped me get my son home so I don't want to go anywhere else especially now I have a Legal Help agreement on file. Thank you in advance.

User avatar
Suzie, FRG Adviser
Posts: 4207
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:57 pm

Re: Legal Help/Solicitor Not Responding

Post by Suzie, FRG Adviser » Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:17 pm

Dear charmed1,

Welcome back to the Parent’s Forum.

I can see that you have been granted Legal Help so that your solicitor can write to children services about your contact with your daughter being reduced by them. Unfortunately, she does not appear to have sent a letter to children services and she is not returning your calls. You had previously spoken to the office manager.

I can see how frustrating this must be for you, but you do not want to complain in case it makes things with the solicitors difficult.
Have a look at our advice about how to work with solicitors . Look at page 6 (tip 3) which outlines steps to resolve things without necessarily going for a complaint straight away.

I hope you can resolve things with your solicitor and your case moves on. If you need further advice, please post again.
Best wishes,
Suzie

charmed1
Posts: 143
Joined: Sun May 26, 2013 2:11 pm

Re: Legal Help/Solicitor Not Responding

Post by charmed1 » Tue Apr 27, 2021 6:22 pm

Thank you Suzie. I have now finanally had the draft letter to the LA some 5 weeks after it was written as the date at the top is from March. Needless to say I am very upset about the delay. Also the letter itself is full of inaccuracies. I've rewritten the entire letter using some of what the solicitor originally wrote but without the errors. There is a LAC review next month and I've specifically requested to know if my letter will be sent as it is and that it's sent to the social worker before the review date. I don't have much hope as it's obvious that my case has been put to the bottom of the pile. I am now thinking it would be best for my daughter if I fought the cause myself at least that way I will give 100%. Is being a LIP difficult when the LA are involved?

User avatar
Suzie, FRG Adviser
Posts: 4207
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:57 pm

Re: Legal Help/Solicitor Not Responding

Post by Suzie, FRG Adviser » Thu Apr 29, 2021 11:24 am

Dear Charmed1,

I am sorry to hear that you are experiencing these difficulties and that you are not satisfied with the service you have received from your solicitor. It may be helpful to look at the link included in my last post; particularly Tip Three on page 6. If you think you have taken the first 2 steps of talking to your solicitor about your concerns and discussing what positive steps they could take to help, you may wat to put your concerns in writing and ask for this to be treated as a complaint. You may want to consider changing solicitors but as you are receiving legal aid, this may take some time. As you have legal aid and a solicitor, I think it would be worth trying to address any issues before you consider changing solicitors or representing yourself.

Best wishes,

Suzie.

Post Reply

Who is online

In total there are 13 users online :: 0 registered, 0 hidden and 13 guests (based on users active over the past 5 minutes)
Most users ever online was 318 on Fri May 28, 2021 9:04 pm
 

 

cron