To be honest Patricia I think Keith and Ruth have enough on their hands hence I was hoping that a good legal professional would take up the mantle.

Have you asked one, Ads?  You can hope, but until you ask the person s/he can't know you require his/her help.

Patricia

Patricia

Thanks for your suggestions.

As you say any help is good help.  All the work we are doing on the Petitions and our group actions is on a voluntary basis - in our 'spare' time or between/during other work.  It is all very time consuming and we are therefore limited as to what we can do.  Like many others we are victims of the corruption and negligence in the Spanish Real Estate sector and currently stand to lose a lot of hard earned money.  For that reason we cannot and will not give up the fight.

Ruth has done a fantasic job with the latest 'Stop The Roadshows' Petition.  Ads is passionate about the issues and is doing a great job in creating awareness of the problems on Eye on Spain.  Ruth and Ads also helped me last year with the questions for the Bank Guarantees Petition.  María de Castro and her team has, on a voluntary basis, translated most of the Bank Guarantees website pages into Spanish ready for me to re-format and upload when I get a chance as we have had requests for this from Spanish citizens.

With regards to the Bar Associations and the Accountability of Law Firms, the Bank Guarantees petition has through the extensive questions on the petition form obtained information regarding Law Firms who had a conflict of interest or did not act in their clients best interests regarding off-plan developments.

The Petition, among others is addressed to:

Excelentísimo Señor Don Carlos Dívar Blanco
Presidente el Tribunal Supremo y Presidente del Consejo General del Poder Judicial

Excelentísimo Señor Don Carlos Carnicer Díez
Presidente del Consejo General de la Abogacía Española

Mr Charles Plant
Chairman of the Solicitors Regulation Authority, Redditch, UK

Mr Des Hudson
Chief Executive of the Law Society, London, UK

Keith:

Most certainly you should seek redress and recovery ofyour money.

It is all well and good to be passionate about an issue, but "doing" is what gets results.  Actions not words, as the saying goes. 

I have asked several times if those in or supporting your group who have been affected by malpractice on the part of their lawyers  have personally sent a letter of complaint (with recorded delivery) to the appropriate law society, stating the facts of their complaint.  (The only one I see on here who has done so is Faro).

Is there some reason, I ask, why people don't WANT to send a letter of complaint themselves to the law society/law societies?

Patricia

Anyone thinking of going this route will need to consider what it is they are tying to achieve and also timeframe and this might just be one step in the journey.

In terms of timeframe a complaint will take approx 9 months. There is the initial complaint and then a bit of to-ing and fro-ing and then the formal complaint. From the time the law society decide it's a formal complaint (expediente disciplinario) then they have 6 months in which to review the facts and make their decision/ruling (and they will take that 6 months!)

You then need to bear in mind even with a favourable ruling you still might not get what you were seeking in the first place and then it's time to consider criminal of civil proceedings to complete the action.

I also believe you will need to use a Spanish lawyer to file and monitor the complaint otherwise you will simply get the runaround. Again this depends on the nature of the complaint/allegation. Also this assists with information gathering and preparation. But as I said before many lawyers will not take on these matters. You might want to consider approaching lawyers in other locations or belonging to different colleges. These comments depends on the nature of the complaint and whether it's criminal or careless/lack of duty of care etc.

Some lawyers when there are initially informed of the complaint may then resolve the matter quickly so the complaint does not progress to formal disciplinary proceedings but when you take on the protected or the bad then it will go the distance.

Regardless of the timeframe the more letters of complaint sent to the law societies the better.  I understand from the tone of the posts on this thread that the target is "accountability".  Or, "name and shame".

There is obviously (and I take your point here Faro) a vast difference between a lawyer who, for whatever reason, does not answer your calls and/or letters, emails etc. and one who is criminally negligent.  One way or the other you can complain.

Patricia

Thank you Faro. Much appreciated.

Please everyone can you review this thread for further details:

The EU - PROTECTING THE RIGHT TO PROPERTY - SEMINAR

 http://www.eyeonspain.com/forums/posts-long-13561.aspx

Looks as though this is aimed at legal professionals.

I will inform Maria, but also please pass on to anyone who you feel appropriate and encourage them to write of their concerns and suggestions, or attend (although it's incredibly short notice ).

Let no one say I am not even-handed LOL

http://www.d1041561.dotsterhost.com/index.php?s=wst_page2.html

Patricia