Results for SG Murphy Solicitors:
SG Murphy & Co Ltd - Solicitors in Newtownabbey, Belfast:
At this point if you've been searching for legal services for a few hours already you may be starting to think that they all sound the same. Much of the language they use sounds the same and even the images on their websites look the same - professional looking people, smiling, and shaking hands.
So how do you tell them apart? Sadly, since the giant push for marketing jargon to make things sound great no matter what, it can be difficult. But it often just takes a little bit of standing back and reasoning. For today's article we're looking at SG Murphy Solicitors in Northern Ireland who describe themselves as:
Since all law firms seem to use language such as 'friendly', 'modern', or 'experienced' in their websites it sort of devalues the claim. If they all claim to be that way, then it doesn't help anyone to tell them apart. Those are all great things to be as a law firm, but certainly there are no firms claiming to be the opposite. When was the last time you saw a firm admit to being 'rude', 'outdated', or 'lacking experience'?
We've often praised the website of The Law Society of England & Wales for it's wealth of user-side data helping thousands to properly research firms in those countries before using them. However the Law Society for Northern Ireland, like its Scottish counterpart, lags far behind in consumer help resources. In fact, when we searched for 'SG Murphy's firm on their website it said no such firm existed. We had to search for the exact firm name which was entered as 'S.G Murphy' with the full stop. Unless you put that in exactly you won't get to see even the few details the organisation does show.
This means there is no easy way to independently verify the experience levels or practice areas of individual lawyers within a firm like you can do in England & Wales. If you want to email the NI's Law Society and point that out to them - maybe we can all get them to catch up!
This means the first point of call for people when checking up on a law firm on the Emerald Isle are the public comment boards such as Google, Trustpilot, Facebook, etc. SG Murphy Solicitors does display some reviews on their website. However a poll we ran a few years back indicated that only 9% of people trusted company provided reviews. So what are the independent forums saying?
"I was kept informed throughout the process"
"I have used the services for the second time"
"professional from start to finish extremely knowledgeable and proactive"
As you can see from these snippets, the reviews are generally positive. That's quite unusual though for a firm that deals with property. As we've pointed out in other articles, firms that are involved in buying and selling properties tend to have lower star ratings simply because hardly anyone thinks their sale is going fast enough and each side is always blaming the other. Including each side leaving negative feedback on each other's firm.
Other positive things that stood out to us was the firm's attempts to provide information on their site. There is an expert articles section with various titles such as 'Have you been affected by the PSNI Data Breach' or 'The grounds of divorce in Northern Ireland'. There is also a case studies section detailing example cases for each case type along with the problems faced and timescales involved.
Keep your eye out for statements like these on firm's sites. They can tell you more about the actual firm and it's priorities compared to a well-crafted sales text on the front page. Watch out for general themes both positive and negative in the reviews as well. In the last piece we wrote the firm had multiple complaints about feeling fobbed off onto junior staff. That doesn't seem to be the case here.
A quick note on navigation. Although the firm is called SG Murphy Solicitors the official website is www.murphysolicitors.co.uk (not www.sgmurphy.co.uk) with www.murphysolicitors.com currently redirecting you to the .co.uk version. On the law society's website they are listed as S.G Murphy & Co Ltd. These are just little things but you need to keep vigilant - especially with property matters. Thousands of people have handed their house deposit over to fraudsters, sometimes just on the basis of an official looking email.
Rate this article:
Currently rated 4.7 from 26 votes*
General Notes: Legal Aid availability changes constantly, so ask up front. If you are looking for a career with SG Murphy Solicitors it's best to visit the website (www.murphysolicitors.co.uk) and locate the correct phone/email contact details. Any quoted here will be for potential clients. Alternating or adding words such as SG Murphy & Co Ltd may bring up different background/reviews on the firm. Each firm's Law Society and/or SRA number should be on their site too.