6 Ultimate Tips for Choosing Your Solicitor - Free Compensation Claim Guide

Compensation Claim Guide Top Tips:

1. Is your chosen solicitor an expert in bringing compensation claims?

First and foremost you need to be satisfied that the person who is going to deal with your claim is a fully qualified solicitor and has all the relevant experience that they need to bring your claim.

Compensation claims can be complicated and can be difficult to win.

Lack of experience can lead to failing at the first hurdle.

There is also a real risk that with the wrong choice of lawyer your claim could be undersettled leaving you with inadequate compensation.

On the other hand:

• We have all the experience that you need to get a winning result.
• We specialise exclusively in compensation claims and have done so for over 20 years (and counting!)
• Our team are all very experienced solicitors who are committed to helping you to get the result that you deserve.

How to Choose Your Compensation Solicitor

2. WARNING – Avoid Claims Companies at All Costs!

Just so you know:

There are many companies that may look like they are solicitors but they are not – they are actually claims managers and exist to simply sell your claim to a real solicitor!

Claims management companies are not regulated nearly as strictly as solicitor’s practices

and what’s more, they may well charge you directly or indirectly through the solicitor that they refer you to.

3. LOOK OUT! – Don’t fall for the unqualified para-legal trick!

You need to be aware that even if you go directly to a firm of solicitors some solicitors allow unqualified staff to handle claims and this can lead to all sorts of problems!

In particular, some firms tend to have teams of people working on files and this can lead to your claim festering with no one taking responsibility for progressing matters.

Be aware that very often the solicitor you first speak to won’t actually be the person who deals with your claim or has overall conduct.

They may well be extremely knowledgeable and experienced but you may find that once you have decided to instruct a particular firm your claim is suddenly passed to a junior and possibly an unqualified (and cheaper) member of staff.

How do we work?

We arrange our work so that you have one very experienced claims solicitor who is solely responsible for your claim and who will deal with you personally on a day to day basis. This one point of contact will progress and oversee matters for you from beginning to end.

There are no smoke and mirrors here!

4. IMPORTANT! Is Your solicitor Approachable and Friendly? 😊

You need to have both confidences in your solicitor’s abilities and feel able to communicate with them freely and easily.

Solicitors are traditionally thought of as being aloof, unapproachable and cold. If nothing else you need to be able to talk openly with your solicitor and feel entirely comfortable. After all, you are probably going to have to tell your solicitor

Does your solicitor make you feel at ease and do you get a sense that they genuinely want to help you?

Choose a solicitor who is approachable and prepared to explain what is happening and keeps you firmly in the loop rather than one who prefers to keep you in the dark.

Do you feel that the solicitor not only knows his onions but will be committed to helping you get the best result?

Take some time to ask any questions that may be troubling you and see if the solicitor responds in a helpful and friendly manner.

It’s so important that you have trust and confidence in your solicitor and that you feel completely at ease when discussing things.

After all, you are placing your total reliance upon your solicitor representing you and your claim in the best way and you don’t want to have any doubts that they are going to fall short by even a smidgen!

5. “No Win No Fee” – is it really risk free?

You need to make sure that the agreement you enter into with the solicitor is not going to leave you saddled with charges!

For example, is the solicitor going to pay for your disbursements (expenses incurred on your behalf) or expect you to fund these yourself?

Are there going to be charges for an insurance policy you don’t need or for administration charges that shouldn’t be levied?

Make sure that your solicitor provides you with a genuine no-risk agreement which means if your claim for any reason is lost you are able to walk away without any charges or nasty surprises!

By making a claim on a No Win No Fee basis, make absolutely sure you are not under any financial risk in the event your claim fails for any reason.

One way of finding out which camp your solicitor is in is to ask for a copy of their No Win No Fee Agreement – does it look like War and Peace or is it short, simple and easy to understand?!

6. Online Ratings and Reviews

Before you finally decide upon which solicitor to instruct it’s always sensible to look at online ratings and reviews.

What do these reviews tell you about the firm? Are they complementary or do they give you cause for concern?

For all established firms, you should be able to easily find online ratings and reviews from previous clients.

Looking at online reviews should give you a good insight into whether a firm is providing a really good service or whether you need to be wary of proceeding any further!

We do hope you have found this guide useful and that you feel able to contact your chosen solicitor to put them through their paces!

We of course guarantee that you will have a warm and welcoming reception when you contact us! 😊

But hopefully, you will already have guessed this having read this friendly guide!