The Greed of Doughty Street Chambers.

 Doughty Street Toilets

There is a reason why I hate lawyers. It commenced from my dealings with Doughty Street Chambers in 2004. Their shoddy treatment and workmanship was my first experience of being robbed. The man who ripped me off  in this case was none other than Andrew Nicol QC. Andy has now climbed up the greasy slopes of  the legal mountain to become a judge. See his entry on Debretts.

Andy was instructed for an opinion on the General Medical Council in 2004. Andy decided that he wasn't going to apply his mind to the subject until the twelfth hour. Internal documents from the Chambers [ and they are concealing some others] state as follows [ Written by Paul Friend dated 30th April 2004 disclosed in 2010]

" Mr Nicol was instructed accordingly, to proceed at the earliest opportunity and complete a written opinion by the end of the month" 

The end of the month came, there was no opinion. The clerk writes 

" As documented on the fee note, Mr Nicol undertook preparation of 18 hours 45 minutes between the 29th and 31st March".

The invoice to me cleverly notes [ missing out the date he commenced work]

* to 31/3/2004

[ What happened to the weeks before?!]

In a disastrous state, I needed to seek  representation from a barrister who was far more professional about his work and would represent me. Despite my disagreements with Robert Jay, Jay actually works if he gets paid enough. Jay was paid enough. We prepared the case in one week and landed in court with the GMC to win the application.

The solicitors at the time demanded I pay Andrew Nicol for an opinion he had not even done. The bill was £3525.00. The chambers called this a "discount". What Andy had actually done was flicked through the papers towards the end of the month and decided he didn't have enough time to do it so sought an extension.  When I refused an extension, he billed me for the privilege. 

He placed a number of post it notes through the files. That was the only thing he ever did. 

So for post it notes, I had to pay £3525.00 for an opinion that never came. If I didn't pay, the Solicitors refused to release my case records. This is what they do to force people to pay for substandard service. 

Of course, if Andy had commenced his work "earlier" as most professionals tend to do [ as he had weeks to prepare] then there would be no requirement for this mess. Recently, I asked the Chambers to particularise what work he had done. The Chambers decided they couldn't particularise it. This was done because they couldn't particularise it because Andy had done no work apart from panic as his deadline was up and he had not done the work.

Anyhow, Nicol and his chambers appeased themselves by stating they had done me a favour and given me a "discount". The letter by the clerk goes on to say

" As a token of goodwill, and irrespective of the agreement already reached between his clerk and instructing solicitor, Mr Nicol decided to reduce his fee".

A clap of generosity for the greedy lawyers of Doughty Street. So, essentially, I paid for work that was never completed and was severely delayed. Of course, these clever little lawyers think they know it all. They don't of course because most of us expect a finished product when billed. In Andrew Nicol's world, there is no evidence that he ever did any work at all. They then go onto write albeit condescendingly 

" I hope this will be helpful and that Dr Pal will understand that on reflection that Counsel has acted entirely reasonably in rendering this fee note"

I recently told Doughty Street that they were nothing less than common thieves.  It is amazing that they all feel they have a right to my money. I decided to write about them because it is vital for every junior doctor to be aware of the pitfalls and shoddy workmanship provided by Doughty Street Chambers. They agree a deadline, they flick through papers at the twelfth hour, they cannot meet the deadline so they fine you for it. Of course, Doughty Street can now return my money but  these unreasonable greedy lawyers tend not to do this kind of thing. 

Doughty Street Chambers prides themselves in the premier GMC attacker. As we can see, they couldn't even make it past first stage above. More evidence of their failings is seen in R v GMC Ex Parte Colman which fell on its face and was dismissed out of court in one of the most spectacular defeats in the history of Colman's litigation. She is due to appeal. Some consider her leader of the pack in the mainstream of litigation having done it for a number of decades. Then she has been around the garden a few times. Anyhow, not all of it is her fault of course. Her reps at Doughty Street wish to command the litigation arena for doctors against the GMC. The chambers is not recommended for any doctor.