Bridge McFarland LLP - Solicitors in Grimsby, Hull, Lincoln, Louth, and Market Rasen:
If you've already been through a dozen law firm websites today looking for a good match for legal help, you'll probably be frustrated by the similar sounding sales language and even similar looking images. Photos of people in suits smiling and shaking hands with bits of paper in their hands are very nice, but they don't help you decide one firm from the other.
There are many resources available to you though and many things you might not have considered when checking a legal professional's website. Take this example:
It sounds good, but what does it mean? What are they 'leading' in? What is an 'exceptional reputation' and how does that affect you as a client? Many firms even claim to be 'award-winning' without providing any information about which award that was. If it was an award for best logo design, then that doesn't really help you as a potential client.
There is also a huge difference between a firm that claims to have 40 years of experience and 40 years of experience 'within the firm' or 40 years of 'combined experience'. The first means the firm or the solicitor within the firm has been going for at least 40 years. The other two mean they've simply added up the years of all the staff (e.g. 8 staff x 5 years experience = 40). Always bear these sorts of things in mind.
This sentence on the Bridge McFarland site is much more useful. Not least so because it means they are registered with The Law Society of England & Wales which we have long praised as an excellent user resource for background checking law practices. They state alternative company names, all office addresses, specialist case types, and most importantly - qualification dates of each solicitor within the firm.
That means if you see a firm claiming a wealth of experience, you can check. If you look up the staff page for this firm you'll see a range of qualification dates spanning the last four decades including Sarah Keeper who qualified in 1988, Emma Downing in 1997, James Burrell in 2007, right up to Michelle Bradford in 2016. That's a good mix of seasoned heads with fresh eyes. Any claims they make on their site about experience are certainly validated.
All the knowledge in the world doesn't always translate to good service. The most common place people go to when looking up any firm is a search for reviews. So what are previous clients saying? Certainly there are a bunch of testimonials on the Bridge McFarland website. However, in our last poll only 9% of you said you trusted any reviews on a company's own website. So what about the independent boards such as Google, Trustpilot, Yelp, or Yell?
"house purchase took 4 weeks from viewing to completion even during Covid 19"
"explained each stage of the process really well"
The majority of comments were positive like these snippets above. The negative ones all seemed to relate to delays in a house purchase. Unfortunately every firm that deals with property will have such negative reviews. One thing to remember though is that when a firm has multiple offices you often have to type in the company name and location to see any reviews. Just typing 'bridge mcfarland' currently shows nothing on Google, you have to type in the full 'bridge mcfarland llp lincoln' or whatever office is nearest you.
Another note on navigation is their official site at www.bridgemcfarland.co.uk which is https secure for submitting your personal information on their contact form, but most variants we tried such as www.bridgemcfarland.com or any bridgemcfarlandllp tlds do not redirect you there. Depending on which browser you use a typo can end up with you seeing adverts for other firms if not simply pushing you directly to the wrong site.
This is hugely important because the firm deals with property matters which have been the target of scammers for many years now. Some people have handed over the entire deposit of their house to a fraudulent bank account simply because they received an official looking email saying the payment details had changed. Make sure you're on the correct website and never discuss payments via email. Don't be afraid to call the official number you already have if anything you receive seems even remotely suspicious. It's not worth the risk.
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General Notes: Legal Aid availability changes constantly, so ask up front. If you are looking for a career with Bridge McFarland LLP it's best to visit the website (www.bridgemcfarland.co.uk) and locate the correct phone/email contact details. Any quoted here will be for potential clients. Alternating or adding words such as Bridge McFarland Solicitors may bring up different background/reviews on the firm. Each firm's Law Society and/or SRA number should be on their site too.