Thanks to the reader who alerted RollOnFriday to the existence of Alan Haywood.

Haywood's day job is running the improbably named www.trendykidzuk.co.uk, a website for children's clothes, toys and accessories. But he also tries to sell the services of Reece Law LLP, an enterprising group of paralegals providing inexpensive advice. Its webpage makes it clear that the firm's members are not solicitors so can't carry out reserved legal activities. And it brands itself with a rather dodgy-looking coat of arms:

     

Reece Law wants to help people who have been done over and don't have a lot of cash. And Alan Haywood wants everyone to know about it. In this instance, reps for Valentus, a weight-loss company that went out of business.

     

Although he was rather less enthusiastic when one of the reps pointed out that the Law Society had no record of Reece Law:

     

Oh dear.

His blood now up, Hayward warms to his theme and lays in to the unfortunate rep:

     

And after a dark night of the soul Haywood states his position again:

     

When RollOnFriday emailed Haywood and asked him about his relationship with Reece Law, he simply responded "DO NOT contact me again!!". When told that the article would be written anyway, he added:

     

RollOnFriday contacted the owner of Reece Law, who clearly felt it appropriate to distance himself from Haywood. In a statement Ryan Reece said that "Mr Haywood is a Lay Client of Reece Law LLP and is in no way a professional affiliate of the Practice. Reece Law LLP offer all clients the opportunity to earn a 10% rate of commission if they introduce a friend who then instructs us to act as their Litigation Friend. The comments made by Mr Haywood are in no way to be construed as views or opinions of the Practice as they go against our Moral and Ethical practices. We have spoken to Mr Haywood regarding his communication and have made it very clear that such language is not acceptable."

Tip Off ROF

Comments

Anonymous 25 August 17 06:06

"it appears to me she is giving out false legal advice!! she need to leave that to us". SOLID. GOLD.

Anonymous 25 August 17 10:13

They are both right. It is not "solicitors" but it is entitled to write letters of claim for people (but not sue I assume).
Why do people put these random capital letters in sentences - Moral and Ethical? Are they from a country where capitals are used for nouns?

Anonymous 25 August 17 13:28

What a salesman. First rule of winning customers I ever learned: if they don't respond to your initial offer, don't half arse it, that is the worst thing you can do. Never show weakness. Call them an absolute f**cking retard, they will know who is boss and you can then sell them anything you like. I am sure the volantos reps hired him despite their tears and bought some trendy kidz accessories too.

Anonymous 25 August 17 14:02

@0913 I think the overuse of capital letters is intended to further distance themselves from alan.

Anonymous 25 August 17 14:46

I can see what's going to happen here. An angry concatenation of unqualified legal stupid is going to generate a sort of perpetual motion machine of fees, with dozens of shouty unemployables each charging the others 10% for acting in claims against RoF.

The fact that they all require litigation friends suggests either that they are children, or that they lack mental capacity. Either way, I don't fancy their chances much.

Anonymous 25 August 17 18:27

Am now going to earn lots of dislikes by stating that as solicitors normally get barristers to advocate in court for them anyway,, using a Legal Executive Firm like this could make a lot of commercial sense. Why pay £250/hr for some trainee whose Daddy arranged for and subsidised the right work experience to ensure recruited by a solicitor's firm - when you can get an experienced litigator LegEx with a decade of relevant sector experience?

Most litigators I know couldn't find their own bottoms without careful guidance from their PA, and without threatening to sue their own trousers in the process.

Anonymous 25 August 17 23:16

anonymous 17.27 not lots of dislikes, just not really the point. The firm aren't legal executives they're paralegals and I'm not sure what advocacy they can do. What they can't do regardless of their legal qualifications is call people f**king retards. Or get someone who's not really working for them to.

Anonymous 28 August 17 19:09

"Most litigators I know couldn't find their own bottoms without careful guidance from their PA, and without threatening to sue their own trousers in the process."

God I know very few litigators with their own PA! One overworked secretary between 6 or 8 fee earners is more likely. Am yet to meet one who threatens to sue their own trousers - maybe that's why in America it's called filing a suit...

Anonymous 13 September 17 14:43

To all of those advocating for using a firm of litigation executives/paralegals rather than regulated solicitors, just think, when is the last time you saw a firm of solicitors losing their temper because you were handing out false legal advice when, in fact, you should be leaving it up to them? Nuff said!!

Anonymous 30 August 18 12:37

These are my lawyers, paid my fees, now can't get hold of them ??, just contacted law society, please can anyone give me more advice on how to get my money back.