PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THIS FIRM !I switched to NML as another company did not serve me well. Initially I spoke to someone who was helpful and reassuring, who having spoken to one of her legal colleagues told me I had a 95% chance of getting off with no charges.I set up a payment plan after which I was immediately moved to another advisor . Across a 4 week period, despite multiple attempts , I managed to speak to this person just twice, for a total of 7 minutes, and was advised to plead not guilty.Fast forward to the day before my trial and an 11 minute conversation with the lawyer who had been selected to represent me the next day ( a 'gold level' lawyer incurring more cost as a bronze level was apparently not available) He told me that he was not happy to enter a not guilty plea and did not agree with NML and the advice I had been given. He actually told me that if I did enter a not guilty plea, I could be charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice, THAT immediately flung me into a panic. He called NML and spoke to the 'helpful' person, who just said well her case was passed onto someone else 'apparently'.Fast forward to trial day - the next day. My barrister said he would be at Court at 09.45 , My case was at 10.00.He was not there .I chased him 3 times - no response. 17 minutes after my case started I received a wattsapp message saying '15 minutes' - that was it.The judge called me in. I said my barrister had not shown up , but the judge still wanted me in. I had to put forward my own case for changing my not guilty plea ( which had already been sent in by NML in writing) back to what it was . I was questioned, spoken to by both judge and prosecution. The judge then very kindly asked if I would like to wait for my barrister . I replied yes. He said very well I grant you that time. I shall not hold this against you, but I shall expect a full apology from him. The judge was not impressed. 25 minutes later my barrister was still not in Court. He actually arrived 45 minutes late .He just said my name to check it was me, and then walked off straight into Court . No apology , no conversation, nothing. 2 minutes later the judge asked his usher to come and get me . He said ' your barrister is apologising , I thought you should hear this also.'Proceedings commenced and my lawyer went to enter a plea different to what we had agreed. I put my hand up at that point and asked if I could represent myself .The judge offered me the chance to speak with my lawyer . I declined as he had ignored me anyway and we had NO communication on the day.The judge dismissed the barrister who took a seat at the back which I felt was most odd. I was asked by the judge if I was ok with him sitting there . I just said i'm not bothered as I was at that point focussed on defending myself. The judge said 'I will leave it up to you if you chose to pay him' The lawyer heard this.I fought my own case totally. The barrister left the room once to take a phone call and then left for good before I was sentenced.At the final summation the judge said he would like to know whether or not I receive a refund of barrister costs and gave me a route to inform him, I called NML 3 times and emailed 3 times , and guess what - no response on the day .The barrister appointed was over 3/4 of an hour late, leaving me totally alone to face a difficult trial with a change of plea, having thrown me into confusion the night before, and with no communication on the day.I asked for him to stand down and he hung around at the back of the Court like a spare part. NML have given me one of the worst experiences of my life at great cost and still I have had no word of my refund. However, I did well, had a sympathetic judge and was happy with my outcome which was far better than the lawyer had told me it would be the night before.POSTSCRIPT AFTER RESPONSEI was not kept informed of any delay- I have sent you wattsapp proof of that .All i had is what is detailed above .I agreed woth you that i should change my previous plea from guilty with special reasons to NOT GUILTY . Your lawyer however told the night before that if i did this I could be caused with perverting the course of justice , and told me I must revert back to my original guilty with special reasons plea (after NML had written to the Court to change it )Your course of events is totally incorrect.I had a plea of guilty special reasons feom a previous barrister .NML advised me to change this to not guilty and wrote to the court stating this .I was happy to run with this until your barrister the night before told me I could be charged as above .Hence we both agreed to revert to the original plea. I am requesting a full refund, as I was NOT REPRESENTED on the day and NML caused me much angst having to initially speak in court alone with no barrister present for the first 20 minutes of my time. I too have records of calls and messages which show only 6 calls from me to him.
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We are one of the very few, if not the only firm of solicitors in England and Wales dealing with drink driving related cases and nothing else.
Our specialism covers driving with excess alcohol, drunk in charge, failing to provide and driving under the influence.
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