J de Rin v Arnold Fooks Chadwick
I had the misfortune to be introduced to this law firm which has now shut down and they say has been merged into a law firm called Druce.
I have had a very bad experience with Arnold Fooks Chadwick in particular in dealing with Mr Roger Millman who now describes himself as a consultant to Druce solicitors.
When they were instructed to undertake a mortgage and did not remit all the mortgage funds, I then complained to the Law Society and they were fined only £700.00 which at the time was large fine for the legal complaints department which has now been shut down as they were not fit for purpose.
I dealt with a Mr Roger Millman and Mr Ben Pilbrow who was a trainee at the time. If you have to do business with these people I would make sure you get another lawyer to instruct them especially if you have a fixed budget.
I had a fixed budget of £10,000 they ended up trying to charge me £52,000.00 plus their costs of assessing their bill of a further £46,000 which totalled £98,000.00 .
I managed to get their costs of the assessment £46,000 dismissed and their bill substantially reduced, by over 30% knocked off their costs due to their over billing in the Cost Court, but instead of getting my costs paid for in full for getting this reduction the Judge Master Gordon Saker awarded them costs of the lost argument that the costs were capped which amounted to circa £9000.00 the reasons was that I took longer than it would normally take and examined the costs in minute detail. I was penalised as a litigant in person for attending to the detail break down of costs and following the court guidelines for the hearing.
I would advise anyone considering working with Arnold Fooks Chadwick or Roger Millman to get advice from another lawyer before agreeing to their instruction and if you have to go to the Cost Court assume you will not get any cost awarded to you if you are litigant in person.
BEST BET IS TO STAY AWAY FROM SMALL LAW FIRMS ALTOGETHER AND DO NOT EXPECT JUSTICE IF YOU HAVE TO GO TO THE COSTS COURT AS A LITIGANT IN PERSON THEY DONT LIKE LITIGANTS IN PERSON.
As the system is weighed so heavily in favour of lawyers who overcharge you might be best in spending some time with another lawyer to prepare a formal contract of instruction before instructing them to do anything to prevent the lawyer from taking tens of thousands of pounds more than you budgeted for or anticipated.
Tip were possible use a direct access Barrister as they will give you a proper estimate and will not charge more than agreed for a set bit of work. i have found working with Barristers you get much better value for money, they are honest with their estimates and will not spend more unless they enter into a new arrangement in writing to spend more and describe what the additional work is before making you liable for the additional work.
