We chose this solicitor to buy our first home, and thought they must be good since they've been recommended, among others, by the bank.
I believe that is not good or bad solicitor, but is more of the experience you have and the amount of respect they show you. In this case was not much respect and interest shown.
Total lack of communication, we had to push them with every step, failed to explain the process, given the fact we were first time buyers that are not familiar with procedures and terminology.
They've assigned a trainee to handle the workload,which made mistake after mistake and loads of omissions.
First think they've done was to ask for £500 in advance then introduced themselves, no communication skills.
We agreed on the price, but at the end they added £300 more for one more piece of paper, justified as being a probate - we've never been informed in advance that the buy was a probate(they've never informed about that and inform on they change).
We had an argument right at the beginning, regarding the way they've asked for money to begin searches, and the solicitor insisted on saying how reputable they are and what a good job they do, how professional and competitive, bla bla bla. So efficient that if I wasn't emailing them nothing was moving. The usual phrase, "I was just about to email you..."
Not a smooth process at all.
I got the desired outcome only because I pushed them to do the work, no other reason.
By the way, the assigned solicitor is not even on the list
