4 reviews (4/5) and information for Magara Law, Bicester

13/11/22 - Response by Magara Law

To the general public:

We have no intention to reply in kind to all allegations, save to say that they are not in any way a reflection of the hard work, genuine care and dedication we strive for each and every single client of the firm.

Ms Mclean’s original claim for breach of contract consisted of 3 parts. The first 2 regarded unpaid wages. The 3rd is not relevant for the purpose of this review and could not be claims via the employment tribunal in any event.

She eventually settled the first 2 claims and received sums owed. Her contract did not have a clause stating that liquidated damages would be paid if there is a default in payment (and no documentation was provided to this effect) so this cannot be claimed. Although we were not instructed by Ms McLean by the time the case progressed to the case management hearing, there are a number of disconcerting allegations by Ms McLean:

1) We requested and received a a copy of the case management summary which showed no express or implied statement from the Judge regarding liquidated damages. Given our experiences of case management hearings, we would normally expect some commentary on this if a Judge was so vociferously adamant about such a point.
2) In our years of legal experience, Judges are neutral and objective - certainly at case management hearings - and rarely comment on the specifics or evidence of a case itself or what their opinion is about a party (especially when they are not deciding on liability or evidential merit). Again, the lack of commentary causes us to seriously question the validity of such a statement.

With regard to the next main allegation:

Our ethics are latterly questioned by Ms Mclean on the basis that once she had withdrawn her instructions from the firm, the tribunal was emailed to let them know we were no longer instructed and to forward all communications to Ms McLean as opposed to the firm. This is the correct (and quite standard) procedure. Given that we would not want the tribunal or other parties to send any further confidential or sensitive communications to us, it is right that they have a forwarding address. It is also positively compliant for us to update other parties when I am not representing a client.
It is our position is as follows:

1) We have not received any communication from the Legal Ombudsman (for the purposes of investigation or otherwise) that our actions regarding this standard procedure was unethical or that we have acted 'outside our jurisdiction'.
2) Ms McLean takes issue that we did not contact the tribunal or other parties to let them know that we were instructed in the first instance, however, this was only because she had in fact done so herself and there was no need for duplication.

As highlighted above, we have no intention to reply in kind to all allegations, save to say that they are not in any way a reflection of the hard work, genuine care and dedication we strive for each and every single client of the firm. We will continue to strive to act justly, compassionately serve and walk with integrity.

Thank you.

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