Yusuf Pholby
I contacted Burke Niazi Solicitors regarding a time-sensitive and urgent Court of Protection (COP) case. The initial contact was positive, they asked for a brief description of the issue and how we intended to finance the case. We explained the situation and confirmed we would require legal aid. From that point on, the experience became extremely frustrating. All communication was handled via slow email, and phone calls were routinely ignored. As progress was not being made, we had to proactively organise a 14-day extension to the COP5 deadline ourselves because Anna was not moving things forward. This extension was approved by the opposing solicitor. Despite this additional time, we still ultimately missed the extended deadline because the solicitor took days to organise the legal aid documents. When we raised concerns about the approaching deadline, we were told that nothing could be done until legal aid was approved, leaving us with the choice to either wait or represent ourselves in court. After missing the deadline, we were served documents for a court appearance later that month. At this stage, we were constantly chasing for updates from the solicitor, Anna, but received no responses to emails despite multiple follow-ups. Calling reception was equally unhelpful. On one occasion, after being put on hold, we were told they needed to check whether they were actually representing us and that they would get back to us. They never did, and this was already three weeks into communicating with Anna about the case via email. On other occasions, we were put on hold and told that we hadn’t been forgotten and that Anna was getting everything in order. This went on for five weeks before we decided to seek representation elsewhere. We contacted Irwin Mitchell, and within just five days they had gathered all necessary details, arranged meetings, assigned solicitors and barristers, set court dates, prepared statements, collected documents, and submitted legal aid applications. Then, out of nowhere, six weeks into the process and just one week before the court date, Anna emailed to say she was doing the finishing touches on the legal aid application. After all that time, they were still at step one. The handling of this case was completely unacceptable and disorganised. We informed them we no longer required their services. We fully understand that firms can get busy. We contacted multiple firms before this, and some were upfront in letting us know they did not have the capacity to take on the case, which we appreciated. That happens. What was frustrating here is that this was not communicated to us. If they had been honest about their capacity from the start, we could have saved a significant amount of time and avoided a great deal of unnecessary stress. I would highly recommend against using this firm if you require urgent Court of Protection assistance.