Clare
Collected on:
A false economy
I spent several months being advised on my divorce financial settlement by Fullers, but eventually moved firm. I had hoped to see someone local to where I live in Norwich and, although they say they are based in Norwich, I was allocated to lawyers who work elsewhere and never offered an in person meeting. In retrospect I feel this is very important in a divorce case. Online meetings often had very poor reception and I could hear myself talking back even after numerous attempts. Where matters are emotionally difficult, it just isn't the same as seeing a lawyer in person.
Fullers said they would do things in the most cost effective way possible, but for me, that seemed to mean using a para legal to do a lot of my work, which was then also looked at by a solicitor if necessary. Both the solicitor and para legal were very nice people, but I often found there were mistakes eg in spelling, grammar, or more serious factual errors like mentioning "domestic violence" where the correct term was "domestic abuse". There were sentences they wrote in letters that did not make sense sometimes and I just lost my confidence in the team. Having to make corrections costs money to the client as each email or phone call was charged for.
This was not helped by people being off sometimes when I was not told they were going to be off- so I would suddenly find another lawyer was dealing with my case, who inevitably had to be brought up to speed. At one point the advice given by the substitute lawyer was very pessimistic about my prospects of success which was extremely stressful for me; this was later looked at again by the main lawyer, who revised the advice, but only after I had pushed for it to be reconsidered after speaking to a retired family law judge who is a friend of mine.
In addition, I did not feel that leadership was taken in progressing matters. My husband's solicitor is very difficult to deal with, but I felt that no-one was suggesting a course of action when nothing had been resolved for months. In the end I felt a fresh approach was required with someone more bullish handling my case and so I have moved to a well-known, local firm. I straight away had a meeting in person and a course of action was suggested to resolve things- I am feeling much happier now. I am dealing with one lawyer all the time and she is efficient with her time, and providing very clear advice. She is used to a case like this where we are arguing against a 50-50 division of assets and is not fazed by it. I think she has about the same PQE as my Fullers lawyer, so it isn't about years of experience but the fact that the work is high quality and not being done by a para legal. It is not helpful to me to have changed lawyers in the middle of proceedings and I wish I had begun with the better known firm from the beginning.
My impression is that the work Fullers did cost me more than if I had instructed a more expensive solicitor from the beginning. I appreciate that some fees were clocked up simply chasing my husband's solicitor for an answer, but whether to do this is also a judgment call. In the end I feel it was a false economy to go for a "cheaper" firm.
I also want to say that I was not asked for any feedback from Fullers after leaving the firm. I have had to search for a way to leave online feedback. I suspect that they send feedback forms to clients they think are happy, hence the 4.9/5 approval rating online, but those who have left are not offered the opportunity to comment. I am not saying that they do not do good work for most clients, but I suspect there may be unhappy people out there who have not persevered in trying to give feedback (no doubt because they are already occupied with trying to sort out their divorces!)
In additioin, when I came back in to edit the review and add this last point about feedback, all the negative adjectives have disappeared - I can only click on positive adjectives! Pretty strange..
Was this review helpful?
