Can you change solicitors during a compensation claim?

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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.

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Comments & Questions

Read on for questions and advice about claiming...

I had a case with new haven solicitors who never once spoke to me did not reply to my emails and then they dropped my case. I still believe that the housing group had a responsibility to my safety. The court manager has told lies but I also believe it can be proved that she did. I have been suffering pain sine December ladt year. Can you help

Ian Morris

Unfortunately, if a previous Solicitors has had a case that has failed or been closed by them, it is now almost impossible for a new Solicitor to be able to take over the claim on a No Win No Fee basis. This is a direct result of the way the Government have changed the framework within which Solicitors acting for claimants must operate which massively favours defendants and makes it financially unviable for a new Solicitor to get involved.

Whilst it may well be the case that the defendants have given misleading information, to have evidence sufficiently strong enough to demonstrate that in a court is very difficult and as you can appreciate, it is too risky for a Solicitor to get involved until that evidence is there.

If you are of the view that your Solicitors were negligent or failed to act in your best interests, you should formally complain to them.

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I have made a claim against my ex employer, I feel through the faulty floor and injured my leg. Liability was denied – they said I should have been watching where I was going as I was aware of the faulty flooring.
My solicitor said my case will be dealt with in 21days. Does this mean I have lost the case?

Ian Morris

A denial of liability is not necessarily the end of a claimants hopes, indeed it is pretty common for successful claims to have had an initial denial made by a defendant insurer.

In your case, if you knew the floor was faulty it may mean that you could be forced to accept some contributory negligence, but if the employer has failed to cordon off the area or provide warning signs regarding the risks caused by the floor disrepair, they must surely be found to have been negligent.

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I had a non fault RTA on 170322. My motorcycle was subsequently written off and I suffered a broken shoulder.

5 months later I have not received any compensation. I understand the personal injury claim is subjective and may take time to conclude however, the PAV of the motorcycle has been established by an independent engineer 3 months ago.

I was expecting to be paid for the vehicle promptly after valuation and then again at a later date when the injury claim is settled. Is this not the case?

I am finding it difficult to get any information at all from my appointed solicitor, hence the question.

Ian Morris

You should receive settlement for the loss of/value of your motorcycle as soon as liability is established and the value of the vehicle is agreed. As for personal injury, settling that claim will take a longer time.

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two and half years ago the hospital admitted liability to medical negligence. My solicitors have dragged my case out. I am one month from a court deadline and just responded to my solicitor re the starting amount for negotiations. She has ignored my questions and advice 3 times. I emailed my advice again and questioned why the barrister was pulling apart the experts report and downgrading her opinions. Within 30 minutes I received an email from the solicitor saying she declines to act for me any longer. Is she allowed to do this, we were literally about to negotiate settlement after ive waited 2 and half years.

Ian Morris

A Solicitor is able to withdraw from a claim/withdraw from representing a claimant if they believe that the claimant is not acting in accordance with the instructions that they or a Barrister provides to the client.

Clearly, this is a difficult situation for you and you may wish to make a formal complaint to the firm who have been representing you regarding this.

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Ongoing complaint with my solicitor, they have been acting for free due to errors, very poor service . Complained again , they now tell me they will be writing when they have a reply from their insurers. They won’t tell me what’s going on

Ian Morris

Insurers are being very slow with responses and decisions etc at the moment. With this in mind, despite your understandable frustrations with your Solicitor, you’ll need to wait for the correspondence to come from your Solicitor.

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I have an accident in 2014 the company that was dealing with my claim has been struck off and closed down, can I take my claim to another company?

Ian Morris

Do you know if the claim was ‘issued’ (in order to ensure that the standard 3 year claim limitation issue was not a problem for you) by the previous firm?

It is certainly a possibility that a new Solicitor could take over the matter given the previous firm having been struck off. Please email a summary of the situation to us at justice@direct2compensation.co.uk in order that we can have our Solicitors review this and advise further. Please include as much information as possible including your contact details.

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We had a non fault accident sept 2020 my partner has now been paid out but my case handler (which has been swapped several times) is not answering any of my emails and has had little communication with me and I just don’t know what to do.

Ian Morris

The poor or mishandling of claims for personal injury after a road traffic accident is sadly not uncommon, particularly with regards to the legal providers car insurers providers like to get you to pursue your claim.

Although you have a right to switch your claim to a new Solicitor and we can certainly look in to helping you to do so, it is not always straightforward. You should certainly make a formal complaint to the Solicitors acting on your claim (you should be able to find their complaints procedure on their website), in which you can complain about the numerous swapping of a claims handler, the fact that you are not being represented by a specialist qualified Solicitor and that they are failing to act in your best interests or communicate clearly with you.

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Hi I’m in the middle of a personal injury claim and my solicitor is being negative about whether it will be successful she thinks the third party will say I contributed to my injury by not going to the doctors straight away will they deny because of that reason ?

Ian Morris

Whilst a claimant having not sought medical attention quickly won’t prevent a claim from succeeding, it does make life for the claimant harder and easier for the defendant. The issue will be establishing that you couldn’t have sustained the injury for which you are claiming somewhere and somewhen other than at the defendants premises or due to their negligence and it will fall upon you to establish that you did.

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I’m currently going through a negligence case for an operation I had on a broken leg, I had metal work placed in and the bolt broke and was see sawing making a hole in my bone, I also had issues with numbing on my foot due to the metal work being laid over my nerve. The bolt started to pop out of my leg and push the skin out. My current solicitor never gets in touch unless I ask the questions. They gave my case to a reviewer who said there was no negligence but they never mentioned being discharged when the bolt was poking. This is just the tip of the iceberg, I’m currently on my third surgeon and still in care of the hospital.

Ian Morris

Establishing whether someone has been the victim of clinical negligence, or just extremely unfortunate (bearing in mind that it is not always possible to operate successfully on injuries) is a notoriously difficult process and pursuing a claim for clinical negligence successfully is far from straightforward.

Given your concerns about your Solicitor, as always, we would recommend that you make a formal complaint to your Solicitor outlining your concerns and the issues that you feel have not been handled correctly. This will afford them the opportunity to address your worries and hopefully give you peace of mind.

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My solicitor left the company and didn’t tell me until I contacted him he has had my personal injury claim for 3 years and hasn’t done anything what can be done?

Ian Morris

The scenario you describe would be professional negligence. The firm of Solicitors in question should have informed you of the new person handling your file and the fact that a Solicitor left the company in the meantime should have no bearing on the outcome of your claim.

If you have not already made a formal complaint to the firm in question, we would advise you to do so immediately. Also, you should contact a firm of Solicitors that handle claims for professional negligence and seek damages from the firm for their failure to act on your instructions.

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Hi Ian…february 2020 been in a bad car accident, not at fault, lucky to be alive (was stationary, car hit me from the back and been pushed on the other lane where a lorry hit me again from the front). End up with broken femur, that after surgery left my leg shorter ,twisted plus many others things not been the same with my body. So far from my solicitors, 14 months later send me twice the medical report to sign, in which none of my main injuries were stated and i keep telling them that. So the report is inaccurate and a did not sign it. To mention that i haven’t been asked to see a doctor, or had any support from them to help me with recovery, actually, since the accident i been seen just by my GP physio department 2 times. All my injuries are stated in my GP medical reports which my solicitors have. What should i do with this solicitors, cause so far I’m so disappointed with the way my claim is handled. Keep thinking to change them, but they will want me to pay them for basically nothing after 14 months.

Ian Morris

Initially, you should make a written report to the Solicitor about your serious concerns and give them notice to address the mistakes and ensure that things are handled correctly. If they then fail to resolve the situation, make a formal complaint to them and contact us again so that we can have our specialist Solicitors advise you about taking over the matter.

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Hello, Ian.
My wife had a botched dermal filler treatment in her forehead in 09/2019. It left injuries on her forehead, moreover, excess filler travelled to her scalp causing hair loss. We took photos and Irwin Mitchell took her case. We told IM that photos are our only evidences without any definitive medical evidences to prove that her injuries were caused by the treatment. Quite strangely, without reviewing her medical records or without any definitive medical evidence, IM issued a Claim Form to the Defendant’s insurer in 12/2019. IM then sent us a letter saying that in case the Defendant accepting liability, then offers would be made and in case of denial of liability, the case would go to the court, which we might win or lose. But IM never told us another possibility that they might even close the case. In 02/2020 the other side denied liability. New case-handler came in and she also didn’t review my wife’s medical records or send her to any specialist medical professional for medical evidence. Instead IM wasted 2 months by asking the Defendant’s insurer’s questions which had already been answered in the Defendant’s response. We asked why. Case handler answered : just to be sure no nasty surprises when the case will go to the court. In 04/2020 we asked IM for rehabilitation of the scalp with hair loss but IM said inability as the Defendant denied liability. Then in 06/2020 IM decided to send my wife to a medico-legal expert without reviewing her medical records. In 10/2020 she saw the expert and his report was naturally inconclusive about her hair loss due to lack of any diagnostic medical evidence. He suggested invasive biopsy but without any guarantee due to 1-year delay from the index incident. Then case-handler reviewed my wife’s medical records, found no definitive entries and decided to close the case leaving my wife in the lurch after 17 months. Now we can’t find any new solicitor due to lack of any medical evidence.

My wife is very upset. For 17 months she has suffered from dry scalp, thinning hair and poor hair condition. She has spent money to restore her hair. We had hope that she would recover her expenses or at least the case would go to the court. We feel betrayed by IM because they never told us that they might close the case. IM never told us about their getting cold feet and we always believed that we had a strong case.

We think IM are at fault because they never tried to get any medical evidence to prove causation. Instead of getting my wife first examined by a specialist expert for medical evidence and then only sending her for a medico-legal expert, IM did the second step without the first. They wasted 17 months leaving my wife in the lurch. IM are incompetent time wasters. What can my wife do now? Nobody wants to take her case now. Do you think that IM have acted in my wife’s best interests? Your valued opinion will be highly appreciated.

Ian Morris

Given the situation, I can understand why the claim can’t now be taken by another Solicitor. Essentially, it would seem the only route to redress may be against the Solicitors in question – if professional negligence in their handling of the claim can be established.

Initially, I would suggest that you make a formal complaint to the Solicitors outlining the points you raised in this query and see what their response is. If they can’t resolve it for you, you could then seek to discuss the situation with a Solicitor in terms of a claim for professional negligence. We do not do such claims directly here – but one of our specialist panel Solicitors does have an excellent professional negligence department. If you would like me to pass the details you have provided here along with some contact information so that they can advise you further, please email me at ian@direct2compensation.co.uk and i’ll be more than happy to do so.

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I had a accident third party accepted Liability, Cardiff law limited took on my claim they would never answer calls and eventually I couldn’t find them online after some time they guy dealing with my claim contacted me saying his working for a firm called love solicitors and has taken my claim with him to the new firm ( which I don’t get how that’s possible ) he now fails to update me and I can’t get through to him, when I do he says he wants to take my case out of the portal and give it to a barrister yet it’s almost 2 years and nothings progressed. I’ve complained formally to the office and to him yet no response. I’m really stuck and worried and just need someone to over look my case and hopefully get me out of this situation.

Ian Morris

A Solicitor cannot simply take your claim with them to a new firm – certainly not without your express (written) consent and that of the previous firm, so in this case, something smells fishy.

I would recommend that you contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to discuss this situation with them urgently.

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Hi.
I had a car accident and injury solicitor, the accident happened 9 months ago , at that time I delivered the case to my solicitor but the solicitor acted negligently and procrastinatinated the claim. Now the solicitor started the court proceedings after 9 month , I am very angry at the solicitor who wasted my time, and also at the beginning the third party’s insurance company accepted the fault of its customer after a while the other driver declined the liability and claimed against me. After this confusion situation I have decided to switch my solicitor. I am wondering if I can do it or not? If yes what I have to do?
Sincerely
Habib

Ian Morris

You can switch Solicitors, but it is not as easy as it would seem to do so. The main reason for this is that any new Solicitor has to provide an undertaking to the previous Solicitor to meet their reasonable (lien) costs should the new Solicitor go on to succeed with the claim. This makes the financial viability of the claim difficult for the new Solicitor.

The first action you should take is to formally complain to your existing Solicitor. If the complaint fails to resolve the situation, you can then seek to switch to a new Solicitor and could contact us again at that time.

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After a phone interview made by the 3rd party to the person who cared for me after an accident that they admitted liability for, how long do they have to come to an agreement with my solicitor please? If there is still a dispute what are my rights to go forward without the solicitor who is acting for me under no win no fee?

Ian Morris

When was your accident? In usual circumstances, a claim will take a minimum of 12 months to go from start to finish – often longer. If you are in financial hardship and your Solicitor is not yet in a position to settle the claim, you could ask the Solicitor to seek an interim award from the defendants.

It would be unwise to go without your Solicitors representation as you would be likely to receive a paltry settlement from the defendant as they would know that you were not being appropriately represented.

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I am 22 months into my personal injury claim on a no win no fee basis.
My solicitor perused this as she felt we had a 51% in favour.
My solicitor has gone on maternity leave and out of the blue, apparently due to the complexity and size of my claim I have been appointed a new solicitor within the company, who on looking at the case feels that although my injuries were catastrophic and life changing she feels that as the store had a cleaning policy in place it would get thrown out of court.
My previous solicitor had the view that debris on the floor for 37 minutes and the manager sending staff home early and staff not on the shop floor during this period of time was our case.
I am awaiting the barrister decision as to whether this is being carried on. Can they just dump me like that? Leaving me with a tarnished case that it is highly unlikely that anyone else will now touch?
At the end of the day I walked into a shop and came out disabled? I lost my hand. I would appreciate your advise

Ian Morris

Further to your conversation with us earlier today, we feel that there could still be a route forwards in this matter. Although the defendant does have a cleaning policy in place, the fact that the debris that was on the floor for more than 30 minutes BEFORE your injury does indicate that they were not keeping the premises as safe as they could and this exposed you to the risk of injury – which transpired to be catastrophic.

If your current Solicitors close your claim, please do come back to us for further help.

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Need a solicitor asap to take on my claim as I don’t know how to carry on with my claim as my solicitor has pulled out and left me in a right mess. I have all paper for the courts but don’t no how to go about continuing my claim.

Ian Morris

Given the complexities of your needs, we would recommend making direct contact with a specialist personal injury Solicitor on the phone at the earliest opportunity.

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My daughter has incurred personal injury in a motor accident and the claim is going through her company’s insurance, as she was driving a Company car.
Is it best to wait until the outcome of this process before speaking to other solicitors ?

Ian Morris

As you may expect, we would recommend appointing an independent specialist Solicitor to act for your daughter in her claim on a No Win No Fee basis. That way, your daughter gets to choose who she instructs and can be certain of a completely independent and specialist service that would represent her best interests through the claims process.

We have specialist Solicitors who can assist in this matter. If your daughter would like further help, she can call us on 01225430285.

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Hello!
In July 2019 I was going up the loft ladder to reset the boiler which had again gone out in our rented property. (Numerous issues with it) I had told the landlords about the ladder verbally and there one and only inspection in 4 years (no gas safety checks were done either, possibly leading to the issues with the boiler) It also now appears the ladder may not have been fitted properly.
Whilst at the top, the ladder broke from under me and came away from the backing, causing me to fall straight onto my back and fracturing my vertebrae. I am still having pain over a year later.
I opened a claim against my landlords, who have denied liability stating I didn’t tell them about it. They know I did verbally during the inspection. They were terrible landlords in many ways and I have evidence of their negligence. My solicitor is proving very difficult, she often ignores my emails asking for an update (after months of not hearing), will give me a time it will take for her to review my file, I will not hear anything long after this deadline, and when I chase she is rude and offhand with me. I feel she is dragging out the process so they can claim more legal fees, which are currently over 25k. (I cannot see what for!)
Should I be feeling this way? I am almost nervous to email her sometimes after months of not hearing anything because I am so anxious to annoy her.

Ian Morris

The frustrations you feel towards your Solicitor are understandable, but most likely misplaced. It is clear you are up against a somewhat dishonest/disorganised defendant and this can make the life of a claimant Solicitor far more difficult than it should be. Further, although you reported the faulty ladder (and boiler issues) to the landlord, you did so verbally, so although people are unlikely to doubt your integrity and honesty, as there is no ‘evidence’ that the landlord was on notice of a hazard, it does make it easier for them to deny liability. In such a claim, if a defendant hasn’t been made aware of a repair issue or hazard, they can argue successfully that they are not liable as they did not know of the risk. In this case, it would seem that the defendant is using the lack of a written report of the problem from you as a way of dishonestly denying liability. The fact that your Solicitor continues to fight the case – albeit slower than you would like – is a positive sign.

With regards to your concerns about the handling of your file, you could consider making a formal complaint to the firm handling your claim and ask them to review the work that has been done to date. This would see a senior partner within the firm review the file and report back to you.

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My accident was in Oct 2017, my claim is being handled by OCL. They have changed claim handlers numerous times, and they often do not reply to my emails. The calls go un answered and they failed to take note of key information.

For example… the 3rd party maintained there was no roadworks on that day…a report from TFL stated otherwise. As was also indicated in my photographic evidence and written in my statement.

I have had to chase for evidence myself, and have had treatment for my injury. The claim has been very messy from the beginning, and is coming up to the 3yr mark this October.

I was told it was going to court, then they were waiting for defences reply, and have heard absolutely nothing since.

Shall I complain to One Call or OCL?

Ian Morris

You should make a formal complaint to both parties you mention.

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