Results for NJS Law Ltd:
NJS Law in Macclesfield:
After 20+ years of writing articles about the legal industry, we often worry that we can no longer tell the difference between what might interest legal professionals versus the general public. However for this piece the two are going to be merged together deliberately, because sometimes a little insight into how things are viewed from one side can help provide a little clarity to the other.
If you visit the NJS Law website it may look exactly like a dozen other law firm sites you've visited today. That's not a criticism. Unfortunately there are a limited number of colours, images, and ways to express professionals doing a professional job. So how can you tell whether one firm is better for your needs compared to any others? The wording may often sound great on all the sites. For example, this snippet from the firm's front page:
"For fast, friendly affordable legal advice - ask NJS Law"
It sounds good. But no firm is ever going to state they are 'slow, unfriendly, and unaffordable' are they? Every firm is going to say great things about themselves on their websites. However, there are plenty of sentences on law firm's websites that can tell you real differences between them. You might be missing some. Take this one also from the NJS site:
"With combined experience totalling over 60 years, they wanted to find a way to make exceptional legal advice more accessible for everyone."
Most firms will state a length of time in one way or another. But you need to make sure you don't fall for any marketing jargon. Being in business for 40 years is not the same as your assigned solicitor having 40 years of experience. If a firm says something like 'established in 1881' - that's merely a reference to how long their brand name has been around. It obviously does not mean there is a 200 year old solicitor at the firm jam-packed with experience. In our opinion, 'established' or 'founding' dates are useless in determining which firm is best for you and should be ignored.
'Experience' length of times can also be worded very differently on the sites of lawyers and we think NJS Law have done themselves a slight dis-service in how they've worded theirs. Their staff actually have way more experience than a lot of others. If you read '60 years of combined experience' on a law firm's website it could be that there are two veterans with 30 years' experience each. But, it could also mean 10 members of staff with just 6 years work under their belt. Can you find out which?
"NJS Law have a professional and dedicated legal team focused on help in the following key areas: Contentious Probate, Housing Disrepair Claims, Personal Injury and Medical Negligence."
One of the best resources we don't think enough people know about is the website of The Law Society of England & Wales. Here you can get clear answers about the experience levels of a firm AND their specialist case types. There is a wealth of data on each registered firm or legal professional including any alternate contact details, trading names, qualification dates, languages spoken and more.
If you check out the staff page for this firm you'll see a range of experience levels across the last three decades including John Halstead who qualified as a solicitor in 1994, Alexander Gemmell who qualified in 2004, right up to Nichola Johnson in 2014. So NJS don't just have 'experience', they have a range of experience levels. Seasoned heads but with fresh eyes, so to speak. Which is surely a good type of staff mix at any firm? So if you see two law offices stating 60 years of combined experience, that does not necessarily mean they are equal.
"NJS Law understands that each client is unique and our experienced solicitors' teams will work with you to provide advice and solutions tailored to your individual circumstances."
The main source people usually turn to when evaluating a firm is the public review boards such as Google, Yelp, Trustpilot, etc. However you may not be getting the most out of such resources. Certainly people prefer independent forums over company provided testimonials on their website. Our poll a few years back was very clear about that. But when it comes to law firms, at least, you should never rely on star ratings.
We've seen law firms given 5 stars for their amazing new menu. One criminal lawyer specialist had a 1 star review for refusing to take on someone's divorce case. People make mistakes when leaving reviews. Some are just plain idiots. So always read the comments. That will also give you a better idea of any themes - positive or negative. So what are the boards saying about NJS Law?
"Any queries or concerns were answered either straight away"
"understanding of my needs and situation"
"I was listened to and given the right advice throughout"
"With their help we get our Landlord to repair the house full of humidity and leaks"
"understanding of my needs and situation"
"I was listened to and given the right advice throughout"
"With their help we get our Landlord to repair the house full of humidity and leaks"
At the time of writing the firm had over 400 reviews on Google alone, with the majority being positive like these snippet examples above. There is a theme of 'listening' and 'caring' repeated throughout many. Which is reflected on their website where they state a list of local charities they are involved with as well:
"NJS Law are proud patrons of: Inspiringirls, East Cheshire Eye Society, The Elizabeth Foundation, East Cheshire Hospice ..."
If this article sounds very positive about the firm, that's because we've come to that conclusion about them. But our opinions are not bought and no firm gets to tell us what to write. Around 90% of the articles on this site are about firm's who are not current advertisers or paying us anything. So when we write something positive, we're just being positive.
A quick note on navigation. The main branding is NJS Law with the official website matching at www.njslaw.co.uk The site is https secure for submitting your contact details via the online form. Currently www.njslaw.com takes you to a US firm and other variants such as www.njslegal.co.uk/.com are different firms too. However, alternate searches such as 'njs legal' all brought up the correct firm for us. Please note that Google has been making changes to local/review searches lately, so you may need to put the full name of a firm AND it's city in order to get the correct reviews to come up - i.e. 'njs law in macclesfield'.
We did originally promote a firm called Nicholson Jones Sutton Solicitors using the njslaw web address. You may therefore see some cached pages on our site and pages on others which might list both names interchangably and between being based in either Blackburn and Macclesfield. Some reviews for NJS Law may also appear under that firm name and location, so please be cautious when researching the firm.
Keeping such things in mind is always important no matter which firm you use. Always focus when doing things online, especially when it involves large sums of money being transferred back and forth. At the moment there don't seem to be many scams involving the case types NJS focus on (e.g. compensation claims). The majority of scammers seem to target property firms at the moment where thousands of people have handed their entire house deposit over to fraudsters sometimes just because of an official-looking email that told them the bank details have changed. It's not clear why so many are falling for this. If any of us received an email saying tens of thousands of pounds of ours suddenly needed to be sent to a totally different bank account, we'd pick up the phone and call the firm to check. So even if your solicitor is totally modern and videochats you about the Whatsapp messages you've been sending ... that doesn't mean to let your guard down about security.
"We will always be honest about whether we can help you, what you can expect from us, and what it will cost."
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General Notes: Legal Aid availability changes constantly, so ask up front. If you are looking for a career with NJS Law Ltd it's best to visit the website (www.njslaw.co.uk) and locate the correct phone/email contact details. Any quoted here will be for potential clients. Alternating or adding words such as Nicholson Jones Sutton Solicitors Ltd may bring up different background/reviews on the firm. Each firm's Law Society and/or SRA number should be on their site too.