Edward Duthie

Starting with the official version.
Groups like taxpayers, AA members, union members, and home insurers pay their taxes /​dues /​insurance payments and then if they are unlucky enough to need legal services, their organisation pays reasonable fees to a socltor who is probably on their list or panel. The usual fees are set-​out on a table published by the law society. The taxpayer or member doesn’t have to worry about the small print because clever people work it all out behind the scenes and we just get what we want if we are unfortunate enough to need a solicitor.
Now the real version.
There have been government enquiries into the problem of insurers or unions paying a cheapskate solicitor to take only the strongest cases, settle early for next to nothing after doing next to no work, and claim the standard amount of costs for legal work off the other side. Some of this goes to the insururer who never had any intention of paying a penny. Shoesmiths Solicitors, for example, admitted this to an Observer journalist and then rang back to ask if they could withdraw their statement. No. The law society has expelled solicitors who work for the Union of Democratic Miners (Beresfords) and then the NUJ in an attempt to stop the practice but as representatives of lawyers they are not going to to the whole way and expose every single lawyer who rips-​off a cliient who thinks they have paid dues or installments or membership and in fact gets a no-​win no-​fee service with commission paid to the same people that the client has been paying to. Surely this can’t be right? Well, yes it can under our current political system because nobody who is anybody has ever attempted to use a union lawyer and written in The Times about it or become a minister or made a fuss.
Thinking of which, are Edwards Duthie worse than Shoesmiths who useually represent AA members or Patinson Brewer who usually represent TGWU /​Unite members? I don’t know but I know that Bob Crowe of the RMT wrote:
” I regret to report that we have been informed by Edwards Duthie Solicitors that they are no longer able to provide the service to our members that we expect and our members deserve. Therefore Edwards Duthie will no longer be working for the Union «.
I know that my former union branch, the South London (Voluntary Sector) branch of Unite /​TGWU claimed on its accounts that it had paid for a banner while another similar group, Islington TUC claimed that their banner had been sponsored by Edwards Duthie & Co. I also know the Edwards Duthie no longer represent cliients for Unite’s South London voluntary sector branch.
There is a piece of law that allows you to change panel solicitor after first assessment. Google employees org uk for details and I hope you get a chance to change at your union /​motoring organisation /​insurer’s expense.