Host of Solicitors from Hell-style sites appear following court action
The Law Society spent roughly £150,000 on shutting down the website Solicitors from Hell but faces a latest setback as it has emerged that similar websites attacking UK firms are appearing online, with some said to be hosted abroad to protect them from the British authorities.
The websites Cowboy Solicitors and Solicitors from Hell 2 and a site that mimics the Law Society homepage but calls itself ‘Avoiding Bad Solicitors’ have all appeared online, as has Solicitorsfromhell.com, which is understood to be hosted abroad so that it cannot be banned by UK regulators.
However, Solicitorsfromhell.com’s registered address appears to be in Kent.
It follows the decision by Mr Justice Tugendhat last week to grant the Law Society injunctive relief and order the site, which claims to expose lawyers’ allegedly poor service, to be taken down (16 November 2011).
A domain name search for cowboysolicitors.com shows that the domain was created on 21 September this year, while solicitorsfromhell2.com was registered last Friday (18 November).
The web addresses for Solicitorsfromhell.com and Avoiding Bad Solicitors, however, appear to have been registered as far back as 2008.
It is understood that the owners of Solicitorsfromhell.com were supporters of the campaign by Solicitors from Hell owner Rick Kordowski to exposes solicitors’ alleged bad practice online.
A Law Society spokesperson said in a statement: “The Law Society is monitoring these sites but is not proposing to take action against them at present as they do not pose a danger to the public or the profession.”
Commenting on the cost of the action taken against Kordowski, the spokesperson added: “The Society understands Mr Kordowski has been sued for libel on at least 17 occasions, and over £170,000 in outstanding judgments and orders have accrued against him.
“The cost of the action was outweighed by the benefits of protecting members of the society, who would have had to meet the costs of individual libel actions themselves, and the best interest of the public.”
Kordowski said: “Up until recently it was perceived by the public that the Law Society were there to protect us all from rogue solicitors. This is clearly not the case and the penny has now dropped.
“There will be dozens more [sites] popping up in reaction to Mr Justice Tugendhat’s injunctions against me.”
Meanwhile, Tugendhat J has not yet handed down a written judgment following his verbal judgment last week.
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Readers' comments (28)
Anonymous | 3-Dec-2011 7:25 pm
Good solicitors are doing really well from the rating site http://www.solicitor.info - its an interesting take on the genre
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PAUL SIMPSON | 14-Dec-2011 11:35 am
The most amazing thing in this case, is the Law Society are clearly trying to stifle free speech and hide solicitors wrong doings and incompetance, and yet they are not in the slightest embarrassed or ashamed about looking dodgy themselves.
To any fair, right minded, intelligent person their action is purely to protect bad solicitors, and serves no other purpose whatsoever.
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Carlie Stevens | 21-Dec-2011 8:41 pm
For Joshua Freedman information the SfH.com site was registered in Oct 2002 and it hit the web prior to March 2003. It’s on the ‘.../preface.htm’ page and near the bottom it states “I do not expect to achieve the notoriety of Wat Tyler but I believe ‘collectively’ through...” maybe these ‘Protest’ sites might end up sitting around the same table (Knights of the Roundtable???).
Is Des Hudson, LS Chief Exec, guilty the same ‘crime’, if that’s what they are, as Rick Kordowski.
See a letter written to him on the 9th December 2011
http://www.solicitorsfromhell.me.uk/c29-to-des.html
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Anonymous | 21-Dec-2011 9:12 pm
Hobson | 28-Nov-2011 11:40 am
“but force people to use their real names and explicitly waive their right to confidentiality, publish complaints only with documentary proof the person was actually a client, and give the firm being complained about a full right of public reply”
Hobson check-out http://www.solicitorsfromhell.me.uk/tos.html last paragraph, all what you ask for but a law firm that refused the offer. The PS mentions Desmond Hudson comments of "fair criticism".
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B2212 | 9-Jan-2012 3:02 pm
I am glad to know now that someone has taken up the struggle against these solicitors. I did make a posting on the Kordowski site and ended up being threatened by my solicitor with High Court action. Much as I would have loved to see my case go the HC, I simply couldn't afford to take the risk. I ended up having to the firm over £1500 to drop the case. Talk about once-bitten! My full support goes to anyone taking this lot on!
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Edward Stevenson | 23-Jun-2012 12:20 pm
The closure of the website in Ireland: Rate Your Solicitor.com, was accomplished by twisting and debasing a substantial amount of due process. If the Plaintiff would consent, perhaps an independent assessment of this claim could be conducted.
My observations of the litigation before Justice Peart would indicate that the court ably demonstrated why the website was necessary.
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Anonymous | 16-Sep-2012 12:06 pm
In this time of reviews for everything on the planet, why are we not allowed to review legal professionals? If one has a poor holiday, the hotel is slated all over the net and that is okay, yet legal issues, which can affect a great deal more than a couple of weeks enjoyment, cannot be?
This is hardly fair, if there is nothing to hide, don't hide it!
I believe we should all have access to information on how solicitors perform; and there should be better policing of those firms using illegal or underhand tactics to win their cases in Court! Those firms who operate correctly will stand to the end, those that do not would be dealt with appropriately, this should be the case already, why isn't it?
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Anthony Barnett | 14-May-2013 9:00 pm
Solicitors seem to charge exorbitant fees - why are they so greedy?
Beware of them losing your case and charging their fees immorally against
your property -
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