Posted on 06/11/2016 12:23
Does any one know if the CC use an internal team to offer legal advice or an external organisation? If internal, does their legal team have qualified lawyer or solicitor on the team who can answer consumer questions and offer help? How much legal advice can they offer and how far along the process can they take you or do you forget about the CC legal and go straight to a solicitor if you have a problem with a dealership for instance?
Posted on 04/12/2016 10:58
Having taken advice recently from the legal team, the advice offered is not from a lawyer or a solicitor, but some one who acts as a legal adviser similar to the adviser at CAB. Should the CC be referring to them as a legal team if not lawyers or solicitors are invovled? Surely that is misrepresentation?
Write your comments here...A couple of points one terminological. The terms "lawyer" does not have a specific meaning albeit in most contexts people use it when they mean "solicitor". A solicitor is a specific legal profession in which to qualify a number of years of academic study (usually at degree level) and a number of years of professional training including compulsory ongoing training are required. Additionally in Scotland (and possibly England) a person who has completed the above requirements and qualified as a Solictor cannot call himself or herself a solicitor unless they actually hold a practicing certificate (issued annually at considerable cost) by the governing body.
it is not unusual for solicitors i.e. fully qualified persons to staff clinics at CAB.
Posted on 04/12/2016 11:34
To me and probably others, "Legal team" implies qualified lawyers or solicitors. The advise given to me was okay but it seemed the adviser was not exactly too sure on some aspects of the Consumer Rights Act.
Unless you are an LLP yourself it is difficult to know whether you are getting good, full, and accurate advice. Even then your specialty may not be in the same subject area.
Rocky & Deleted UserUser both your comments are very valid. Although I have a qualification in Consumer law it dates back to 2001 and was only part of my BA degree. Using the advice given by the adviser, reading up on the Act plus getting some advice from forums, I approached the dealer in the first instance and offered them an amicable solution which they took as compensation would have hit them in the pocket.
At present we are happy with the agreement reached however if it is not honoured by the end of December unfortunately we will need to engage the services of a professional
Posted on 04/12/2016 12:30
The term Lawyer is a generic term used to describe anyone who is a Licensed Legal Practitioner (LLP) qualified to give legal advice in one or more areas of law. Put simply, Solicitors and Barristers are both types of Lawyer. Bear in mind that there are others, for example those that are employed in house by companies and spend most of their time working on commercial contracts.
Write your comments here...No I don't think that is right DD (and there are other categories of qualified legal persons in the UK as well) but I doubt if the term has ever been formally legally defined (for example in legislation).
As an example in theory I could say that I was a qualified medical person because I passed a degree exam in Forensic Medicine but that would be a ridulous proposition.
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