Smlawson Reviews 6

I instructed this firm for a conveyancing matter and experienced serious shortcomings in service. Communication was repeatedly delayed, with important emails going unanswered despite the matter being time-sensitive. This does not meet the standards required under the SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors (paragraphs 3.2 and 8.9), which require a competent service and prompt, clear communication.

When a formal complaint was raised, it was not handled through a proper complaints process. Instead, the concerns were dismissed, which is inconsistent with the SRA Code of Conduct for Firms (paragraphs 8.2–8.5) requiring firms to acknowledge and investigate complaints fairly.

The handling of the matter became inconsistent and confusing, and there was a lack of clear guidance on what was required to progress the case.

I would totally agree with all previous reviews for this company, they are so unprofessional I’m amazed they’re allowed to practice, zero communication, when you call you are always told someone will contact you which never happens.

AVOID SM LAWSONS AT ALL COSTS

Both unreliable and unprofessional. Although I didn’t actually meet anyone, well I couldn’t the doors were locked, even though I arrive on time for my appointment. The person fielding the calls had kids and dogs making a right din in the background and blamed the noise on a Christmas party, but I’m inclined to think its because she worked from home. Lucky escape for me, I guess.

An absolute joke of a law firm. Extremely poor communication, unprofessional emails, and no follow through on timelines indicated. My impression of them would be “a firm full of lowest scoring law graduates”. Zero professionalism, unclear comms and that’s if they even bothered to reply and totally disingenuous. Even my poor dad was in the process of changing lawyers before he passed away and to sort through his estate has been a total nightmare. I couldn’t put another family through dealing with these clowns especially when you are dealing through a loss.
I feel it’s my moral duty to warn you about interacting with this law firm.
Especially Devon McDonald, who was sneaky, unrefined and conceited. Richard Watling who never seemed to communicate to his team or our family accurately. It’s like the whole team works in a disjointed and unprofessional way.
Regina Lee who couldn’t do her job due to their business constraints of connecting via a zoom call. I feel she wasn’t being set up for success if trying to do her job.
Devon and Richard were continuously shifting blame to other parties. I’ve almost got 3rd party shame from observing their behaviour.

I’d worry about your data protection with this company from my experience with them.

STAY AWAY.
Do not recommend and I think I speak for four of my family members.u

I instructed S.M. Lawson for a simple property title change matter. Indeed, were it not for the "closed shop" nature of the legal system, it would not have needed any legal input at all. However, as it was, the other side's lawyers drew up all the paperwork - which in itself was just a 3 page standardised form - and so all S.M.Lawson had to do was change one percentage figure in the form document, check it was okay and clear it with the other side. For this I was quoted £250 + VAT.

Some weeks later, no progress on this simple matter had occurred, but I did then receive a written bill for £450 + VAT. On querying this I was told the bill was"Just a template" that was "sent out in error" and that the original charge (albeit plus a new £50 charge for "storage") had been reinstated. Weeks then went by with no progress. I then started to get calls from the other side and then the other side's lawyers asking why Lawson had done nothing and "Do they answer their phones?" I then had the joy of trying to get through to them several times a day to see what they were doing and why they had not contacted the other side (literally the only thing they had to do once the standardised 3 page form had been checked). This went on for weeks.

Finally the matter was settled - after several months - and I was then charged £100 more than I was quoted (not the original quote mind, the revised quote with additional charges). On querying this I was told that they had done 9 hours work on this matter and that it should have been £2000!!! Nonsense - it was literally a 30 minute job, something the young lawyer I met at my original meeting actually admitted! So overall, they were difficult to get in touch with, tried to overcharge me on two separate occasions and took ages to complete a job that was literally just signing off an already completed three page form document. AVOID!!!!