Complaint to solicitor - £60,000 divorce

Hello,
I am just starting the complaints procedure against my solicitor for poor service, professional neglicence and excessive costs and would welcome any advice.
I am trying to write a succinct and unemotional letter to the complaints officer, in order to try and have my bill reduced substantially.
Difficult and disturbing job! trying to seperate out the trivial from the important.

Ed. To remove details, sorry.

There''s a procedure for complaints I did it - you write to the firm in the first instance they have to reply within a certain time if you''re not satisfied with their reply write again and say why when they write back if you''re still not satisfied you can write to the legal ombudsman. Just be prepared though the process takes ages to sort out!
Make sure you keep copies of everything and when you write ensure you say you expect a reply within 7 working days (or what time scale is appropriate). The ombudsman will write to them to get files and also will want information from you with evidence so make sure you keep everything.
Hope you''re successful! Good Luck! X

Holy sh1t I read the daily mail today at gym

Make sure you keep copies of everything and when you write ensure you say you expect a reply within 7 working days (or what time scale is appropriate).

Shame you didn''t instruct me.
I could''ve told you as a bloke you were fecked on your lifes work without charging you £60,000.
I GIVE THAT ADVISE OUT ON HERE 5 X DAILY FOR FREE:blink:
All the best
HRH x

The complaints process is all well and good, believe me it has its place. There are also a number of bodies which you can go to such as the SRA and the Law Society, but some of these you have to question their funding and therefore their motivation towards your cause. Outside the direct Legal arena are bodies such as Trading Standards, even the Police and Inland Revenue if you have concerns in such areas.
My advice would be to involve as many of these bodies as may have an interest in your case.
Remembers like any other profession Solicitors do make mistakes, do not be scared of them. I have today received an 85% reduction on a Legal bill because I felt that my solicitor provided poor service and acted in a way which I considered unethical.

The police aren''t interested in the conduct of solicitors during civil proceedings and courses of action and misleading statements made by solicitors do not amount to anything the Police are interested in taking up - their response is that it is a civil matter and they are not getting involved.

Also the inland revenue would not get involved in a complaint against a solicitor as they are governed by a different jurisdiction that being the taxation system and you would obviously not be privy to the sort of information that would merit a response from them.

You could try ringing a professional negligence solicitor and have a brief chat about what you believe to be negligent and gauge their response or write down the events and costs and go and see citizens advise ( they take down notes on the area of law you are seeking advise in first in order to help).

That might give you a better direction to approach the law firm to negotiate.

Bear in mind if the bill is outstanding they can charge 8% interest on it whilst in dispute and there is always the threat of legal action if you can''t resolve matters.