KAREN O'NEILL & CO

I instructed Karen O’Neill & Co for private family court proceedings and spent over £7,700. Unfortunately, I was left very disappointed with the service and ultimately continued as a litigant in person. I felt the approach was passive at key stages, with little proactive strategy to progress matters, and I didn’t feel my evidence or proposed safeguarding options were used effectively.

When I raised a formal complaint, the response relied heavily on “it would have been futile” and focused on procedure rather than addressing the substance of my concerns about advocacy, case progression and value for money. Polite in tone, but I came away feeling dismissed and no clearer on why certain steps weren’t taken.

Based on my experience, I wouldn’t use the firm again.

Absolutely brilliant firm. Very friendly environment. I was greeted warmly and offered a drink. Ian Cunningham was very generous with his time and information and advise. I have sought a free consultation hour and I was given more than I expected to get in terms of thorough examination of the processes for divorce and stages and even options.
I left feeling confident and with clarity.
Ian also went beyond by sending emails of clarification and documents supporting my case. I am grateful for the time I was given and the advise. I will definitely with no hesitation have this firm represent me in court once at that stage.

Karen is a lovely person to talk to and her team are equally kind, would highly recommend.

Karen O'neill was exceptionally slow dealing with a 'simple' case. What should have took 5 months ended up taking 18 months due to Karen O'neill failing to take care proper care of the case. Paperwork got neglected and indeed Karen sent the incorrect files to the court. Karen then tried to blame me for their negligence despite their client changing their mind. Karen almost threatened me to accept their error or I'll be forced to pay for them to send the correct paperwork to court. Wrong. You should be heavily fined for this especially given how much solicitors charge but thanks to the bent law you get away with it. The delay obviously meant costs spiralled to their favour as you'd expect. I'd be waiting several weeks at a time for responses from them. Emails also got lost in cyberspace. They did admit their slow progress but still very unprofessional with deadline after deadline missed due to them neglecting the case. Truly abysmal service in every way. Avoid at all costs.

Karen has been reliable, informative and efficient throughout. I would not hesitate to recommend this firm.
(Think my ex-husband was a little annoyed I had instructed them before he did hence his 1 star review!)
Alex Purton (formerly Tinnion)