Law Society of Scotland mobilises the excuses for crooked lawyers ahead of Justice 2 Committee inquiry

Scottish Lawyers are so stressed that they call a helpline and agency run by an infamously crooked lawyer to tell their problems ... and get them off the hook from clients who have just discovered their 'stressed lawyer' has stolen their money, their homes, ruined their lives, and a lot more besides ...

"Law Care" - which is run by James Ness - the crooked lawyer and big wig at the Law Society of Scotland (he is also deputy director of practice), who used many dirty tricks in getting crooked lawyers off the hook like Andrew Penman of Stormonth Darling Solicitors, The Square, Kelso ... is going on a charm offensive to the media in the wake of the new Bill of Law proposing full independent investigation & regulation of complaints against crooked lawyers .....

If you want to read about how crooked lawyer James Ness fiddles complaints and uses the most despicable dirty tricks akin to a terrorist that he can get away with against members of the public, all in the name of protecting his crooked colleague Mr Andrew Penman from a prosecution by the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal for his corruption, read this : http://petercherbi.blogspot.com/2006/03/gathering-of-crooks-at-law-society-of.html

I can just hear them now .... 'Oh, what will we do, what will we do ?' cry the staff of the Law Society and Law Care ? We have to get the public's sympathy on our side to prevent anyone taking a close look at how crooked our members really are .... oh, we have an idea ... let's do a publicity drive and 'humanise' some lawyers tales of stress and suffering in their work ... .and, surprise, here we have it ! ....

But .. how about we find out the regulatory history of those lawyers who are calling in to tell their stories of stress and being drunk on the job or being bullied by their pet cat .... oh ... no we can't do that of course ..

.... because as the complaints statistics reveal themselves - with about 5000 registered complaints (many more actually received though) and well over 2000 - 3000 each year for about 20 years .. there isn't one lawyer or one legal firm in Scotland who hasn't had a complaint against them ... sobering statistic, isnt it ? so, when you go to a lawyer, you really have to ask yourself a question ... "How crooked is my lawyer ?" ...
answer - crooked with a capital C ... and that is certainly something "Law Care" and the likes of James Ness don't want you to know about ...

How about this scenario ... your lawyer swindles you on your house sale ... he says ... oh I can't sell your house at the price you want - there's no takers ... then ... when you are desperate for a sale, someone magically comes in with a lower offer and you have to sell it to them ... you loose tens of thousands of pounds and maybe even end up homeless ? you try to complain to the Law Society of Scotland but get nowhere and you can't get a lawyer to sue the crooked lawyer who ripped you off ? ... well .. amidst all this and your attempt to recover the value of the funds your crooked lawyer ripped you off .. your crooked lawyer calls "Law Care" and tells them a sad story how they fell off a tree & hit their head, or they got a paper cut and it caused them to swindle you out of your house & money ....

... yes, that is exactly what "Law Care" is ... they get involved in the complaints process too and the Law Society of Scotland uses this to fiddle complaints against lawyers so they get off ... so that's "Law Care" for you ... a major organ of the legal profession set up to get crooked lawyers off the hook who rip off their clients - headed by one man, James Ness, who certainly knows what he is doing when it comes to getting crooked lawyers off the hook ...

oh yes ... you can bet "Law Care" will be having a go at the Justice 2 Committee of the Scottish Parliament to mitigate any punishments against crooked lawyers .. on grounds of 'stress' - but interestingly, if clients are mauled by crooked lawyers and their health ruined - we aren't allowed to tell of that or submit Doctors opinions as to how much the crooked lawyers have contributed to the demise of client's health .... that is a bias, isn't it ... one law for one, another law for the rest .. and surprise, the crooked lawyer wins again ..

Story from "The Herald", at :
http://www.theherald.co.uk/business/59721.html (Herald link now out of date)

Rise in calls to helpline from stressed lawyers
NEIL FITZGERALD April 10 2006

A helpline for Scottish lawyers suffering from stress, depression and other work-related problems has experienced a 70% rise in calls over the last two years.

LawCare, co-funded by the Law Society of Scotland, believes that many firms retain a "pull your socks up" culture which can inhibit some victims from reaching out for support.

Across the UK, the number of lawyers seeking help from LawCare leapt by 27% last year, said the charity, which provides independent confidential advice and support on heath problems. Two-thirds of calls related to depression and stress, while 20% concerned alcohol problems, mainly among men.

By contrast, of the 6% of calls which related to workplace bullying, almost all came from women. Indeed, female assistant solicitors were by far the largest group of callers with problems across a spectrum of issues.

In Scotland, LawCare has a separate helpline and team of advisers. Administrator Anna Jones said that increased publicity for the service was partly responsible for such a large rise in calls, but the trend was nevertheless worrying.

She added: "One big difference in Scotland is that far more male solicitors call up than in England and Wales. While the proportion of calls about alcohol problems coming from men is roughly similar, men were also in the majority in stress and depression cases. Men accounted for 60% of bullying cases compared with 35% in England and Wales."

Depression and stress accounted for a higher proportion of calls in Scotland, about 75%, against about two-thirds for the UK as a whole.

While a quarter of calls came from assistant solicitors, a slightly larger share were from partners – again mainly men. Some 18% of Scottish calls came from sole practitioners, also a higher proportion than elsewhere in Britain.

"To some extent the latter figure can perhaps be explained by the larger proportion of sole practitioners in Scotland compared with south of the border," explained Trish McLellan, LawCare's co-ordinator for Scotland.

McLellan practised as a solicitor in England for more than 10 years before moving to Edinburgh with her family. "It is notable that three-quarters of calls are stress-related.

LawCare originally came into Scotland to address what was understood to be a substantial alcohol problem in the profession and the first calls were mainly on this subject.

"However, it quickly became clear that stress was the predominant problem – in a lot of cases alcohol abuse develops from (stress)."

The Law Society of Scotland's deputy director, professional practice, James Ness, chairs LawCare's board of trustees. "The society in Scotland is very supportive," McLellan said. "I do a lot of teaching with them, particularly on continuing professional development courses and with younger solicitors.

"While sole practitioners are perhaps under more pressure and more exposed, the Scottish society is perhaps closer to them because the membership is smaller compared to England.

"I think firms too are helping people more with stress-related problems but it is still a very stigmatised issue. There is still quite a lot of the 'get on with it' attitude around."

A spokeswoman for the society said: "In addition to the update courses with LawCare, we also provide a lot of confidential advice on practical, business-related problems to members.

"But when it comes to more personal and health-related problems coming out of work, many might be reluctant to reveal these to us. That is why we supported the establishment of LawCare as an entirely independent, confidential support service."

LawCare's confidential helpline number
in Scotland is 0800 279 6869.

Law Care website ; http://www.lawcare.org.uk/