What happens if a solicitor goes bust?

What happens if my solicitor has ceased trading?

Like many business, some solicitors’ practices are struggling at the moment financially due to the impact of COVID-19 on their business models. Practices are shutting down or being sold to other firms.

If you have an existing personal injury claim with a firm that has shut down or sold what can you do? Can you transfer to another firm of your choice like Osbornes Law?

The short answer is invariably yes. If your claim is being funded by a Conditional Fee Agreement then your old firm will allow you to instruct a solicitor of your choice to carry on with the claim subject to an undertaking being provided to protect their position on the costs that have been incurred.

Sometimes the old firm wants its disbursements paid before releasing the files and, on a case by case basis, we will let you know if we are prepared to do this for you. We will then recover their profit costs at the end of the claim when it is successful.

What about After the Event insurance cover?

Often, we will be able to transfer an existing legal expenses policy over to ourselves as we deal with a number of insurers ourselves.

Changing the firm handling my personal injury claim – next steps

During our working week, our team receives calls from clients who are not happy with their firm. As a specialist personal injury solicitor, I am able to discuss your particular case and the process involved when transferring a personal injury case to another one, such as Osbornes Law.

Blog post was written by Rob Aylott, solicitor in the Personal Injury team.