WHY CHOOSE WEBSTERS LAWYERS?

The decision as to whom to instruct as your lawyer is obviously a very important one. You must have confidence that your solicitors are not only experienced and competent in the field of practice you require, but importantly that they will provide the level of service that you expect. It is very easy for a firm to promote itself by saying that they provide a personal service, or that they care and offer the highest standards of quality and service and attention to detail. However, once you have engaged your lawyer and entrusted them with your case it can be an expensive and difficult process to change if you find that they don’t follow through with their promises.

The Legal Practitioners Conduct Board Annual Report 2007/2008 reported that most complaints against lawyers concern overcharging, lack of communication, negligence and delay. The Report noted that, “The recurring issue in situations that end in complaint to the Board – especially consumer complaints by clients of lawyers – is communication, or rather the lack of clear, plain, adequate communication.”

So what can Websters Lawyers to do ensure that these causes for complaint do not arise in the handling of your case? Rather than giving general assurances that we provide the highest quality of service, we provide these specific assurances to our clients:

  • At the outset we will reach a clear agreement with you that is confirmed in writing as to what assistance we are providing to you.
  • We will provide you with specific details of our fee structure and as accurate an estimate of the likely cost as we can provide in the circumstances – there will be no ‘hidden’ costs. (link to Terms of Engagement / Supreme Court Scale).
  • While we will always advise you as to any developments in your matter, we will ask you to specify how often you require a report on the status of your matter and we act in accordance with those instructions.
  • We understand that your time is important and that you can expect to be dealt with in a courteous and professional manner therefore you will not be kept waiting for any appointment for more than 5 minutes. If due to circumstances beyond our control that does occur, you will not be charged for the same amount of time spent with your solicitor that you were kept waiting.
  • Any telephone call from you will be responded to as soon as possible and, in any event, by the close of business on the following business day or you will not be charged for the cost of that call.

Our future direction is to provide clients with on-line access to their matter where through a secure internet link you will be able to check on the status of your case, including what further activity we are awaiting (for example whether we are awaiting a response from another party) and the current status of your legal fees. It is anticipated that this service will be available from mid-2011 subject to software development requirements.

Importantly, as a valued client of Websters Lawyers we will seek your input as to how we can improve the quality of our service. Our CEO Ken Gluche welcomes any contact from clients with suggestions regarding how we can achieve our goal of providing the most personal and satisfying legal service possible.

Before making any decision, we invite you to simply come in and talk to us.