1. Check with your solicitor the status of the person you dealt with, i.e the person you discussed your case with and who wrote to you, i.e. the fee earner. Is he or she a qualified solicitor, a qualified legal executive or a trainee solicitor or trainee legal executive or clerk?
2. If a solicitor, check his or her qualifications at the library. Look to see if his or her name is listed with the other names below the line at the bottom of the page. Large firms may only give the names of consultants and senior solicitors but solicitors with small firms are generally listed. Check to see if he has a practising certificate. Call the Law Society to see if he is registered there - not all solicitors necessarily are. Write to the firm and ask explicitly.
N.B. Sometimes discredidted solicitors are allowed to work under strict supervision in another capacity, awaiting reinstatement. Sometimes they operate illegally, as opposed to legal sole practioners.
3. Check with ILEX if the fee earner is a Legal Executive, i.e. Fellow paying a yearly fee. Sometimes unqualified clerks or trainee legal executives are called "Legal Executives" which is misleading. N.B. Clerks and trainees should work under close supervision.