God decided to take the devil to court and settle their differences once and for all. When Satan heard this, he laughed and said, “And where do you think you’re going to find a lawyer?”
Legal advice is a necessary evil. My advice re lawyers is as follows; to succeed you will need a good team of professionals around you. You will need a great accountant, a Tax adviser and at least one good solicitor. The danger when dealing with professions such as lawyer, accountant etc is to assume that because the person you are dealing with is qualified they must be good.
You need to get the sense that your solicitor is taking you and your case seriously. If your calls are not being returned promptly and you get the impression that you are wasting their valuable time, tell them that you have resolved the issue, settle your surprisingly large bill and walk. Bring the work that the previous crap solicitor did for you to another one and tell them that you fired the last guy because he was not up to scratch.
One letter from a solicitor can cost up to €500 so make sure you have an idea of costs before you engage one. Let them know how much you have to spend. Most business disputes can only be resolved in the high court which will set you back at least 10K so avoid even venturing down the legal road at all costs because the only people who win at the end of the day are you know who!.
Speaking to a friend who has become a qualified mediator recently. She says it’s a far cheaper way to resolve disputes and should be tried before going the legal route. Infact several folks in the class were qualified solicitors.
She’s obviously biased but sound like good advice to me… What do you think? Mediate before the legal route?
Mediation is not actually that much cheaper than court. I looked long and hard at the mediation route during a recent dispute. The process is actually quite complicated, both sides have to prepare specific docuements etc. I think the only saving is court time which is significant but don’t expect mediation to be a quick fix. I thought both parties made an appointment with a mediator, told their side of the story and the mediator came up witha solution. It is not this simple and my solicitor reckoned it would cost about 7K.