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Date posted on UnjustIS

Government's brief is a pretty expensive silk

The lawyer representing the Government in its court case against 55,000 Railtrack private shareholders is charging almost as much for his team's services as the £900,000 the action group still needs to raise.

Telegraph

30 Apr

Fraudster told to pay back £1.4m

A MORTGAGE broker jailed for fraud has been ordered to pay back nearly £1.5m he fleeced from banks – or face another 10 years in prison.

Noel Ward, from Bradford, is already serving six years after being convicted of five counts of obtaining a money transfer by deception. Five fraudulent applications for mortgage advances were made for properties where the price quoted was higher than the actual price. At the centre of the fraud was the now-closed solicitors' practice TI Clough of Bradford.

Yorkshire Post

Serious Fraud Office release

30 Apr

Shame of our legal system
Shortly before he killed himself, David Evans told his wife: "I am not meant for this world." He hanged himself because he could not face the shame of going to court for assaulting three teenage yobs.
How many times have his despairing comments been repeated by millions of other decent, honest people who simply do not understand the world they live in today?

Express & Star

30 Apr

Law firm's payout to 'betrayed' ex-miners

A LAW firm has been forced to pay out over £100,000 to 13 former Yorkshire miners after handling their claims for compensation negligently. Some of the claims against Doncaster solicitors Shaw & Co were prompted by a Yorkshire Post investigation into the Yorkshire Compensation Recovery Service, which referred clients to the firm. Update: Miners' Claims News 2004-2007

Yorkshire Post

28 Apr

Tough litigation lawyer will be FSA’s chief enforcer

A COMBATIVE litigator known for her uncompromising style was named yesterday as the new chief investigator and prosecutor of City wrongdoers. Margaret Cole, currently the commercial disputes partner in the London office of US law firm White & Case, will join the Financial Services Authority as director of enforcement, the head of a 200-strong team. Ms Cole, 43, is to replace the acting head, David Mayhew, in July. Mr Mayhew stepped in temporarily after Andrew Procter quit suddenly in January for a compliance job at Deutsche Bank.

Job that pitches politics against the law

Sir Francis Bacon, a predecessor of Lord Goldsmith as attorney general, described the job of the government's senior law officer as "the painfullest task in the realm". The incumbent may wish he had scrutinised the job description more closely before giving up his million-pound practice at the commercial bar.

Lawyer stole £825,000 from taxman

A solicitor stole more than £825,000 from the Inland Revenue by paying money into a bogus bank account he had set up in the name of "Ian Revue", a court heard yesterday. Ian Macfarlane lived in an "idyllic" country house worth £750,000, drove a Mercedes, educated his children at an independent prep school and used the proceeds of his crime "like a cashpoint".Macfarlane, 44, a partner at Traill & Co, in Blandford, Dorset,...

Telegraph

27 Apr

Immigration scam lawyer jailed
A London solicitor has been jailed for nine years for organising a £1m illegal immigration scam.
Chris Christodoulides, from Enfield, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to defraud the secretary of state at Croydon Crown Court.

BBC

This is London

Times Online

25 Apr

Woman earns £100,000 helping students cheat

A woman who earns £100,000 a year helping students cheat their way to everything from degrees to PhDs has said she doesn't care if people think she is a 'degenerate'.

This is London

25 Apr

UK bottom of class as social mobility gap grows

Key points
• UK has worst record on social mobility of developed nations, report finds
• Class barrier more easily broken by those born in 1958 than 1970
• Education gap between social classes grows in UK but is static in US

The Scotsman

25 Apr

Barrister is disbarred after calling his instructing solicitor a 'nigger' (Redacted July 2008)

An Oxford-educated lawyer has become the first barrister to be disbarred for racism after he called a senior black solicitor a "nigger" and suggested he returned to Ghana. Joseph Sykes made his comments (about returning to Ghana) in a letter to a London solicitor, Philip Glah,...

Bugging Claims of Reality Show Winner

The winner of a TV reality show for would-be MPs today claimed he was being bugged by political rivals in Michael Howard’s Folkestone and Hythe constituency. Rodney Hylton-Potts won ITV1’s Pop Idol-style reality show Vote For Me after promising an end to immigration and the castration of paedophiles.

The Scotsman

22 Apr

Judge attacks 'scandalous' CPS blunders in fraud case

A fraud and corruption prosecution which has run up about £10m in legal costs collapsed yesterday because of "wilful" prosecution failures branded "quite scandalous" by a crown court judge.

Guardian

21 Apr

Solicitors Fined over Accounts Scandal

They faced allegations relating to accounting breaches at Carrick, Carr and Wright, which had offices in Hull and Beverley until September 2002, when it was closed down by the Law Society.

The Scotsman and

Yorkshire Post

20 Apr

Lawyers fined after crooked cashier flees to US

Jane Charnley
SIX solicitors involved in a scandal at a former Hull law firm were yesterday fined for accounting breaches and another was reprimanded – but a colleague accused of fraud who fled to the United States escaped justice. The Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal cleared the seven solicitors of deliberate dishonesty. Kevin Rooney, who worked as a cashier for the law firm, Carrick Carr Wright, which is now closed, paid himself an unauthorised bonus to buy a luxury holiday villa.But while he jetted off to the US, his former bosses were left to face the tribunal, where they had to admit breaches of solicitors' accounts rules, because as partners, they were liable, even if they were unaware what was happening.

Yorkshire Post

19 Apr

Rover accounts mismatch widens to £554m

The complexity of the task facing the regulatory accounting team probing Rover's accounts was underlined yesterday by further scrutiny of Rover's public books by the Guardian, which indicates the company received £100m more from BMW than previously realised.

Guardian

19 Apr

CONSUMER AND LEGAL GROUPS PUBLISH 'MANIFESTO FOR JUSTICE'

A broad-based coalition of eight consumer interest and legal organisations has today published a 'manifesto for justice', calling on the three main political parties to commit themselves to upholding core values in the justice system.

Bar Council

18 Apr

Watchdog criticises Faculty of Advocates

SCOTLAND'S legal services ombudsman has publicly criticised the Faculty of Advocates for refusing to comply with her recommendations. In an unprecedented move, Linda Costelloe Baker has placed a public notice highlighting her concerns over the faculty's handling of a complaint against an advocate.

The Herald

15 Apr

Re: LAWYER IN CASH PROBE IS CLOSED

Link removed

13 Apr

Defence crisis threatens our justice system

"...criminal defence representation is in a state of crisis almost entirely brought about by a lack of adequate resourcing. While police and prosecuting authorities are fully paid and pensioned employees of the state whose interests have been well looked after, the opposite is the case for criminal defence lawyers, who are almost entirely dependent on the legal aid fund for remuneration."

The Scotsman

13 Apr

Hospital lawyers target 'ambulance chasers'

A hospital is locked in a fight with a team of "ambulance-chasing" lawyers who have been targeting its accident and emergency unit trying to sign up new clients. One patient with a broken leg was approached by an agent and asked how he suffered the injury and if he wanted to sue.

Telegraph

13 Apr

KF Concept: Kevin Foster

"This is the fifteenth public statement that we (the FSA) have made about KF Concept. It is an update on the position reached in the bankruptcy proceedings against Mr Kevin Foster (Mr Foster). And it provides some information about our response to the possibility of an Individual Voluntary Arrangement as an alternative to bankruptcy proceedings." Updated July 2005

FSA

12 Apr

Adviser stole £1m from clients

A Norfolk financial adviser has admitted stealing more than £1m from clients. Matt Pearce, 41, admitted 18 sample counts of deception when he appeared at Norwich Crown Court. The charges relate to seven victims, with the biggest loser allegedly being cheated out of £127,000. The offences took place between 2001 and 2002. It is understood the investors were offered high-yield investment schemes and ended up losing their cash.

Eastern Daily Press

12 Apr

Trial of Equitable directors and auditor starts

Equitable Life's court action against its former directors and auditors Ernst & Young kicked off on Monday as the UK life assurer began its battle to get 4 billion pounds damages for their alleged role in its near-collapse. The technical nature of the trial, due to last all year, was underlined as Iain Milligan QC, counsel for Equitable, took Justice Langley through financial calculations and legal decisions that led Equitable near to bankruptcy in 2000.

Reuters

12 Apr

Scargill's lawyers face being struck off

LAWYERS acting for Arthur Scargill’s union face the threat of being struck off for taking a cut of compensation payouts for sick miners. (Content edited until link restored)

Times (link broken.)

10 Apr

OLSO comes under fire from PCS for case backlog

The UK’s largest civil service trade union has slammed the Office of the Legal Services Ombudsman (OLSO) for failing to deal with a backlog of cases, as the body prepares for post-Clementi reforms on complaints handling. The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) claims nearly 250 cases remain outstanding at OLSO, the agency charged with overseeing the complaints handling of professional legal bodies like the Law Society.

Legal Week

07 Apr

Collins Stewart wins libel damages from solicitor

Terry Smith, chief executive of City firm Collins Stewart Tullett, won another landmark legal settlement yesterday in a case arising from allegations of insider dealing made by James Middleweek, a former employee.

Guardian

06 Apr

Former FD and magistrate sentenced for tax fraud

A former FD and magistrate today received a suspended nine-month sentence and fine for tax fraud.

Accountancy Age

06 Apr

Crack down on 'cowboy accountants'

THE GOVERNMENT has been urged to crack down on "cowboy accountants" in a bid to protect small businesses and individuals from receiving harmful business advice from unqualified advisers.

IC Wales

06 Apr

Ex-Solicitor 'Milked £200,000 from Clients'

A former solicitor from Devon allegedly stole more that £200,000 from his clients while executing their wills, a court heard today. Phillip Huxtable, 57, from Barnstaple, was appointed to work on behalf of executors of wills when he began “milking” client accounts, Bournemouth Crown Court heard.

Jailed July 2005

The Scotsman

06 Apr

Collins Stewart wins libel damages

Collins Stewart and chief executive Terry Smith yesterday won undisclosed libel damages from the solicitor that represented sacked former analyst James Middleweek.

Telegraph

06 Apr

Lawyer withdraws race claim

Kamlesh Bahl, the first Asian woman to become vice-president of the Law Society, has withdrawn her claims of racial and sexual discrimination against the solicitors' professional body, five years after she resigned following allegations that she had bullied staff.

Telegraph

06 Apr

Foster is to design Supreme Court

One of the UK's top architects, Lord Foster, has been chosen to help create London's new Supreme Court building. A team has been awarded a £30m contract to redesign and renovate Middlesex Guildhall in Parliament Square.

BBC

02 Apr

How tube fraud case gravy train paid out £20m

A breakdown of how the £20m of largely wasted legal fees was spent in the aborted Jubilee line corruption trial has been revealed. The Legal Services Commission, which administers legal aid, disclosed the figures after a freedom of information request from the Guardian.

Guardian

01 Apr

Law Society official 'dismissed Asians as reliable little workers'

The Law Society is facing a £1m claim for sex and race discrimination that threatens to plunge the solicitors' governing body into a bitter internal war.

Independent

01 Apr

The Inadequacy of The Law Society in Handling a Complaint by a Bexley Family Against A Local Solicitor whose actions lead to a loss of thousand of pounds - Debate in the House of Commons lead by Nigel Beard MP

Press Release

Hansard. (Law Society Complaints)

29 Mar