Smith Llewelyn Partnership

Very well presented
Nov 27th, 2022

Oct 12th, 2019

Oct 6th, 2019

Jun 20th, 2019

Having had a good experience dealing with this firm in the mid-2000s I looked forwards to them representing my elderly, recently-widowed father (who has had 3 major surgical procedures across the past few years) in respect of his property sale a few months ago. However, Peter Smith - the Solicitor we were allocated - was quite the most arrogant, unpleasant person I have ever encountered.He seemed to take a strong personal dislike to me from minute 1 - when I had done nothing to the man - but he clearly lacked the basic professionalism needed to conceal this. Given that their offices would be difficult for my father to get to he kept refusing to confirm whether they offered a service whereby a staff member could call by with my father to undertake the Anti Money-Laundering (AML) checks or whether my father would have to go to them. When I politely asked him by email a third time about this he shouted at me down the phone, saying that (I) do have other clients too, you know!. Truly unbelievable. I hadnt exactly asked him a question about a deep point of law, had I? He also did not seem to be fully aware of the AML requirements - which was worrying - and he also failed to include a key Terms of Business document within the pack originally provided to my father too. On the occasion where I dropped off this documentation pack to his office on my Dads behalf he did not ring me about the missing document but sent me an email about it, knowing I live an hour or more away from Swansea! - so I therefore did not see it until I had got home that night. Anything to try to annoy, provoke and cause upset, it would seem. When I had, early on in our dealings with Mr Smith, politely enquired whether he could assist with another, similar property transaction for my father too he just replied by email, in about three words, that No, he couldnt! Which legal firm ever does that? It took all of my own professionalism to refrain from giving this unpleasant little man a piece of my mind on several occasions - but it would have caused time delays for my father had we had to find another Solicitor firm part-way through the process cross. To complete this very bruising experience, when I responded to this firms feedback request at the end of the process by sending an email to a senior partner within the firm outlining these issues I was not even afforded the courtesy of a basic response! Nothing. It suggests that Mr Smith is working within a firm whose culture is perfectly in sync with his own appalling attitudes and behaviour. I have given this firm one star because Mr Smith did get the job done - and the fee that the firm charged my father was competitive. Frankly, though, I would rather pay another legal firm a bit more money whilst having the luxury of being afforded a basic level of respect than to deal with this uncouth rabble ever again. That Mr Smith could have been so unfeeling when we were all trying to come to terms with my mothers death made it all even worse - he should be thoroughly ashamed of himself. I also, by the way, retain all the evidence supporting every last one of my comments here - mainly the emails back and forth - which prove both the errors made by Mr Smith during the case and which confirm his contemptuous attitude towards my Dad and myself. Stay clear - there are plenty of other Solicitor firms out there who you can use instead of Smith Llewelyn Partnership!!
Apr 28th, 2023