Smith and Graham Solicitors: Info
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Tranquillity House, Harbour Walk, Hartlepool, England, TS24 0UX
law@smithandgraham.co.uk
Smith and Graham Solicitors in Hartlepool, Peterlee and Middlesbrough: Review
Since Covid hit we've seen a lot of law firms go under and a new wave of single proprietor practices has started pushing across the UK. The number of large multi-office firms only seems to increase due to some smaller businesses merging to survive the difficult years we've had.
Smith & Graham however seem to fit neither of these descriptions and look unscathed by the recent developments. So if things have gone bad, it hasn't affected their outward image. As we only review the legal industry and it's professionals from our experience working with them over the past 20 years - that's the only thing we can comment on. But hopefully from the examples and resources quoted in the article below, you'll see why they have been added to our network.
While that establishment date looks impressive, it is one of the last things we take into consideration when checking out a firm. Sadly establishment dates are one of those marketing things companies with less-than-good-intentions misuse all the time. We've seen companies claim 150-year origins simply for moving into the old premises of a much older firm.
Smith and Graham have 'Team' pages with profiles of their staff including experience and areas of practice which is great and something we always encourage the firms we deal with to create. They also have actual prices listed on their website which is rare and great to see. But the main thing we want to cover in this piece relates to:
Conversely this may sound like common sales pitching that you see on every law firm's website. But it actually contains two of the main things we think you should look at when picking a firm. The first is the expertise of the staff, and more importantly - their experience.
The best resource we've found is The Law Society of England & Wales website which is packed with useful details such as contact details, all office addresses, practice areas, and staff qualification dates. If you check out the page for this firm you'll see a range of qualification dates spanning the past five decades. Including Colin Sleeman (qualified in 1983), Andrew Blair (1999), Jonathan McGowan (2009), Himat Sidhu (2014), right up to Zarah Rowntree in 2022.
Bringing back the point about establishment dates: it is very possible to end up with a 1-year experienced lawyer from a 200-year-old firm and a 40-year veteran from a 1-year-old law firm brand. So the fact Smith and Graham solicitors have a wide range of seasoned professionals alongside fresh blood is something much more of note.
The other item in the original quote is about client happiness and the obvious place to check that out is the public forums such as Google, Yelp, Trustpilot, etc. However make sure you enter the full name of the firm and the town. If a firm has more than one office some sites like Google will only show reviews for each individual office names in the search. We've seen law firms with 5 star reviews for their food and 1 star reviews for the bad haircut they got. So always read comments too. Don't just flick through average ratings.
"Fair priced and transparent in their dealings"
"responsive and always kept me updated with the developments of the case"
The independent review boards were mainly positive comments like this. Unfortunately some negative ratings had no comments with them in order to know if the complaint was valid or even about the correct firm. But overall the weight of the plus+ experiences is much greater anyway.
A quick note on navigation with the firm having an 'and'. The official site is www.smithandgraham.co.uk and currently www.smithandgraham.com doesn't not redirect there. There is no ampersand in domain names so www.smith&graham.co.uk can't exist and currently no firms are using variants such as 'www.smithgraham.co.uk' either. This is important because depending on the browser you use, entering an invalid address can send you to search results which can list the wrong firm at the top.
That's becomes even more important to remember due to the firm handling property matters which have been hit but huge amounts of fraud in recent years. People have ended up handing over tens of thousands of pounds to fraudsters something based on nothing more than an official-looking email saying they need to pay the house deposit into a totally different bank account. Make sure you're on the correct site and don't discuss bank details or payments via email.
General Notes: Usually if Legal Aid is possible we've mentioned it above, but you can always ask. We haven't looked in depth at their recruitment program so are unaware of any job vacancies available. For a career with Smith and Graham Solicitors it's best to visit the website (www.smithandgraham.co.uk), check opening hours, and find the correct phone/email contact details. Simply emailing a CV to reception looks lazy. Each law firm's Law Society and/or SRA number should be on their site, usually at the bottom of each page.
This Smith and Graham Solicitors article is rated
4.6 / 5 based on 25 reviews. †
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