Garden Stirling Burnet Solicitors Ltd in Haddington, Edinburgh, Dunbar, North Berwick & Tranent:
There is a lot of jargon in the legal industry and not just related to the law. Sometimes the words firms use to market themselves to potential clients can be confusing. For example, if you've been flicking through dozens of legal services websites today already, you may have noticed many calling themselves "specialists" even though they list an absolutely massive array of case types covered.
Our article today is on the Property firm Garden Stirling Burnet:
Typically if someone is searching for a "specialist" solicitor, this is the kind of firm they're after. A firm where all the staff deal with a specific area of law. However, this is not the only way to end up with a specialist solicitor handling your case. Some larger firms covering a larger range of legal matters may have several solicitors on staff each "specialising" in one particular area of law. Unfortunately, not all firms are very clear about this and there are firms using the word "specialist" despite only have a couple of solicitors on staff but trying to cover a dozen or so case types.
There is an ever further issue to consider. Sometimes a law firm will be specialist in an area of law such as litigation, but such may have multiple case titles within it such as personal injury, medical negligence, professional negligence, etc. Luckily when it comes to property matters, it's normally very easy to tell if a firm deals in the buying and selling of residential or commercial properties as a specialism.
Garden Stirling Burnet Solicitors, therefore, are clearly a specialist firm in most expected sense of the word. Their claim of 30 years' experience though may sound small in comparison to some firms claiming decades and even centuries of experience on their websites. If you see a firm stating "established 1881" or similar though, you need to remember that there will not be a 200-year-old wise guru solicitor in the law practice running things. You could end up with a 1-year experienced solicitor handling your case from a 200-year-old law firm brand.
Sadly, the Scottish Law Society does not offer the wealth of information that it's England/Wales counterpart supplies consumers south of the border. The Law Society's search function can be temperamental and lacks any good background information.
That means the main source people will turn to in order to check up on a firm is the public review boards such as Google, Facebook, Yell, and Trustpilot. The firm does offer testimonials across their website. But most people prefer to be able to read both the positives and negatives (if available) to get a better overall picture. So what are the comment forums saying about this firm?
"made me feel comfortable from the word go"
"kept us informed at every stage of the case"
"took my case when no one else would and made sure I was in the best possible position"
They are mainly positive which is actually quite unusual for a firm that deals with property. If you look up the reviews of some of the largest conveyancing firms in the UK, you'll see many have an average of only 3 or even just 2 stars. This is because most people get frustrated with property sales. Someone usually feels it has taken too long or there have been problems along the way. We've seen plenty of property service providers with negative reviews from people on the other side of the transaction.
However, Garden Stirling Burnet Ltd are currently showing an average of 4.2 stars. Be aware when searching though that Google has changed how it displays reviews. You can no longer look up reviews for an overall company. You have to search for reviews on each office individually. So "garden stirling burnet haddington" will show you different reviews to a search for garden stirling burnet solicitors edinburgh".
Another quick note on navigation. The firm's official website is www.gsbsolicitors.co.uk however the branding is always the full name of the firm. Not GSB Solicitors and not "garden stirling and burnet". There is a firm showing up as GSB Properties in our background searches but that seems to be the old name for this same firm. Also note the spelling matches the town stirling, not 'sterling' after the money. The website is HTTPS secure for submitting your information on their contact form.
It's always very important to make sure you know what website you're on and who you are phoning and emailing with. This is especially true when it comes to property transactions. In recent years conveyance solicitors and their clients have been the targets of multiple scams. Some people have handed their entire house deposit to a fraudster's bank account sometimes based on nothing more than an official looking email telling them the payment details had changed. It's probably a good idea to never discuss payments via email.
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Currently rated 4.2 from 7 votes*
General Notes: Legal Aid availability changes constantly, so ask up front. If you are looking for a career with Garden Stirling Burnet Solicitors Ltd it's best to visit the website (www.gsbsolicitors.co.uk) and locate the correct phone/email contact details. Any quoted here will be for potential clients. Alternating or adding words such as Garden Stirling Burnet may bring up different background/reviews on the firm. Each firm's Law Society and/or SRA number should be on their site too.