Sentencing hearing next week
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My OH has his sentencing hearing next week and we haven't heard from his solicitor - in fact the solicitor hasn't been in touch since his plea hearing at the end of July. Is this normal?
My OH doesn't want to contact them as he has lost faith in the solicitors. He was given conflicting advice by two separate solicitors who work at the same firm, and the last one wasn't particularly favourable to him.
My OH doesn't want to contact them as he has lost faith in the solicitors. He was given conflicting advice by two separate solicitors who work at the same firm, and the last one wasn't particularly favourable to him.
Hello Dawn,
I have just read your post and in response to your question this shoukd not be normal but it happened to us too. Your contact with the solicitor totally mirrors what happened with my husband, our experience (for what we paid) was shocking to say the least. We did make many requests to speak to the guy that was allocated after the first solicitor left the firm only to be told on numerous occasions he would arrange a meeting soon. Right up to the evening before his plea hearing my husband drove to the office and insisted on a meeting but was told not to worry as he would meet us in court the following morning and to arrive at 9am which we did. The court usher informed us his case would be heard at 10:45, the solicitor turned up at 10:40 and said to my husband "you are pleading guilty aren't you", I was mortified that nothing was up for discussion, no mention of challenging the charges etc, it was horrendous to say the least. I have shared this to encourage your OH to contact the solicitor asap so as you have time to discuss what needs to happen. In our case we had a barrister at sentencing who had reviewed my husbands case and who was outraged that my husband had pleaded guilty and who said he was adamant had he gone to trial he would have a strong case to be found not guilty. I can't tell you how devastated we were and still are but we have to live with the consequences of a totally useless, incompetent, rude and arrogant expensive individual. We are 3 years post plea/sentencing but I am still angry and have raised a formal grievance which is another battle to add to our situation.
I hope whatever happens your OH has a good or at least the best outcome but don't be afraid to speak your mind to these people!
Best wishes Dawn
Katie xxx
I have just read your post and in response to your question this shoukd not be normal but it happened to us too. Your contact with the solicitor totally mirrors what happened with my husband, our experience (for what we paid) was shocking to say the least. We did make many requests to speak to the guy that was allocated after the first solicitor left the firm only to be told on numerous occasions he would arrange a meeting soon. Right up to the evening before his plea hearing my husband drove to the office and insisted on a meeting but was told not to worry as he would meet us in court the following morning and to arrive at 9am which we did. The court usher informed us his case would be heard at 10:45, the solicitor turned up at 10:40 and said to my husband "you are pleading guilty aren't you", I was mortified that nothing was up for discussion, no mention of challenging the charges etc, it was horrendous to say the least. I have shared this to encourage your OH to contact the solicitor asap so as you have time to discuss what needs to happen. In our case we had a barrister at sentencing who had reviewed my husbands case and who was outraged that my husband had pleaded guilty and who said he was adamant had he gone to trial he would have a strong case to be found not guilty. I can't tell you how devastated we were and still are but we have to live with the consequences of a totally useless, incompetent, rude and arrogant expensive individual. We are 3 years post plea/sentencing but I am still angry and have raised a formal grievance which is another battle to add to our situation.
I hope whatever happens your OH has a good or at least the best outcome but don't be afraid to speak your mind to these people!
Best wishes Dawn
Katie xxx
We went with the duty solicitor and have to say contact and communication was perfect up until the day of sentence when it was a literal stand in, we had done the trial and been found guilty, the charges read he had pleaded guilty which is what media posted and what people believed this was the only downside, it took 20 months to get to trial I would say we had around 6 face to face meetings then an email detailing what was discussed after each meeting, a call few days before court appearance my oh literally had 11 appearances due to us awaiting police allowing our cyber expert access to the phone so we had a lot of communicating with our solicitor
With my son we didn't physically see the solicitor after the plea hearing but had contact with the office to arrange the barrister that represented him in court
My ex has his probation meeting next week ahead of sentencing. He didn't hear from the solicitor so he rang them. They all say different things from the same firm. But like judges all do different things. X