Shakespeare Martineau Avis 161

Avoid this company if you are looking for a knowledgeable divorce solicitor. You wont find them in Stratford upon Avon or their light weights solicitors in Leicester .

4 years thousands spent of our own money to receive nothing. Told one thing, and then nothing! We won the case, but all of the money was taken by Shakespeare Martineau. Was told by Anton Letten we would get out costs back. In the end, nothing. Just emails stating the firm will not be sharing the funds that were paid. The only winners are the firm! 4 years for absolutely nothing. Anton, we are extremely disappointed, to say the least.

What should have been a simple one hour Trustee meeting, with a lawyer present to take the minutes, turned into something very different. I have complied a file of hundreds of pages of hard evidence, as well as voice recordings of Mark Beesley. My lawyer said I have done the job of a barrister, it took almost 2,000 hours to complete these files. These files prove that three lawyers at Shakespeare Martineau, repeatedly lied to me and the Trustees of a valuable Company. These lies nearly cost us control of the Company. It cost us £185,000 in legal fees to rid ourselves of SM. It appears from the evidence that SM were trying to take control of The Company. When I finally managed to get the correspondence I was never meant to see. The most blatant of the lies had been redacted. I am now considering posting a weekly, detailed account, page by page of exactly what happened, when Mark Beesley, Richard Thorpe and Anne Tromans were involved in our lives. This all happened in 2019 to 2020. I only now have the emotional strength to begin to post it.

Absolutely awful service from Claire,
I have already lost one buyer because she doesn’t respond to my solicitor & now I am in the same position again six months down the line as again she doesn’t respond to emails or telephone calls.
If I or anyone else didn’t do our job properly we wouldn’t be employed.
Disgraceful service

I instructed Shakespeare Martineau on a property transaction. It was a little unusual, but by no means complicated. It was dealt with by a partner in the residential property team. Unfortunately, his work was careless and problematic in several respects. He did complete the work, which is why I give two stars not one, but the experience was unsatisfactory. I later complained to the senior partner of the firm in the hope that others wouldn’t suffer from similar problems. The firm took 5 months to reply, inadequately. I assume the delay was because they’re inundated with complaints from unhappy clients.

A truly awful law firm who I have had the displeasure of having to interact with over the past few months. They have apparently been appointed by OVO, to seek the debit of someone with a similar name to mine, accusing me of living at an address in a location I have never lived in. They either need someone else with this name, or someone gave this name fraudulently. To my knowledge no vetting or verification of someone's name or identity is done. They have incorrectly and unethical tracked me down and started accusing and harassing me. I have spent hours, providing all kinds of evidence I have never lived in the location, it is not my debit. This includes signed documents from my local council, and letters from HMRC to name a few. Despite this, this awful firm, continue to haress me. I cant believe this is allowed to happen, and given my interactions and their conduct, I am surprised they are allowed to practice

Absolute joke of a company. Some person ran up a bill with UPS and gave a company name similar to ours. UPS instructed this Shakespeare to recover the money outstanding and without properly checking the evidence just opened court proceedings against us even though we have never dealt with UPS. I called them and done the searches they should have done to find the proper person (which took me about 10 minutes) using Google but they continued with court proceedings and ended up costing us money for a solicitor to sort out.

They are expensive. Joanne was very thorough. You have to pay to get this quality. You could pay half and get a Will that did not address all the possibilities and turned out to be deficient so costing more in the end. We cannot thank her enough

February 2026 – The SRA Complaint Debacle Continues, Month 15

This matter has now been ongoing since November 2024.

On 16 February 2026 I sent a further formal response to the SRA rejecting their decision on the DSAR misrepresentation issue. That email was widely copied.

Recipients included:

Kay Kinman – Head of Investigations, SRA
Jonathan Mills – SRA
Kate Candy – SRA
Owen Pace – SRA
Claire Bassett – SRA Board
Anna Bradley – SRA Board
Ann Harrison – SRA Board
Lisa Mayhew – SRA Board
Simon Millhouse – SRA Board
Claudio Pollack – SRA Board
Vikas Shah – SRA Board
Elizabeth Smart – SRA Board
Nicola Williams – SRA Board
Sarah Rapson – (new) Chief Executive, SRA

It was also copied to:

Anna McIntyre – Capital Law
Lucy Emanuel – Capital Law
Elin Pinnell – CEO, Capital Law

In that email I made clear that I reject the SRA’s reasoning, which relied on “technical possibility” while ignoring context and probability, including:

• Approximately 40,000 documents identified within scope of my DSAR with SHMA allegedly contained no personal data which could be released to me
• Years of extensive email communications, exceeding thousands of emails between myself and SHMA were always received, but mysteriously emails relating to a DSAR request were not
• The unexplained retrospective alteration of the DSAR commencement date
• No apology ever being given
• The fact that the same individuals remain under investigation in relation to serious misconduct matters involving threats of violent behaviours, namely Michael Mulligan, Richard Thorpe, Kamran Rehman and Sarah Walker-Smith (CEO of SHMA)

The SRA accepted server explanations while disregarding surrounding factual context. In my view that is not meaningful regulatory scrutiny.

Fifteen months on from my original complaint, the matter remains “under investigation” with no end in sight.

Capital Law’s involvement over six months has produced no transparency as to scope or progress. The individual initially said to be handling the matter left without notifying me. Another followed. Communication has been inconsistent and dismissive.

My recent email to the new SRA CEO, Sarah Rapson, has been ignored.

I continue to have ZERO confidence in the independence or effectiveness of the regulatory framework purporting to oversee this matter.
Senior figures at SHMA remain in position.

The former partner at the centre of the original misconduct concerns has moved on without censure that I am aware of.

The regulator continues to extend timelines and in my view simply prevaricate.

The entire process just seems like a cover up.

John Clifford

Heart sank when I read the Trustpilot reviews, after SM intervened on behalf of the SRA when the solicitor we were using closed. Hoped the reviews would be proven wrong. They were not. Completely useless, directly contradictory advice from different members of the team - really feel like they try to make things as confusing as possible so you give up. Avoid at all costs.

What is this company. Sent me ccj for ovo didn’t respond in time to my claim form so started demanding payment in full. So I took it back to court and showed all my proof and won against them and paying on my terms not theirs. Then today I receive a email threatening further action as the haven’t received payment. But on my side I have proof I sent it the 12/1. So guys be warned keep proof of everything these are a shambles to deal with

Recieved a letter for someone else who Ive never met before, but addressed to my address, albeit just the first line and postcode, so not even my full address, saying this other person owes them money and bailiffs will be sent round etc etc. Reeks of a scam company.

Incompetent and useless law firm. Make sure you stay away from them as their staff display psychopathic traits.

These people are complete scammers!!! They breached all provisions of GDPR rules, they harass people over a debt that does not belong to the person they are chasing and failed to explain who they are actually chasing.

I have been dealing with Shakespeare Martineau regarding a County Court Judgment (CCJ) that was wrongly issued in my name, linked to an OVO Energy account that OVO themselves have confirmed was opened in error (a duplicate “search and seize” account).

For over 28 days, I have been requesting copies of the documentation used to obtain the CCJ, yet Shakespeare Martineau have failed to provide anything. I have since reported the matter to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) for investigation due to serious concerns about their conduct and compliance with the pre-action protocol.

This has been one of the most distressing and exhausting experiences I’ve ever faced — affecting my credit rating, my mortgage application, and my peace of mind. I even had to seek assistance from my MP to get some form of accountability.

Instead of transparency or empathy, I have faced delays, deflection, and complete disregard for due process. I am now having to apply for an N244 set-aside order to correct a judgment that should never have existed in the first place.

Absolutely unacceptable from a firm of solicitors who should know better.

They asking money from ovo energy never had contact with them my electricity meter was pay as you top up the key what it’s going on i asked them for the date and what meter they want the money from. Very very rude they have no explanation but demanding payment

Got hit with a County Court Judgment from Shakespeare Martineau acting for OVO Energy — even though my OVO account was in credit and still under an active dispute with the Energy Ombudsman.

Later found out OVO had actually created two accounts in my name and were billing the wrong one while my payments went to the closed account. OVO’s now admitted it was their mistake and even sent me a refund cheque.

Meanwhile Shakespeare still pushed the court claim through, damaging my credit and costing me time and stress. I’ve since had to involve both the Energy Ombudsman and the Solicitors Regulation Authority to get it fixed.

If you ever get contacted by them — double-check everything. Don’t just assume they’ve got their facts right.

Hopefully they review how they handle these cases because no one should have to go through this for a company’s accounting error.

They do not deserve one star… my advice is if your debt has been handed to Shakespearemartineau get yourself a legal representative or contact step change asap. The type of people who work for this company has no good intention for you they are not there to help you set up a affordable plan they are there to make money by threatening and bullying vulnerable people into paying more than they can afford, I have been told over the phone “we are not here to help you our job is to help our client” absolutely horrendous yes your job is to chase clients debt but more importantly your duty as a human being is to help other human beings to the best of your ability. What a soul destroying job this must be I wonder if they log off and feel they have done something good by bullying the average person on behalf of multi million pound companies over minuscule amounts of debt. My case is i have a gas debt from a previous supplier I set up a payment amount for 5£ per month which was agreed via email, i suffered a pulmonary embolism and was rushed to hospital for the life threatening condition, therefore no payment or contact made for a month. Shakespeare took it upon themselves instead of contacting me to chase up via phone or email they have CCJd me and are requesting me to pay a minimum amount of 90£ per month for a couple grand gas bill for a property i lived in 3 years ago, provided them my budget and broke down my outgoing and I am not even left with 50£ at the end of the month, they still refused my payment offers even when I went up to 20£ I have a DMP in place with step change and other debters have accepted offers from 1-20£ per month due to my circumstances I am a vulnerable adult I suffer with depression. And anxiety and I advised Shakespeare of this yet I feel there call handlers have not followed handle with care procedure instead they have countered by 20£ offer and basically said you pay 40£ per month or we send balliffs due to my mental health worry stress I haven’t been eating nor sleeping due to this worry I have previously been burgled and stabbed and I was so scared of these balliffs turning up at my door and me going on a mental break down I agreed to this amount. And since have been borrowing money and getting myself into more debt with family and friend this past months to try to pay this. I have emailed them and asked if this can be reviewed and even if they can lower to 25£ but have been told no I have to pay the 40£ no mention of has my circumstances changed no advice of where to go next my step change DMP advisor was the one who told me about the n244 form which you send to court with a break down of budget and what you can afford… again not mentioned by Shakespeare simply fear mongering YOU HAVE TO PAY THIS AMOUNT OR BALLIFFS WILL TURN UP AND WE ARE NOT BUDGING. How can you expect somebody to pay for what they cannot afford I have shown you I am in -1000 overdraft I am in deficit at end of month and I have provided them with screenshots and evidence regarding my budget my bank statements my health conditions yet you still force me to pay more than I can afford. Surely this cannot be correct process I have raised a complaint and I will be contacting the legal ombudsman moving forward as I feel I must do something so the next person doesn’t get bullied into paying something they cannot afford. I work for a energy company and if my customer calls in regarding there debt I set up a plan they can afford I put there account on hold if not and advise them as to the best steps moving forward , I emailed them on 30/09/25 “hello I can't afford 40£ per month I am struggling and would like to lower the amount to 25£ per month how can I go about doing this please thanks.” And this is the reply received today.. Thank you for your email.

Unfortunately, upon detailed review the payment plan has been arranged with yourself would remain as per client instruction.

Many thanks,

Again they are not here to help you in anyway as you can see with my situation I prayer nobody ever has to deal with this company 🙏

Paid a debt off in full, letter sent to say we hadn't paid so emails back & forth to show we had & guess what not even a reply to say sorry we made a mistake but yet quick enough to chase, awful company DO NOT USE

UPDATE - DID YOU READ THE REVIEW AS I HAVE REZCHED OUT & SEND NUMEROUS EMAILS BUT YOU DONT REPLY

A minute ago
Hello, we're sorry to hear about your experience. We'd like the opportunity to look into this for you. Please reach out to us directly at so we can help resolve the issue. Thank you.

So it's a very run of the mill kinda product poorly designed and I'm afraid poorly made.
I had it for a few months and the oring failed, I contacted them and they just lied to me about not having rings available even though they were available on there website at the time. This continued untill my warranty expired.
Basic product, with a terrible customer service backing it I'd stay If I was you