1. Established.
A well-established local solicitor will have lots of repeat business and recommendations that can be found on their website.
2. Experience
The Principal of the practice must have many years of experience and have dealt with cases, both contentious, as well as non-contentious. This is important as for example, if during a property transaction which is non contentious work, a problem arises and the firm hasn’t the relevant experience, they will not be able to deal with your particular issue and will have to refer you to a different firm, that may not be so local and convenient.
3. Delegation
In a good practice work is done in-house and in all probability, you will be instructing a fully experienced team on the matter so the work is not delegated to junior members of staff. Many people whether they are in business, employed or approaching retirement want a local Solicitor they can rely on and see as their “family solicitor”.
4. Trust
As an example, in Conveyancing transactions, which are often the largest transaction for most people, you need a local Solicitor you can trust to guide you through this stressful process. You don’t want a solicitor that is based hundreds of miles away that you cannot approach and talk to in the event of a problem, which is very much the situation with practices that are “factory conveyancing practices”. Check to see if the local solicitor is on the Law Society CQS panel which means that they have specialist experience in Conveyancing.
5. Friendliness and approachability
A local solicitor is more likely to be approachable and you can see them at short notice to get excellent advice at your doorstep.
6. Value for money
A local solicitor’s rates are usually very competitive and represent excellent value for legal advice, as it is given at the highest level. At Saul Marine & Company, Saul has experience of working in central London for many years, which has given him an insight into how to act to get the best results, in particular, in the most difficult cases that involve court proceedings. He will argue your corner forcefully and if the matter needs to be settled, Saul Marine is a recognised mediator and will ensure settlement is fair.
Examples of work carried out recently
1. Neighbour Cases and Conflict Resolution
Our clients’ land behind their garage was taken by their neighbour; by getting surveyor’s evidence as to where the actual boundary was, our client’s case has prevailed.
Our Client was a private landlord. One tenancy commenced in 2008 with a deposit and after it expired, it was renewed on a monthly basis. All landlords are required to protect deposits taken from their tenants at the beginning of each renewal.
Our client landlord failed to do this and the tenant wanted to claim against his landlord for 3 times the deposit, multiplied by each year the deposit remained unprotected.
We successfully argued that as the deposit was taken only once, therefore the landlord could not be responsible to pay a penalty each time the tenancy renewed.
The law has now changed and see my article “The law as it relates to landlord and tenant”
3. Cohabitee Claims
Our client and his partner bought a property with 100% mortgage in 2005 and registered the property in joint names. However, no agreement was reached as to how they were going to hold the property.
When later they separated, his partner at the time suggested her name was taken off the title, but no action was taken. Later, when our client wanted to sell, his ex-partner asked for money to sign the Transfer. Our client had no legal choice but to buy her out.
This case is an example of how difficult it can become later on when no written agreements are reached between cohabitees.
If you have situations similar to these or other legal requirements, just follow the link for some good advice from your local solicitor >