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Date posted on UnjustIS

Ministers on rack over migrant row

"..the Home Office yesterday expanded its inquiry into the alleged immigration scam to include the activities of three UK legal firms, named in the memo as Collinsons, Solomons and Gersens."

Commando war hero turned solicitor dies

A solicitor who took part in one of the most heroic military operations of the Second World War, has died aged 85.

Helicopter Crash - Foul Play Ruled Out

Air accident investigators looking into the helicopter crash that killed a Russian oil firm boss ruled out foul play today.

Solicitor Settles Sex Discrimination Claim

A high-flying solicitor who was allegedly sacked hours after revealing she was pregnant reached a settlement with her former employers today.

Fraudsters prey on apathetic Brits

A survey out today suggests that more than eight million Britons would willingly disclose vital personal information to a cold caller. Men (22 per cent) are far more likely to give out information needed to commit identity fraud than women (14.5 per cent).

Law Society to answer back to Clementi reforms

The wide-sweeping review has put the Law Society’s dual role as trade union and regulator of the legal profession under threat.

Lawyer 'told to go after revealing pregnancy'

A leading City lawyer is claiming million of pounds in compensation after she was made redundant within hours of telling her bosses she was pregnant, a tribunal has heard.

New home has nasty surprise for family.

Lisa and Kevin Stewart say a succession of solicitors missed the 'ransom strip' which runs across the front of the newly-built house in Ashley Road.

Warning over fraudster bank e-mails

The mails generally tell people the bank has updated its anti-fraud systems and needs them to re-activate their account by clicking on a link.

Probe into law firm.

"A report into the circumstances surrounding the forced closure of Gidley and Company, of Stainland Road, should go before the Law Society next month."

Profit built on lies.

A crooked Birmingham solicitor involved in a series of fraudulent mortgage deals which made a fortune for his client has been kicked out of the profession.
City lawyer Colin Barr, 47, failed to disclose vital information to building societies as they lent money for a series of dubious property purchases.

Conman lawyer jailed for fraud

A lawyer who admitted defrauding clients out of nearly £700,000 has been jailed for six-and-a-half years.

Solicitors cash in on fight for pupil places.

Desperate parents are hiring lawyers to help get their children into popular schools after being turned down for places.

Solicitor cleared over immigration scam.

A NORWICH solicitor has been cleared of involvement in a multi-million pound illegal immigration scam. Tim Cary, 50, of Cargate Lane, Saxlington, and a partner with a Norwich-based solicitor Leathes Prior, was acquitted of two charges of helping illegal immigrants into the UK.

The home snatchers

Homeowners in their 50s and 60s are being swindled out of hundreds of thousands of pounds' worth of equity in their homes by a cruel type of fraud that leaves them facing a penniless retirement.

Solicitor in court for theft of clients' cash.

"Tim Farrant, 52, a former partner in Scarborough law firm Grunwells, yesterday appeared at York Crown Court to plead guilty to nine charges of theft."

FSA will confirm market-timing in UK

The Financial Services Authority, the City watchdog, will this week reveal the extent to which British investors have been exploited by hedge funds using a practice known as market-timing.

Solicitor in fraud probe.

Mystery surrounds the identity of a Teifi Valley solicitor under investigation over an alleged fraud.

Dentons in OSS complaint as Paris cash hole emerges.

"..the firm is to be reported to the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS) while, in a separate incident, its largest foreign office has uncovered a £200,000 funding gap."

Clementi signals death knell for Law Society’s regulatory brief.

The Law Society and the Bar Council have conceded that they face having to separate their regulatory and representative roles under Sir David Clementi’s increasingly radical review of legal services regulation

Solicitor In Cash Probe

AN Ulster solicitor is at the centre of a probe by the Northern Ireland Law Society, it can be revealed today. (Link Broken as at July 2006)

Criminal justice system in crisis.

LIVERPOOL'S criminal justice system could run out of new defence lawyers in the next five years because of low pay and increasing red tape.

'Contract to break legs of lawyer'.

A Solicitor jailed for embezzling money from his clients took out a £4,000 contract to have his former partner's legs broken, a jury heard.

Byers is right: greedy lawyers are a curse.

Reversing what has become a profitable pursuit for unscrupulous lawyers and determined victims of accidents is bound to be a slow process.

Man killed himself over £65,000 debts

Trial of trust goes horribly wrong

A rum do on the square does little to boost flagging recruitment figures.

L.A. Daily News

10 Mar 2004

Axe falls on lambasted legal watchdog.

The much-criticised Office for the Supervision of Solicitors is to be axed and a new consumer complaints service set up, divorced from the function of policing solicitors' professional conduct. Clare Dyer, Guardian

UK law firms served notice of new brief.

British solicitors and barristers face being governed by a tough new regulator in a fundamental shake-up of the "outdated, inflexible, over-complex and insufficiently accountable" way the legal profession is run.

Supreme court plans.

The leader of the Lords, Lady Amos warned: "The house has taken a very serious step." By voting for a special select committee, the unelected Lords had made it impossible for the democratically elected Commons to receive the bill in time to consider it this session. The government would consider what the consequences may be.

The £1m swindler

"Michael Clark, 66, lived the high life with the money he fleeced from unsuspecting investors...The scam has brought misery to hard-working people who hoped the investment scheme would provide a boost to their pensions."

Evening Standard

09 Mar 2004

Clifford Chance calls for Law Society to be stripped of dual role.

"We do not think it is tenable for the Law Society to continue both as a regulator and a representative body," director of public policy Hilary Platten said.

Legal Week

09 Mar 2004

Lords inflict supreme court blow.

The House of Lords has defeated government hopes of pushing through plans to abolish the post of lord chancellor and set up a supreme court.

BBC

09 Mar 2004

Law Regulation Chief to Unveil Reforms

Chairman of the insurer Prudential, David Clementi, has pledged to square up to any vested interests in the legal profession.

Legal 'fat cat' claws in £3m

Lord Grabiner, who is already one of the most sought-after QCs at the Bar, has found the field clear to charge as much as £3,000 an hour, according to senior solicitors who instruct him regularly. This is a huge hike on his standard £1,000 per hour rate.

Lawyers in short supply. (Some mistake, surely? UJ)

PEOPLE approaching the Citizens' Advice Bureau in Sheen are being denied the help they need because of a shortage of lawyers, it was claimed this week.

Richmond & Twickenham Times

05 Mar 2004

Equitable report to be out within days.

"There had been fears that parts of the document could be subject to confidentiality restrictions but it was confirmed yesterday the report will be uncensored and unabridged."

Guardian

05 Mar 2004

Is Blair keen to take on judges?

"It probably doesn't get much more serious than accusing a government of undermining the rule of law,..."

Tycoon's lawyer dies in crash.

A lawyer with close links to Russian tycoons Roman Abramovich and Boris Berezovsky has died in a mysterious helicopter crash.

This is London

04 Mar 2004

Firms set to take drastic laundering action.

Small firms are threatening to report their entire client lists to the National Criminal Intelligence Service

Accountancy Age

'Vulture' solicitors lambasted.

Lawyers who acted like 'vultures' by charging infirm miners while being paid by the government should be struck off by the Law Society or sued by the Department of Trade and Industry, MPs said yesterday. Update: Miners' Claims News 2004-2007

Guardian

Britain May Drop 'Crown' From Agency Name.

Plans to rename Britain's Crown Prosecution Service have alarmed monarchists and provoked a tempest in conservative newspapers.

Guardian

Government defends legal plans

Lord Woolf, said a supreme court that replaced the House of Lords would be a "second class institution". And he criticised David Blunkett's plans to limit the right of appeal for asylum seekers as "fundamentally in conflict with the rule of law".

BBC

New clampdown on money laundering

Lawyers, accountants, casino bosses and estate agents could all now face prison if they fail to report suspected fraud.

BBC

01 Mar 2004

Lawyers must accept truth will prevail.

The Irish Law Society ought to change its coat of arms. An insignia featuring a couple of snarling rottweilers and a Tiny Tears crying doll would constitute a much more fitting emblem than the pair of noble bloodhounds and Lady Justice statuette that adorn the existing crest.

Sunday Times - Ireland

29 Feb 2004

Lawyer stole from dead

A solicitor has been jailed for four years for stealing more than £278,000 from dead clients to fund his comfortable lifestyle.

BBC

28 Feb 2004

Solicitor Suspected of Smuggling Illegal Immigrants into the Country

The lawyer was stopped last night by detectives at Dover, with four Romanian nationals in his car returning from France.

The Scotsman

28 Feb 2004

Ex-con lawyer struck off

A CONVICTED murderer who qualified as a solicitor has been kicked out of the profession for trying to kill his wife.

Incredibly, Law Society officials were convinced he was safe to work as a lawyer following his release on life licence after he knifed a 17-year-old to death on a dance floor. (Well, the Law Society's not fussy about who it lets in, is it? UJ)

IC South London

27 Feb 2004

Sentencing of Former Solicitor Deferred Again

A former solicitor who stole £667,000 from his clients will have to wait a further three weeks to learn his fate, a court ruled today.

The Scotsman

26 Feb 2004

He kept swiping clients' money

FOR seven years, a crooked lawyer kept pocketing his clients' money. When he was caught last year, he had taken $1.68 million. (A nod to Asian reporting)

Straits Times

26 Feb 2004

Barrister 'jailed for judge insult'

BBC

26 Feb 2004

Lawyer jailed after £250,000 loan-fraud scam

A LAWYER who carried out loan frauds worth £250,000 to bail out his struggling legal practice was jailed for more than two years yesterday.

Scotsman

26 Feb 2004

Supreme Court to cost £32 million

Building a Supreme Court will cost up to £32 million, the Constitution Secretary, Lord Falconer, said yesterday as he unveiled the Bill that will replace the law lords and abolish the ancient office of Lord Chancellor.

Telegraph

26 Feb 2004

British justice a laughing stock.

Eyes of the high-tech world turn to Britain... and then turn to the heavens, in despair...

Bankers and lawyers forced to disclose clients' secrets.

LAWYERS, bankers and accountants would be forced to disclose confidential client information under sweeping new police powers being planned by ministers to tackle organised crime.

Times

25 Feb 2004

Review could revamp law firms

The head of the government's review of the legal industry is to float proposals for a new type of law firm which could change the shape of the profession.

FT

25 Feb 2004

£38m scam solicitor struck off

Paul Winter Morris (55), received a five-year prison term after he dishonestly siphoned some £8 million through his law firm’s client accounts.

Boiler rooms chug on

The number of unauthorised investment firms targeting the UK has doubled, according to a new warning from watchdog the Financial Services Authority. This leaves investors at higher risk of losing savings to unscrupulous offshore brokers than ever before.

Be robust about risk.

Compensation claims are starving the NHS of vital funds, and turning us into a society that feasts on blame

United Kingdom: Money Laundering – Giving Solicitors the Key to the Gate. "...there has been uncertainty over the exact nature of a solicitor’s duty to report suspicions of criminal activity to the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) and similar bodies."

Mondaq

20 Feb 2004

Harman tells police to change attitude to domestic violence. Harriet Harman, the Solicitor General, called for a culture change in police attitudes to domestic violence yesterday after figures showed forces were failing to record more than half of such crimes reported to them.

Independent

19 Feb 2004

High court orders inquiry into law firm. .. "enormous concern" by the conduct of a solicitor, Jane Loveday, who ran up a legal aid bill of up to £2m representing women claiming assaults by the struck-off gynaecologist Rodney Ledward. (Update June 2008 - Loveday struck off)

Guardian

19 Feb 2004

The full weight of the law. To succeed as a solicitor, you need to be assertive. That's not the same as being a thug, reports Leonie Lamont.

UK Law Society refers case to Solicitors Practice Unit

FSA targets 63 firms in ad clampdown. Watchdog's teeth sink into misleading financial product campaigns

UK Law Society digs deep,

... partner
Office for the Supervision of Solicitors responds to creditor's complaint

Consumers' Association seeks your feedback about shoddy solicitors in England

Alerts

22 Jan 2004

Crooked solicitor paid tax bill with client's money

A CROOKED solicitor who settled her tax bill with money due to a bereaved family has been thrown out of the profession.

Henley Standard

19 Jan 2004

House-scam lawyer to be struck off

"Crooked solicitor David Gatherer will be struck off after being jailed for cheating an elderly widow in a property scam."

Evening Chronicle

19 Jan 2004

I was ruined by Shipman 'lawyer', says ex-solicitor

A former solicitor has alleged that the fraudster Giovanni Di Stefano ruined his practice

Guardian

19 Jan 2004

Police probe Shipman lawyer claim

The man acting as lawyer for serial killer Harold Shipman and controversial property tycoon Nicholas van Hoogstraten is not entitled to practise law in the UK, the Guardian has learned.

BCCI trial puts Bank in dock

Creditors are finally getting the chance to find out how much the Bank of England and financial institutions knew before the collapse, writes Conal Walsh

Prosecutors Turn Up Parmalat Heat, Citigroup Sued

Offshore Business & News

07 Jan 2004

UK Pensions crisis explored in depth.

BBC

07 Jan 2004