Coercive and legaly threatening letter from a solicitor.

[paddyhaig]

I have a long standing family probate issues that I have struggled to find quality legal service with. (They have been debated and I have been assisted with these matters on these forums) It was suggested to me that I go and speak with a number of local solicitors. My friend suggested a specific solicitor that she had once used for a small matter in the past.

I went to this solicitors office and spoke with the receptionist who informed the solicitor via intercom that I was in the foyer looking to speak with him. He came and met with me asking me back to his office. He asked me to explain to him what my matter was? He seemed quite rushed, and said that he was not in a position to handle my matter, however he had a junior partner that worked part time, who was not in the office until the following week.

He suggested that I come back to their office the following week and meet with her. He made out an appointment card for me to meet with her. In all fairness I didn't feel this firm was going to meet my needs. However I was willing to see if his partner was any better.

I arrived at the appointment the following week and met with him and his junior partner in the lobby. They asked me to join them in his office and again explain my matter to them. To see if the junior might be interested in taking the job on?

After explaining the situation, the junior concluded that she may be interested in taking the matter on. However first she was going to write to the solicitors managing the estate to see where things stood. She went on to tell me what her rates were.

The meeting was over after 30 minutes and she was going to further contact me. I walked away feeling that they had not showed any great interest in the more difficult points of my case and only really seemed interested in the estates money. I went to see another solicitor that day and spoke with them. They sent me a Client Care letter and a Terms of service letter for my signature a few days later.

As it was, I had not signed anything with the prior solicitors or gone into any binding agreements with them. It seemed they were making inquiries into the estate for their own financial interests more than anything. I later received an email and regular mail of the financial figures pertaining to the estate. These numbers I already new and had conveyed to the solicitors that are now troubling me. They had also pointed out a few matters that were completely wrong. From this I completely deduced that they would not of been good for me.

They have now sent me a £400 bill for their time and for a number of items if correspondence they have apparently sent and received. Again I never signed anything or formally hired them, they seemed to steam roll matters right from the beginning, showing only a half interested stance. I feel I am being penalised for even talking to them.

They have now given me 14 days to pay them £400 pounds. Is this legal?

[Diana M]

Re: Coercive and legaly threatening letter from a solicitor.

Is this issue to do with the same solicitors you had fallen out with in your other thread here >

http://legalbeagles.info/forums/show...088#post714088

If so the history is in this post of yours:

So if anyone is interested, I am about to completely loose it. I spoke with a local lawyer a week ago last Friday who was recommended by a friend. When I called into his office, I explained briefly what my matter was, he suggested during our 20 minute conversation that I send him copy's of the correspondence that my brother and I had gone into since Xmas He told me he was personally too busy, and that I should speak with a junior at his firm and that I should come back to his office the following Monday, as his junior only worked Mon, Tue, Wed. He said however he had some reservations taking me on, due to the fact, that I had already hired and fired two solicitors. I went to the office the following Monday and spoke with both solicitors at the same time. They were both quick to point out to me that they had reservations in working for me, because of my past record of firing solicitors. They however indicated that they at a push might be interested in assisting me. The was no mention of the correspondence that he had requested, and I had gotten to him, or my emailed summary of events that he had requested.
The meeting seemed like they were more interested in what they could get out of me and the estate, than how they might professionally assist me. I left the office with them telling me that they were going to make inquiries with the estate solicitor 'She' and find out what the deal was, and give me an estimate as to what they thought it might cost, and the junior solicitor whilst I was there pointed out what her hourly fee's were.
I left the office. The following day, I received an email from the junior solicitor that she suggested I print out and sign. It was a rather generic 'Client care letter' agreement. Along with this CCL was another document summing up what she believed my instructions to be. These instructions were not quite what we had discussed at the solicitors office. She stated in this letter that, I was "prepared to enter into an agreement with your brother which may in turn give him a greater proportion of your late mother’s estate." This was not true! I had told the solicitors that I had given up fighting over the value of the property, and the figure set at my brothers weekly rent, that is 170+ weeks past due. I had come to an agreement with my brother over these figures. So the fight for all intents and purposes was now over. Now all that was needed was to equally divide up the estate. Also including the figures my brother and I had agreed over, as part of the same estate.
My other legal issue being, how might I deal with the Power Of Attorney aspect of the estate. This was seemingly skipped over by the solicitors in our conversation at the office and again skipped over in the juniors letter. I raised the question, they changed the subject.
This was the real reason I was seeking legal guidance and assistance. I replied to the juniors email on Wednesday morning pointing out my above concerns.
I decided later that Wednesday to go see my original POA solicitor and see if we could work things out. After a great deal of struggle, I managed to get an audience with him, and he agreed to assist me again. He told me that when he was made aware by his secretary that I was in his office foyer looking to speak with him, he had phone called the estate solicitor 'She' to find out the details of what was happening with the estate, as he believed the might be a conflict of interest. Evidently everything was okay. We sat in an office and verbally agreed to work together again. He said he would send me a Client care letter and a Terms of engagement letter. I told him he could email them to me. He asked did I still have the same address? I said Yes!
When Friday arrived, I still had not heard from him. I emailed him inquiring as to what was happening. He emailed me right back, informing me that the estate solicitor 'She' had contacted him on Thursday and had informed him that I had given another solicitor instructions. So that's why he hadn't sent any terms to me. I told him that I hadn't instructed anyone, and had merely sought advice from a solicitors on the Monday before meeting him, and was not happy with what they had offered in the way of a contractual agreement. I had signed nothing with anyone. I explained that the solicitor I had spoke with may of just been making an inquiry and that this inquiry was being mistaken for instructions.
He emailed me back saying "Wait for my letter . I am prepared to accept instructions again from you but I am not going into a competition on costs. My costs will depend on time involved and will be recorded and charged accordingly." It's now late Monday, and I have received nothing from him. My brother is chomping at the bit to push for me or my POA to be removed from the estate dealings and become the sole Administrator. And my former POA is fickle, and doesn't inform me if the is an issue. And I still have not gone into a binding agreement with him.

You also appear to have a third thread on the same subject here > http://legalbeagles.info/forums/show...237#post714237

Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Di

[paddyhaig]

Re: Coercive and legaly threatening letter from a solicitor.

No, Diana M. These solicitors have nothing to do with my prior solicitors. These were merely solicitors canvassed along the way, whilst I looked for a solicitor with drive and professional ambition, that might fight for me, before fighting for there own financial self interest.

[paddyhaig]

Re: Coercive and legaly threatening letter from a solicitor.

Sorry, Diana M. I answered your question a little hastily last night without checking your link. Yes, the link that you posted above about an earlier posting I'd made on LegalBeagles does relate to the solicitors that I have indicated on this string, and am now being billed by.
I hadn't realized that I had posted the particulars of that meeting on LegalBeagles. They solicitors in question did email me and snail mail me, a Client care letter and a Terms of Engagement letter, that were right off the mark. However by the time these items arrived, I'd reluctantly hired my former POA back again. The way I see it, was they listened to some of the particulars of my case, then told me they were going to make further inquiries.
We went into no solemn agreement, nothing was signed as they still seemed not particularily eager to get involved.
They gave me no advice and I signed nothing at their office. No one informed me about any initial consulting fee's, or about me being charged for sitting with them making enquiries into their assistance, those enquiries might also be considered a business speculation on their part also.
As it was, I really wasnt too happy with the interaction I'd had with them. I really didn't feel they were a particularily good fit, although I gave them a chance. They simply didn't seem to show any genuine interest in my case. Just seemingly paying lip service and more interested in how much money was in the pot, vaguely suggesting the quickest route to that pot and that I should maybe suck up the losses. They also seemed to skirt around the elaphant in the room. The fact that I had a former POA who's signature might be required on several documents. They completely ignored my questions pertaining to this matter and changed the subject. I really felt like I was veing manipulated and felt quite uncomfortable with them.
So I figured. I'd go and talk with my former POA and see if I could re-hire him. He said yes. So I didn't bother going any further with the prior solicitors I'd spoke with, and when they sent their Client Care Letter and Terms of Service agreements, I ignored them.
I have not nor did not responded or go into any further communication with them, as I can only guess they would of billed me for that also. Can anyone tell me. Is this legal?
Is it legal for a law practice to bill an enquiring potential client without first telling the enquiring potential client that they will be billed for any and all time spent with that solicitor, whilst they outline their case. Shouldn't the solicitor require the potential client to sign some kind of aknowlegment that they were at least made of this arraingement?