With Up creek thanks to legal cowboys

WHEN is legal advice not legal advice? When it’s from a cowboy and not a fully trained expert.

If you use a solicitor or barrister you know you are dealing with a trained expert who is regulated and has an indemnity policy so you can claim money back if you get bad or negligent advice.

The new wave of consumer experts and legal advisers – often online – has opened the door for low-cost legal advice.

But, as the following readers found, it has also created a market of cowboys giving second rate and often incorrect advice

Sue, from Banbury, Oxon, was served with a county court claim for a debt that she disputed.

Online

She searched online for advice and found a company with the words Legal Services in its name which said it offered fixed fees.

Sue tells me she believed they were a firm of solicitors. She called and agreed a fee for the matter.

On the day of the hearing the solicitor opposing Sue’s claim questioned whether the company representing her was part of the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

They weren’t – so the judge effectively threw them out of court.

Sue had no choice but to represent herself and inevitably she lost. The Legal Services Act 2007 means only solicitors or barristers can conduct litigation and represent someone in court.

What her advisers did was illegal so I advised Sue to report them.

Mr P, from Bournemouth, issued a small claims court case against a retailer after reading a “consumer expert” website.

The main point he relied on was that the burden of proof was on the retailer. The obligation to prove their case was on them.

Mr P had no evidence in his favour but neither did the retailer so he was certain the court would

Agive him the result. This advice was totally wrong. Luckily I was able to inform Simon of this before the case got to a hearing.

He was also lucky that the retailer agreed for it to be withdrawn from court without him paying their costs, which is unusual.

Non- lawyers dispensing legal advice is dangerous. So be very careful about where you obtain it.

Rely only on advice from qualified lawyers like me, or from good reliable websites like Which? and Moneysavingexpert.