Changing your Personal Injury or Clinical Negligence solicitor
At Potter Rees Dolan, we understand how important the correct legal representation is following a serious injury or instance of clinical negligence.
It is essential that your claim is dealt with by an experienced solicitor who understands the significant and life-changing impact of your injuries. Financial compensation can often be the only way to improve your quality of life so that you can buy the help and equipment you need, fund lost earnings or purchase adapted accommodation.
If you are not happy with the service and/or advice that you are receiving from your current Personal Injury or Clinical Negligence solicitor, you may well wish to know if you can seek a second opinion or change solicitors.
So, what are your options if you are part way through your claim, and you are no longer satisfied with the solicitor you originally instructed? Are you able to change solicitors and instruct someone new? The answer is yes.
Reasons for changing your solicitor
There are many reasons why you may feel it is appropriate to consider changing solicitors, including:
- Poor communication or a lack of contact from your solicitor
- Fears over a lack of focus on your case – there may be many case handlers involved instead of just one key contact
- Concern over the quality of advice you are receiving
- Concern over the amount of experience your solicitor, or their firm, has in handling complicated or high value cases
- Losing trust in your legal representative; which might include receiving advice which could be deemed as professionally negligent
- Feeling pressured into accepting compensation that you feel is too low
- Lack of focus on the injured person’s rehabilitation needs and general well-being
Ultimately if you are bringing a claim, you need to have confidence that your solicitor will achieve the best possible outcome for you. If you are concerned about any of the advice or the quality of service that you are receiving from your current solicitor, it is always worth getting an additional opinion before concluding a case on terms you may not be happy with.
Our solicitors are highly skilled and experienced in specialist personal injury and clinical negligence claims and are happy to have a no obligation discussion with you if you have any concerns about your current solicitor or the advice they are giving you.
How do I change my solicitor?
If you would like to talk to any of our specialist Personal Injury or Clinical Negligence solicitors about taking over your claim, simply call us on 0800 027 2557. Alternatively, complete the enquiry form on the side of this page and we will get back to you.
See below for some useful FAQs with regards to changing your Personal Injury or Clinical Negligence solicitor during an existing claim.
Do I have to use my insurer’s appointed panel solicitors?
If you have legal expense insurance, it is likely you will have been referred to solicitors featured on your insurer’s panel. However, it is an established principle of English law that you can instruct whatever solicitor you choose and therefore are not obliged to continue with the solicitors that your insurance company has selected for you. This may mean that you have to consider a different form of funding which we can discuss with you.
Usually you will not lose your legal expenses insurance cover if you do not continue with their services, despite what you may be told.
Is it difficult to change my solicitor?
The process of changing solicitors is often simple. Once you have found the correct solicitor to continue handling your case, you will need sign a form of authority to confirm that you consent to your file being transferred to them. Your new solicitor will usually handle easily any transfer of funding, files and information.
How much does it cost to change my solicitor?
Often it will not cost you anything just to change your solicitor. We will explain to you the way we will charge you before you decide whether you want to change solicitor.