Searching for the right family law solicitor can be a difficult task. There are so many of us out there and you probably don’t know how to decide on the right one.

Many will offer you a “free consultation” or “free [insert minutes] advice”.

This will likely entice you to contact them thinking that “free” advice is always welcome and they are the perfect match for you and your family law problem. However, this is usually never the case.

Free consultations are not free. You know this. We know this.

Your free consultation will likely involve your meeting being squeezed in between whatever else the solicitor may be busy with where they will actually be getting paid.

Your meeting will most likely be with an unqualified person (such as a paralegal).

They probably will not discuss the whole situation.

More likely it will be a very generic meeting where the focus is on getting simple information.

They will likely spend most of the time talking about their experience, or what similar cases they have worked on before, or giving you general advice you could find online.

You will then be told you need to pay further for any specific advice.

You will likely be confused by the end of it. But because it was free, you’ll probably walk away thinking that they can help you as you wouldn’t want to go through that again.

That wasn’t a consultation. That was a sales meeting.

You walked in expecting to be given legal advice about your specific situation but walked out with little to nothing.

We don’t do this. Instead we offer initial strategy meetings.

If you are yet to commence anything, the meeting will be untimed, allowing you to give a full background and you will walk away from the meeting with actual legal advice about your specific situation and a strategy of what we can and should be done.

If you have already started things we will offer a tailored initial strategy meeting where we will consider the documents you have sent us and provide you with our advice and strategy on the best way forward.

We value you your time and don’t want to waste it.

We know that the (strategy) meeting will be valuable to you.

At southgate solicitors we do it differently.

This is why we don’t offer free consultations.

If you would like more information or advice about the issues raised in this article, or any aspect of family law please contact our expert legal team on 02080040065, by email at [email protected] or using the form below.

The contents of this article are general information only. The information in this article is not legal or professional advice. The law may have changed since this article was published. Readers should not act on the basis of the information included and should obtain independent expert advice from qualified solicitors such as those within our firm.