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Can you change solicitors during a compensation claim?

By Ian Morris | Updated September 14th, 2023

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In the vast majority of personal injury compensation claims, claimants report high levels of satisfaction with the service they receive from their specialist personal injury Solicitor.

Direct2Compensation work hard to ensure that our Solicitors are able to settle the majority of claims for personal injury compensation quickly and in our clients favour. Over the years, we have developed a specialist claims process that provides a great service. Our clients are kept up to date, know how to communicate with their Solicitor and understand what the claim means to them in terms of costs. So, luckily for us, we don’t have an issue with clients complaining about their Solicitor or wishing to switch Solicitors during the process of the claim – unless the claimant is coming to us having had a bad experience elsewhere!

Sadly, a good personal injury claims experience is not the case for everyone. When a claimant has instructed a Solicitor to pursue their claim for personal injury compensation on a conditional fee agreement basis, how easy is it to switch to a different solicitor if the claimant is unhappy with the way in which they are managing the claim?

The claim must be financially viable

One consideration a ‘new’ Solicitor must take in to account when considering a claim that is already under instruction with another, is whether the matter will be financially viable for them. This is due to the requirement for a new Solicitor to meet the costs incurred by the previous Solicitor should the new Solicitor go on to successfully settle the claim for the client.

As Solicitors work on quite restricted fees in standard personal injury compensation cases, sadly it is often just not financially viable for a new Solicitor to undertake involvement in a claim where a previous Solicitor has acted. Solicitors must undertake a considerable amount of working hours and incur costs when pursuing a claim for compensation and if they then had to hand over the majority of the fees recovered on success of a claim, there would be no merit in the effort and cost that they had incurred. With this in mind, claimants need to be careful when instructing their Solicitor to ensure that they are instructing the right specialist with the right expertise in order to minimise the risk of the claim not being handled correctly. Claimants must also be very careful when considering withdrawing from their current Solicitor or seeking to cancel their claim – on two counts: The potential exposure to costs under the terms of the CFA they have signed when instructing their Solicitor and not being able to find a new Solicitor able to take on their ongoing case.

In cases where the potential settlement value of a claim is substantial, it is much easier for a new Solicitor to undertake involvement as the potential fee recovery for the successful Solicitor would be higher and this would render the financial viability issue redundant.

Of course, if you can’t find a new solicitor there’s always the possibility of claiming by yourself, but this can be fraught with difficulty.

Switching if your solicitor closes your claim

The most common reason that someone comes to us after having already instructed another claims management company or Solicitor is because their Solicitor has closed their claim, having taken the view that the prospects of succeeding are less than 50%. Remember, your solicitor only gets paid IF YOU WIN. If a Solicitor believes that a claim is unlikely to succeed, they will close the matter. It’s important to remember that by pursuing a claim that is unlikely to succeed, a Solicitor is only risking further costs to themselves should the claim fail. Whilst it costs you nothing if you lose, there are costs to the Solicitor and they must make a decision as to whether it is in your or their best interests to continue.

If your solicitor has closed your claim and advised that the 3rd party will not admit liability and that the defendant has a very strong defence to the claim that the courts would likely accept should your Solicitor continue to take the matter to court (their only option other than close the claim if liability is in dispute), A new Solicitor will not view the case any differently without new evidence available to strengthen the claim or weaken the defence raised. With this in mind, if your claim has ‘failed’ and been closed by your Solicitor due to a robust defence, you should be prepared to accept that there is no realistic prospect of succeeding with a new Solicitor unless you can uncover new evidence that had not previously formed part of your claim.

However, you do have a right to seek a second opinion and to that end, if you feel strongly about your claim, you can contact us as we can get a Solicitor to consider whether there is merit in undertaking a review your claim file to see if there is a way forward. Understandably, any claimant who has a claim that has been closed or failed will be disappointed, yet most understand why this happens as long as they are given a simple and clearly understandable reason for this by their solicitor.

Complaints against a current or previous solicitor

Occasionally, clients come to us when they believe that the Solicitor they have instructed to run their claim for personal injury compensation has acted negligently or handled the claim poorly. It is rare that Solicitors manage claims poorly or neglectfully, but we’re all humans and mistakes can be made. Indeed, when we look in to such enquiries it is often the case that the Solicitor has given the client bad news regarding their claim and the client doesn’t like it. We all want someone to blame when things don’t go our way and this can happen in personal injury compensation claims too. However, when there does appear to be a genuine case of poor claim management by a Solicitor or negligent behaviour, there are things that a claimant can do in order to rectify the situation, with the last resort being switching solicitors to a new firm.

When it comes to personal injury compensation claims, it is always important to be honest and transparent. With this in mind, Direct2Compensation advise clients that it is not always in their best interests (or even needed) to switch Solicitors with their claim. There is a correct way to handle a complaint about a Solicitor and their handling of your claim and often things can be resolved with your current Solicitor which if done, will see your claim settle more quickly than if you switch to a new Solicitor. If you believe that you have a genuine complaint against your current Solicitor, here is a list of the things you can do about it:

Complain to your Solicitors office and ask for a written reply to your complaint. In the majority of cases, you will find that there may have been a lack of communication about a certain point of interest in the claim or that you may not have received an important bit of correspondence. By complaining, your Solicitor will have every chance to rectify the situation quickly.
If you are not happy with your Solicitors response to your complaint, you can contact their regulator – the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. They have a complaints department and can hold your Solicitor to account for their actions.
If you are not sure what you should expect from your personal injury compensation Solicitor, contact us as we can advise you on this and let you know what you should expect from them.
If you feel really aggrieved about your current Solicitor, that the relationship with them is beyond repair and that you have no faith in them it is probably then best to end their instruction and authorise a new firm to investigate taking the claim forward. This should only be done once the above process has been attempted and exhausted.

Of course, you might just want to discuss the way in which your claim has been handled and not yet be sure that you wish to switch solicitors. We’ll be more than happy to give you our honest opinion and let you know what you can do about it and if needs be help you to instruct a competent specialist no win no fee Solicitor to pursue your claim for personal injury compensation.

Direct2Compensation can boast a proud record of excellent service and work with some really great specialist firms – we call them our Solicitor partners. Find out what is so special about us, or take a look at the feedback shown on our testimonials.

145 questions have been answered on this subject - ask us your question

Comments & Questions

Read on for questions and advice about claiming...

Hello, my lawyer is asking me to pay £5,000+ to drop them and go with different firm, after 5 years! , is this right?

If you signed a No Win No Fee agreement (Conditional Fee Agreement) with your previous Solicitor, they would be within their rights to seek their incurred costs from you should you decide to no longer cooperate with them.

If you can find a new Solicitor to act for you, they should be able to give an undertaking to the existing Solicitor to cover those costs on successful completion of the claim.

My wife submitted a medical negligence claim. We heard nothing from solicitor for years and this morning received a letter stating they are not going ahead due to Dr report. I would like a second opinion as a no of drs advised there is a case for negligence.

The problem is that unbeknownst to us the solicitor has already requested a 12 month extension before issuing writ and deadline for submitting is next week.

I feel it is unreasonable of solicitor to advise at this late stage.

This is not a matter that we can help with I’m afraid. However, you may have grounds to complain of negligent handling of the matter by the Solicitor who has been representing your wife to this point. Initially, you should make a formal complaint to the Solicitor and if you are not happy with their response, escalate the complaint to the regulatory authorities.

Irwin Mitchell have decided not to take my case against my local council any further and have closed the case. The council, obviously, would’ve used the section 58 defence to avoid liability and paying out on a claim. I told IM of one occasion when the council admitted liability for someones fall due to poorly maintained pavement and paid out compensation before having to go to court, making the section 58 defence somewhat less credible. Would you consider taking my case on please? I suffered a broken wrist in Jan 2018 and have only recently discovered my knee has developed osteoporosis since my fall. IM have said all files & photos etc will be made available without hesitation.

Although Irwin Mitchell have closed your claim due to the initial defence raised by whichever local authority the claim has been brought against, we are happy to ask our Solicitors to review this matter with a view to pursuing the claim further, should they feel it viable to do so.

A section-58 defence is a commonly raised defence in tripping accident compensation claims and can often see a claimant forced to concede that they cannot succeed with their claim. Local authorities rely on both inspections of their property by their highways agents and reports from members of the public to locate and repair any potentially dangerous areas and remove tripping hazards. The courts have effectively stated that so long as the local authority can demonstrate that they have an appropriate inspection regime in place and that inspections are carried out in a timely manner and if no reports of hazards have been made by the public, the local authority will not be liable.

In your case, our Solicitors would need to establish that either the inspection carried out by the authority was inadequate (i.e, they missed the hazard that was obviously present for a considerable time), or a report had been made by the public regarding the incident BEFORE you fell.

Do you have any photographs of the accident site – ideally showing the tripping hazard that led to your sustaining a broken wrist with measurements? If so, are you able to provide the same to us?

Is there a solicitor no win no fee to take on a trip injury liability claim when a barrister has given the claim a less than 51% chance of success ?

If a Barrister has given a view that you have less than 51% chance of success with a claim, the reality is that no Solicitor would be willing to take your claim further on No Win No Fee terms. Barristers are highly qualified legal specialists and they are usually asked to give an opinion on the strength or otherwise of a claim before it is pursued further. If a Barrister has stated that they do not believe that the claim will succeed, a Solicitor would not want to take it further as they would be unlikely to recover any costs for their work and would only expose themselves to higher costs for the defendants fees in defending the claim.

Hi,
My wife’s father has just received a letter from his solicitor saying they have closed their file and no longer representing him without giving a reason.
He had an accident in a large store due to no fault of his own, we have photos of before and after accident. He broke his finger, had a sling on arm and still has difficulties with his hand, how do we go about contacting another solicitor.

The accident happened last May.

We would be happy to ask our specialist Solicitors to give further consideration to this matter and a 2nd opinion as to whether or not it is possible to pursue the claim further. Please email the correspondence you have along with photographs, contact details and a description of the incident and injuries and we will look in to this further for you.

You can make contact with us by emailing our team at: justice@direct2compensation.co.uk

Hello, I have a personal injury case for a non serious car accident in December. I received an offer in February of £1250 which I was happy about but was advised to decline that offer. I was then told to attend a medical and They would then decide what they would like to push for. I received that letter today and it says they want £1500-£1300.
Personally the first offer was acceptable in my opinion but I taken the advise of my solicitor and declined it, if I knew it would only be for a potential further £50 I would of just accepted the original offer. I feel I’ve been advised wrongly. Am I able to switch solicitors? I would rather decline any offers by this point and totally forget it then stay with solicitors who don’t seem to care at all.

Whilst you do have the right to switch your claim to a new Solicitor, you need to carefully consider whether that is in your best interests. Whilst we fully understand your feelings of being poorly represented, there is absolutely no guarantee that a new Solicitor would either be able to take over the case at this late stage (due to the fact that they probably couldn’t really make any money out of doing so given the work done to date), or that they would be able to achieve a substantially higher settlement.

Perhaps the best course of action would be to accept whatever settlement you can obtain and once you have received it, then make a formal complaint to your Solicitor about their handling of your claim. If your complaint is upheld and it can be shown that your Solicitor has not acted correctly, you may be able to make a 2nd claim against them for professional negligence.

I was in car accident on December 2019 when a lady hit my car on motorway. The lady accepted the fault and my car was write off. My solicitor offered me £3000 to close a claim, and is going to take too long if i refuse, and i said ok. After few days they send me a letter when i was going to take only £1900 because of their fees. Can i refuse this solicitor and work with another solicitor?

You can switch Solicitors, but if you are doing so on the basis that you are not happy with their fee deduction, before you seek to switch you need to check the agreement you signed with them at the outset of your claim. You should only contribute up to 25% of your compensation settlement towards the cost of your claim, so do check the agreement that you signed.

Hi
I was involved in a car accident where I was stationary at a roundabout where a driver went into the back of me injuring me and pushing my car into the on coming traffic where I had to act quickly and turn towards the curb.
I am currently with slater and Gordon and have nothing but bad business.
1. They have lost my medical report on 1 occasion 2. Told me that the driver admitted to going into the back of, then saying he hasn’t admitted anything 3. The solicitor medical team are getting my report wrong on numerous occasions and even spelling mistakes are constantly made. 4. I have no contact with them as I have to make an effort to contact them and sometimes they don’t reply.
Due to my injury I have had to have an operation and my knee still hurts.
Can I have your opinion on this matter and advice?
Thank you

Given the catalogue of errors that you mention with the handling of your claim by your current form, you would be well within your rights to consider switching your claim to a new Solicitor. Before you take that step, you should make a formal complaint to your instructed Solicitor firm via their published complaints procedure. This will afford them one final opportunity to review their handling of your claim and make good any errors that they have made.

HI
My mother had a RTA in OCT 18 she has seen an orthopaedic surgeon in march 2019 and the report states a follow up was need again within 4-6 months which would have been the end of sep 19 this never happened I had to chase the solicitors up they said the person dealing with the claim has left and paper work has been lost …. she has now seen the surgeon again this month he is now saying he needs to see her again with 3-6 mths I have letters dated back to nov 2018 saying that the liability adjusters for the defendant have accepted liability .. isn’t it fact that once liability has been admitted the case can proceed to settlement ? it seems to me the solicitors are dragging their heels for a bigger cut ?

Your Solicitor is unlikely to be delaying the claim for their own gain – indeed, the claims system and the way that Solicitors are paid does not really work on the basis that a Solicitor can simply slow the claims process to enable them to earn more fees!

In the case you describe, your Mothers Solicitor would not wish to settle the claim until a full understanding of the long term impact of the injury is known. Whilst you are right in saying that once admission of liability is obtained, the claim then moves on to valuation. However, as a claimant can only settle the claim once (full and final settlement), it is vitally important that the settlement value is reached on the basis of an understanding as to whether a claimant will recover fully or how long their recovery will take. In this case, that is clearly not yet understood, so the Solicitor would appear to be protecting your Mothers best interests by ensuring that time passes and an understanding of her situation is reached so that when settlement is made, it is an appropriate value.

My solicitor charged me in excess of £500 when I wanted my file in order to switch solicitors although I had paid her almost 9g. I have now found out that you are entitled to your own papers for free Can I claim this money back? I regard this as highly unethical and pure greed.

The request for the fee is unethical and should be reported to the regulatory authority for Solicitors.

Not happy with my solicitor with my compensation claim.

If you are not happy with your Solicitor or the service you are receiving, it is vitally important that you inform your Solicitor practice of your concerns in writing and formally complain.

A formal complaint allows the Solicitor practice the opportunity to review the work that their Solicitor has undertaken and the chance to put things right and apologise. It also ensures that any issues that are not resolved can be escalated to the ombudsman or regulator if applicable.

I have been pursuing a negligence claim for my deceased Mother for over 4 years. The Residential Home were charged with my Mothers care during which time she developed several bed sores.
The Home have done everything in their power to thwart a resolution and my Solicitors have thus far failed to resolve the situation. I feel (and have told them) that everything is left to the very last minute and then it is me left with short deadlines to return information. I have always without fail responded immediately but am now becoming exhausted with the process and considering dropping the claim.

Can I do this, it is a no win no fee arrangement, the claim is worth a maximum 20k and Solicitors have thus far accrued costs in the order of 125/150k which whilst not proportionate have arisen almost entirely as a result of the third party’s failure to co-operate, thanks in advance of your kind replies in this matter.

Before you withdraw from the claim, you should (if you have not already done so!) make a formal complaint to your Solicitor about the claim and your view that they have often left things to the last minute and not placed sufficient pressure on the defendants to cooperate with the claim. It would not be a bad idea to inform them that you are finding the whole process extremely stressful to the point that you are considering withdrawing from the process.

I was in a crash this week. I’m not at fault. My insurance company put me in touch with solicitors who I did give details to. I hadn’t heard from them as I couldn’t get into their emails so probably wrongly I have instructed another solicitor. But I have now received a doctors appointment that has been arranged by first solicitor. I have cancelled this and found a phone number for the solicitor to cancel the claim. Am I going to be charged a lot for this. Thanks

If you are cancelling the claim within the first 14 days, you won’t face any issue.

If you would like to make a claim, but with an independent Solicitor of your own choosing, please do let us know. Our specialist Solicitors could help with this.

I have started a claim for injury at work, but now wish to withdraw my claim. Will I be liable for any costs?

If your claim was started more than 14 days ago, your Solicitor may have the right to charge you for the costs that they would already have incurred. On a No Win No Fee claim, a Solicitor will only receive payment for their work (their time, their costs etc) if they succeed with the claim. If a claimant fails to cooperate and withdraws from a claim, a Solicitor will be left out of pocket. The Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) that you signed to instruct your Solicitor to act would contain a clause about their right to pursue you for costs.

Of course, Solicitors would not wish to pursue a client for costs and would work hard to avoid any such issue. The best course of action would be to discuss your concerns and your reasons for wanting to close the claim with your Solicitor.

I have a personal injury claim ongoing since october 2018. The company have passed my case from person to person without any prior warning and it takes them a least a month to reply to any emails i send for updates and constantly failed to update me without me constantly asking for this. I still feel they are no closer to a resolution and they do not appear to care about all the time it’s taken and how upset i am about how it’s being handled. What can I do?

Check the website of the Solicitor firm you have instructed and look for their complaints policy. Make a formal complaint to them regarding the case being handled poorly and by numerous employees and see what comes of it. If you are not happy with the outcome of the complaint, you could then escalate the complaint to the legal ombudsman.

I am at present claiming for personal injury. This has been on going for 7months. There is no solicitor helping me. I’m doing this myself. Should I lose my case can I start again maybe with a solicitor the next time. Or do you only get one chance? Daisy

If the defendants deny liability, you can of course look to see if a Solicitor would be able to take the claim forward and push the defendant in to accepting liability. As you would expect, our recommendation is that you should get a qualified specialist Personal Injury Solicitor to represent you at the earliest opportunity. A Solicitor will be able to represent your best interests and ensure that your legal rights are upheld by ensuring that the alleged defendant as to prove that they have not been negligent in causing your injuries. Whilst pursuing the claim yourself would see you retain 100% of any compensation you were to receive if you succeeded, the reality is that you are less likely to succeed and even if you do, you’ll have no way of knowing what a fair and reasonable settlement value is. Of course, if you instructed our specialist Solicitors, you would pay nothing if your claim were to fail, but you would contribute up to 25% of any settlement towards the costs of the claim. Our view is that the 25% fee would be money well spent as you would not have to deal with the stress of the claim and it is likely that a specialist Solicitor would ensure that any agreed settlement was notably higher than a settlement you may reach yourself, without representation.

I was involved in a accident at work in June 2019 in which I was involved in a head in collision with a stacker truck due to a colleague’s horseplay/failing to adhere to health and safety.

The employee was dismissed after the incident.

I instructed a solicitor to start a personal injury claim and my employer’s liability insurance received the initial letter around 5th July 2019.

My solicitor has not had any response apart from the 1st reply stating they are the correct insurer’s etc.

Each time I ask for an update my solicitor says they are awaiting liability decision still.

This was almost 5 months ago, I assume my solicitor should have issued a further deadline to the insurers?

If my solicitor hasn’t issued a deadline yet can I change solicitors?

As I feel I am not getting anywhere with this claim and have been left with a bad nerve injury and rare condition because of the accident.

Thanks

You can of course switch Solicitors, but before you do so you should ensure that your current Solicitor is made aware of your concerns and that you are considering switching the claim. It is most likely that your Solicitor is acting correctly and that the ‘delay’ is being caused by the defendant insurers.

When a claim is submitted to a defendant insurer, the insurer has 21 working days to ‘acknowledge’ receipt of the claim and confirm whether or not they are the insurers. From that date, they then have a further period of almost 4 months to ‘investigate’ the claim before they will respond with an admission or denial of liability. Whilst most insurers do respond at the deadline (they are rarely early!), they can miss the deadline. Typically, a Solicitor will allow them a further agreed extension of a month or two. If that is then missed, they may issue proceedings to force them to respond.

You should ask your Solicitor to confirm to you (in writing) what is happening and what action they have taken to press the defendant insurers to cooperate.

Hi, had a chat with express solicitor’s about a accident at work. I was sent a booklet with around 12 sets of paper work, terms, conditions. Clients feedback etc. Three or more forms to sign and return back, which I did not. Had a call from them 3 months later saying I entered a verbal contract with them. Is this true? Thanks Simon

Not at all! A Solicitor would require you to have signed and dated their paperwork to allow them to claim to be formally instructed. Whilst you may have spoken with them verbally that does not constitute a contract.

I have been pursuing a personal injury claim since December 2016 using Lyons Davidson, who was given my details by my insurance company LV. I have found them obstructive, aggressive, unhelpful and unwilling to fight my corner with this claim. It was as a result of a collision with a police car. The investigating sergeant concluded that I was not at fault and it was the responsibility of the police officer driving. Relations have completely broken down due to the unhelpful attitude of the solicitors. Last week I emailed them some further instructions, only for me to receive an email from them saying they’ve closed my case. Are you able to advise me where I stand? I have always protected my no claims and paid extra for legal cover.

The issue you raise with the firm that you were placed with by your Insurers is one that we hear pretty regularly. In many cases, the firms that manage to get the ‘contract’ to be the legal provider for a car insurance provider struggle to cope with the volume of work that comes their way. It is common that cases will be handled by a claims handler rather than a Solicitor as it is simply not possible or cost effective for them to have all cases handled by a Solicitor.

Given your deep seated displeasure with the way in which the firm have handled your claim, you have a right to make a formal complaint to them. You should check their website for their complaints procedure and submit your claim. If the complaint is not resolved in a manner that is satisfactory to you, you have the right to escalate the complaint to the legal ombudsman service.

Regarding your claim, you mention it has now been closed. Do you know why? It may be possible to have the file of papers held by your current Solicitor released to a new Solicitor and reviewed with a view to a new Solicitor taking over the running of the claim and succeeding for you.

Before about 3 years and 3 months ago, I was involved in a road traffic accident, 100% without my fault. I underwent left ankle surgery. I trusted my claim to a solicitor but turned out he is ignoring me. I am dissatisfied with his attitude and work have done so far.
The medical reports are inaccurate. They barely manage to earn minimal compensation because missing essential information about physical discomfort and many of my psychological problems after the accident. I signed them because I had no idea what they should contain.
A year and a half ago, I asked my current solicitor for a re-examination of both reports. Unfortunately, he did nothing about it. A month before the 3 years since the accident occurs, he offered me to disclose the reports to the insurers. I disagreed because these reports are of no value. To get me to agree to the reports being disclosed to the insurers, he promised me that to ask insurers to fund a rehabilitation prescripted from the medical specialist and after then will revert the reports for re-examining. Now the Solicitor does not keep his promise and pressures me to accept this mocking amount of compensation. Can you please tell me if I can transfer my claim file to another barrister or solicitor?

You may have grounds for a claim against your Solicitor on a professional negligence basis and you should make enquiries with a specialist law firm able to pursue such matters as soon as possible.

Our advice at this stage would be to complain formally to your Solicitor (see their complaints policy published on their website) and go through that process.

With regards to switching your claim, it may be possible but could be too late to do so. This is not something we could help with due to the time that has lapsed between the date of your accident and now, but you may wish to make enquiries with specialist personal injury Solicitors regarding this.