Some questions for The Law Society

It fails to act on allegations of serious misconduct and criminal activities amongst its own members.

Steven (Richard) Daultrey was, on 18 November 2004, inexplicably restored to the Roll of solicitors after having lied to the Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal. So much for the standards of the Law Society, which readmits liars and cheats.

1.	Steven Daultrey was struck off as a solicitor in 1982 for lying to clients and stealing their money. Regardless, he was admitted as a solicitor to the firm of Francis Read in 1993. Francis Read claims that Daultrey had previously been working with other solicitors. What records to you have in relation to Daultrey's employment with solicitors between 1982 and 1993?
2.	Francis Read claims to have obtained permission from you to employ Daultrey as a clerk. Did you give such permission? Two of your own officers deny having any records of Daultrey's employment by solicitors since his striking off in 1982.
3.	If you did give permission, what caveats did you impose on Francis Read's employment/admission of Daultrey?
4.	If you did not give such permission, what action do you propose taking against Francis Read for having acted against your own rules, which carries a mandatory penalty of striking off in cases involving the employment of struck off solicitors? Francis Read continues to practice. Why?
5.	In 1995 Steven Daultrey left Francis Read's firm to join the solicitors firm of Donnellan & Co from where he held out as being "a solicitor of twenty years' standing". The Thames Valley Police at this time had an interest in Daultrey's activities, so what action did you take against him for holding out thus? The SDT's findings in the Donnellan matter are damning and conclusive.
6.	The Law Society closed down Donnellan & Co on 21 February 1996 amid a police investigation and allegations of financial irregularities including misappropriation of funds. As Daultrey had been promising investment funds for a business he had promoted jointly with one of his clients, a convicted fraudster, what action did you take against Daultrey?
7.	In 1997 Daultrey moved to Overseas Company Registration Agents (OCRA) from where he continued to hold out as being a solicitor of many years' standing. I alerted you to this fact in 1999/2000, so what action did you take?
8.	Two of your own officers in November 2002 have confirmed independently that the Law Society has no records of Daultrey's employment with solicitors' firms since his striking off in 1982. Do you routinely destroy such records, or do you not keep them at all?
9.	Tell me, please - just how interested are you in protecting your integrity as a regulator, and how much importance do you place on protecting the interests of the public and charitable and business communities?
10.	It is unlawful for an unqualified person to hold out as being a solicitor. Do you hold the law in contempt?
11.	Will you make available a list or database of all solicitors and lawyers who have been struck off or disciplined? (About to happen, at last. 03 Jan 2008)
12.	You have recently restored Daultrey to the Roll - have you lost your minds?
13.	Steven Daultrey has recently been employed (admitted to) by a Gibraltar firm of solicitors called Marrache & Co, which also has offices in Hanover Square, London, where Daultrey is based. The Law Society shows Daultrey as a solicitor admitted since 1977 and ignores the period from (1982 - 2004) when he was a struck off the Roll and ineligible to practice as a solicitor, revealing exactly how corrupt and duplicitous it has become. The UK is now a fraudsters' paradise

Update October/November 2005 The Law Society seems to have responded, in The Law Society Gazette.

"The SDT granted the application of the applicant, of Glendale, London Road, Balcombe, West Sussex RH17 6HT, that his name be restored to the roll. The applicant had been struck off the roll on 3 June 1982.

The SDT was in no doubt that the applicant had achieved a remarkable degree of personal rehabilitation. He had been supported in his application for restoration by his current employers, his former partner and a wide range of people who were leaders in their own professions, and the SDT had particularly taken into account the very considerable support given to the applicant by the police. The tribunal had been impressed by the applicant’s career history and in particular the occasion when at the risk of detriment to himself and his family he had reported a fraud perpetrated by his employers to the appropriate authorities and had taken steps to minimise the effect of such fraud upon those who would have been the victims of it to a substantial degree. The SDT had also been impressed by the applicant’s successful career in the field of financial regulation and the prevention of financial fraud and money laundering.

The SDT had concluded that the case put by the applicant was wholly exceptional, and that he had demonstrated that he was apparently fit to be a solicitor, that the public would consider that the solicitors’ profession would be proud to have the applicant as a member, and that public confidence in the profession as a whole would not be damaged by his successful application. The circumstances in which the applicant had offended were exceptional, and his actions in 1980 had been aberrational. There was no order for costs."

"The former solicitor had been struck off the Roll in 1982. He had been an assistant to a sole practitioner where he had been stretched beyond his limits at a time of turmoil in his personal life. His misconduct had involved breaches of the Solicitors Accounts Rules, utilising clients’ money and misleading clients. Mitigating circumstances were not made known to the Tribunal making the striking off order.

More than 20 years after being struck off the former solicitor now sought to be restored to the Roll. He had over the years found various temporary employments, some in firms of solicitors. Later he worked for an oil company and studied Russian. He became a Compliance and Money Laundering Officer for an international and substantial company and acquired an expertise in the field of money laundering prevention. He had trained police officers and his application for restoration to the Roll was supported by senior police officers, members of the legal profession and businessmen, all of whom spoke highly of his integrity and trustworthiness. The Tribunal concluded that this was an exceptional case and ordered that the former solicitor be restored to the Roll."