Amy King Legal - Personal Injury & Litigation Solicitor in Gillingham, Kent:
Today's article covers an area of legal services there's probably a fair misunderstanding about. Or at least, less understanding. If you've been trawling through the hundreds of law firm websites today you'll have noticed a lot of them tout incredible founding dates such as 'established in 1881'. The idea being that the older a law firm is, the more experience it has.
However that marketing ploy falls flat quite quickly when you realise there cannot possibly be a 200+ year old solicitor sitting behind a desk somewhere. Also, you could very well end up with a 1-year-qualified solicitor from a 200 year old law firm while there are plenty of highly experienced lawyers at brand new firms. So does the age of a company's brand name mean anything?
That's a quote from the website of solicitor Amy King. It's a good sentiment. But how can a member of the public tell an experienced solicitor from a non-experience one?
If a solicitor is registered with The Law Society of England & Wales you are able to look up alternate trading names, contact details, areas of law covered, and languages spoken. Most importantly you can see qualification dates. In this case you can see Amy King qualified in 1995. If you type in the name of a firm instead, you will be shown a list of all registered solicitors within the firm and can click for individual details. It's a great resource to bear in mind.
So when a firm makes a claim like this one on the Amy King website, you can verify whether this applies to the actual solicitor which will be handling your case. Watch out for firms that use marketing jargon. For example, if you ever see a statement such as '30 years of experience within the firm', that usually means they have added up the experience of every staff member. So 6x staff members with 5 years of experience = 30 years of experience 'within the firm'. (Yes, even law firms use sneaky marketing tricks.)
Is experience the only driving factor in choosing a solicitor? Of course not. Certainly when confronted with a very friendly 5-year experienced solicitor after just speaking to an incredibly curt 40-year veteran - you will be tempted to use the less experienced but more approachable person. There are other factors you can look into. Many firms will display accreditations and awards:
Just keep an eye out for firms which claim to be 'award-winning' in big bold letters yet never seem to tell you what the award was. If it was an award for best logo design, then that's not really helpful towards picking them as a legal representative.
This is often the centre of the argument between using a large or small firm to handle your case. It's always seen as if you have to make the choice between a) using a large firm with greater resources but you're just another case number, or b) using a smaller firm where each client is probably more important but they have less resources.
We've covered the legal industry for over twenty years now. Our staff have varied experience in courts, immigration centres, insurance claims, and we even have an ex-policeman. The concept in TV shows such as Boston Legal where a large established firm's name can strike fear into a company or government agency has never been the case here in the UK. We've watched insurance firms spend £20,000 to fight a £5,000 claim they thought was frivolous. We've watched utterly confident large firm barristers get ignored by juries in a trial. People are weird. Groups of them together are weirder. There is no hard and fast rule.
The main thing is to feel confident in the professional you are talking to, no matter what industry. Because these days are so different and still changing. The internet allows you to find and use a Dover based law practice for your Newcastle injury claim. Solicitors no longer need to work for a brand local to them. Many don't work for an established brand name at all and strike out on their own. But definitely, make sure the person you're hiring seems interested in you, has at least some experience, and targets the areas of law your case falls under.
A quick note on navigation. The official website is www.amykinglegal.co.uk which we link to at the top. It is HTTPS secure for submitting your personal details via the contact form. But always make sure you are on the correct website and do not discuss bank details or payments via email - no matter how official the email might look. Some people have handed their entire house deposit over to fraudsters based on just one email telling them the payment details have changed.
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General Notes: Legal Aid availability changes constantly, so ask up front. If you are looking for a career with Amy King Legal it's best to visit the website (www.amykinglegal.co.uk) and locate the correct phone/email contact details. Any quoted here will be for potential clients. Alternating or adding words such as Amy King Solicitor may bring up different background/reviews on the firm. Each firm's Law Society and/or SRA number should be on their site too.