Pump Court Tax Chambers

Barclay Littlewood

6 years ago

We instructed Andrew Hitchmough QC based on the strength of his reputation and that of his chambers, Pump Court Tax Chambers. You can read our review on him on Google, for now I shall keep the review centered on Chambers itself. Chambers got their primary job incorrect, initially mis-charging us for Andrew's work. Our solicitor sent them a proposed fee of 7.5K plus VAT. Andrew then completed his opinion but asked for 10K plus VAT. Apparently the fee agreement was never passed onto him due to some internal error caused by any one of a myriad of excuses none of which held much water. This was highly unprofessional in itself, and Chambers were most unapologetic about the whole affair. The standard of the 'opinion'' that followed was 2:1 law undergraduate level at best, you can trust me on that because we run the highest standard law essay company in the world. It really wasn't worth 750 pounds let alone 7.5K. It was littered with faulty assumptions and lacking in any basic understanding of the commercial reality of our business, it was a disgrace from top to bottom. Within 15 minutes both I and one of our legally trained aftercare managers, had independently come to the same conclusion - the job was either utterly and carelessly rushed over a matter of hours or worse passed on to a junior who did the same. This is not Chambers fault in itself, far from it, but at this point, you would hope such a seemingly reputable and diligent Chambers would step in to offer some level of customer care and protection, yet, despite our excellent solicitor pursuing Andrew for over a period of several months, Chambers it seemed were unable to exercise any control over the matter or mediate it in anyway. All Chambers could do was forward messages saying Andrew didn't understand what we wanted from him and his work was in his view far beyond satisfactory. This would not do. He failed to answer any of our huge list of very obvious concerns with his work, out of 30 issues we raised, not even 1 concern was addressed. That's right, not 1. He flat out refused to lift another finger, and was absolutely unapologetic about the very obvious lack of care in his work and the affect of this on his clients and case. He, and Chambers must seemingly think that two people with extensive legal education and experience, who had spent tens of hours looking at the case, couldn't muster 1 valid concern, let alone the 30 we highlighted - and there were likely far more. Either that, or more likely as they had been paid, they simply lacked any motivation to right their wrong. Chambers then felt it fit to forward Andrew's request that if we wanted us to look at his work again, it would cost us another 7.5K. Utterly absurd. At no point it seems did they try to work with Andrew to see sense in the matter. Our next stage is going to be an official complaint to themselves and after that a complaint to the Bar Council. If you are on the end of the same unfair treatment from this Chambers, or any other legal professional, I highly encourage you to do the same. Otherwise, in an industry where fees continue to triumph over fairness, nothing will change. Update 4/4/19 - I received a response to my review, attached as a picture, along with my reply, so you can see the type of people you are dealing and make your own mind up. What matters most, their reputations, petty gloating, or their clients?

ragvesh singh

7 years ago

Very professional, smart and enthusiatic barristers