complaint about my solicitor

[monika2013]

Hi All,

My permanent residency under the EEA regulations 2006 was rejected and my hearing in front of the 1st Tier Tribunal was scheduled to take place shortly after I was informed of the UKBA's refusal. I also noticed that the UKBA had not returned all my documents which were necessary to be included in the appeal bundles to the UKBA and the tribunal. I therefore asked my solicitor to apply to have my hearing delayed. He did it, but the hearing was delayed only for a week.

He then applied for a further delay reason being that my GP would be away for a while and would not return to the UK to provide me with an updated medical note. The hearing was then delayed. He did not inform me of this prior to his writing to the tribunal. I was shocked when seeing this in the judge's determination letter as my GP had not been away at all. He just made up the story.

I lost my appeal, and I am not happy with what my solicitor had done, i.e, I had not been informed the reason of applying for a further delay for the hearing. I had every right to know and even made the decision about what I wanted him to say. He is a partner of the law firm. There is also a senior partner in his firm. Shall I complain to the senior partner or the law society?

In addition he is very lazy. In fact It was I who prepared for my witness statement, hearing bundles et all. He charged my by per-using the documents I had prepared, such as my witness statement and liaised with the barrister et all. He charged me on an hourly rate basis + 20% VAT. I also had to pay the barrister separately. Even on the hearing date my barrister said that my solicitor was very passive.

Do I have to pay a VAT for the legal fee? The purpose of making such a complaint is to have partial of the fees I have paid refunded.

Any thoughts and suggestions?
Thanks

,

[ccccp]

Hi
Terrible story !!
I have no much expert but I think the way to get your money back is take him to court and prove it he been acting outside of you instruction which will be difficult as you delay hearing in the past.
There is always a second tier Tribunal .You can always write complain to regulatory authority (he must be a member of) and/or speak to him to try to settle all quietly. I been to similar situation and exactly know how you feel.
Good luck !!

[monika2013]

Thanks for your reply. Did you manage to settle the issues with your solicitor or did you have to complain about it to the legal authority to get part of your fees back?

[EUsmileWEallsmile]

Why not ask your solicitor's firm about their complaints procedure?

[Obie]

Please also see complaint about a solicitor

[ccccp]

Thanks for your reply. Did you manage to settle the issues with your solicitor or did you have to complain about it to the legal authority to get part of your fees back?

I did not get any fee back