What good is new legislation to remedy an issue of corruption & public confidence in our legal system, without a review of the past ?
Not much good to anyone, really ... certainly of no use to those countless people who have struggled over the years, even, decades, against the odds after they had lost everything at the hands of their lawyer, and against the legal professions's system of self regulation of complaints against crooked lawyers by the Law Society of Scotland & Faculty of Advocates.
Well, there has to be an answer & a solution to this problem .. as there must literally be thousands of people from over the years who have had complaints against their lawyers made a mess of by the Law Society of Scotland .. and with the passing of the Legal Profession & Legal Aid (Scotland) Bill, it's now time to consider this question.
As a starter to what I hope will be a productive discussion & eventual solution & settlement of this thorny issue, I have raised a petition at the Scottish Parliament, which you can view here.
Petition by Peter Cherbi calling for the Scottish Parliament to seek an effective, transparent and wholly independent means of review of cases of alleged injustice, caused by actions and decisions of the Law Society of Scotland and Faculty of Advocates, relating to the regulation of complaints made by members of the public against the legal profession, either by giving such powers to the new Scottish Legal Complaints Commission or by setting up an independent review commission.
You can also read my submission to the Justice 2 Committee consideration on the Legal Profession & Legal Aid (Scotland) Bill, here : Submission by Peter Cherbi to Justice 2 Committee on the LPLA Bill
I have to confess, I am not a person who has much confidence in the Petitions system of the Scottish Parliament .. principally because I know of so much which goes on behind the scenes to kill off the controversial petitions or those which could actually do some good for the country. Let's say .. its a mixture of politicians wanting to kill off the public's ideas, while taking credit for the whole thing at a later date, and pure simple old corruption, where professions & interests who could be badly affected by such nefarious ideas as transparency, honesty & increased consumer rights, lobby, nay .. order the Parliament to drop any such petition which they care to kill off.
However, that aside, it's definitely time for the debate to start on how to resolve the legal profession's 'sins of the past', where countless complaints, frauds, fiddles, & more have been covered up by the Law Society of Scotland to allow crooked lawyers to carry on practicing, at the expense of ruining members of the public & denying a measure of justice which may indeed have prevented the lack of public confidence in lawyers self regulating lawyers getting to the stage it has.
When I use the term 'debate' .. I'm not talking about a useless debate lasting a few years, allowing more stalling tactics from the likes of the hateful Douglas Mill & his colleagues over at Drumsheugh Gardens to prevent the long suffering clients from having their cases finally resolved. I'm talking about the many victims we already know about, and those we don't, coming forward to have the wrongs made against them put right properly, taking into account the wasted years of having to deal with a system which was widely known to be corrupt by everyone from the public to the media, to Government..
We all know who has stood by while the likes of the Law Society of Scotland has carried on fiddling complaints. I'm talking now, of course, about the Scottish Executive and the many politicians who have had constituents writing to them for decades over problems with crooked lawyers, the Law Society of Scotland, and the system of handing complaints against legal representatives in Scotland - which has been an absolute farce - designed that way of course, to allow the legal profession to do as it pleased, and handle it's own dirty laundry, where it could arbitrarily dismiss complaints or fiddle their outcomes, effectively starve & boycott the public from obtaining legal representation to resolve issues of critical & severe complaints .. with there being no one else to turn to .. all this going on while the Scottish Executive stood by, in full knowledge of the situtation, where people suffered previously, lost their wealth, their health, livelihoods .. and nothing was done .. nothing at all, to help anyone.
We have already seen how the likes of Douglas Mill, Chief Executive of the Law Society, has personally intervened in client complaints to delay & fiddle their outcomes, so much that he lied to a Parliamentary investigation, when faced with contradictory content from his own memos .. but as if to prove such a man's feeling of omnipotence, Mill then went on to threaten the Parliament with legal action if it didn't amend the LPLA Bill to the legal profession's own liking. How can the public deal with such a hateful figure ? a man as Mill, who is obviously consumed with hate & ill feeling towards the very clients who provide his membership with their income ...
Here are some of the articles I have covered on the actions of the legal profession when it comes to regulating complaints against its own, to demonstrate the conduct of the likes of Douglas Mill & his colleagues against clients :
The Corrupt Link Revealed - How the Law Society of Scotland manages client complaints & settlements
Scotsman responds to Peter Cherbi and the Herald with a living eulogy of Douglas Mill
Scottish Legal Awards - Lawyer Lawyer on the wall, who is the most crooked of us all ?
Using the Master Policy of the Law Society of Scotland to sue a negligent lawyer is impossible
Legal Profession & Legal Aid Bill finally passed by Scottish Parliament, with amendments.
Having read the above, and many other reports I have made over the last year on this site, I'm sure you will agree, its time for the sins of the past to be put right, and those victims of the legal profession who have suffered previously because of the corrupt practices of self regulation should have their say, and be compensated for their interminable losses.
I am encouraging all of you, to come forward and support this petition, or write one of your own and submit it to the Parliament, and to pick up the campaign, and make it a strong one, to bring a fully independent review & settlement system into speedy existence to remedy the disgraceful sins of the past of the people we entrusted our legal business to, but who failed us in the most disgraceful way possible - with Government & politicians looking on & doing nothing to answer our pleas for help.
It is time to take back justice from these crooks, and end this shame of Scotland's legal system, where the public have indeed, been injured by Scottish Law and those who sought to protect their colleagues, at the expense of us & our lives.
Good petition, but I'm sure the Law Society will be out to kill it as you say.
ReplyDeleteGood luck.
Are you proposing the Executive settle these claims or the legal profession, or jointly ?
ReplyDeleteYou state the Executive stood by while these alleged injustices occurred.Do you think they would allow your review commission to bring all that up again ?
How about all those msps you say did nothing.Do you think they want voters telling everyone their msps did nothing for them ?
Pete, sorry it wont get past the lawyers for publication, but at least you get to write your own version of it on the web.
ReplyDeleteGood luck from those of us who stuck by you
I agree.
ReplyDeleteThese crooked lawyers should be made to answer for what they did to people.
Best of luck for it Mr Cherbi
Great stuff, keep it up.
ReplyDeleteShow those bloody lawyers a thing or two.
I think I will tell a few mates of this, I know a few people who have been robbed by lawyers
Good Luck Peter, you will need it because Douglas Mill will be threatening Holyrood on this one too.
ReplyDeleteMake the Executive pay up on this.They stood by long enough as you said, and knew ALL ABOUT HOW CORRUPT THE LAW SOCIETY IS.
ReplyDeleteThat petitions committee is just as crooked as the Law Society. You will find that out soon enough.
ReplyDeleteLOL what do you expect ? Would Edinburgh's cocaine & heroin den at Holyrood do ANYTHING for the public willingly ?
ReplyDeleteHi Pete
ReplyDeleteHope you get it passed, but sounds like the Parliament will mess you around.
Wonder how many bribes the lawyers will offer the msps to drop it ?
When is it due to come before the Petitions Committee ?
ReplyDeleteLooks like a good petition, and about time too.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with it Peter
Good idea.
ReplyDeleteI will be putting my experiences to this petition too after what the Law Society did to me
Thanks for your comments & emails everyone, another hot topic it seems.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think the legal profession should be made to compensate its victims, and I mean proper damages payments - for how lives, livelihoods, businesses, & families have been ruined - to keep crooked lawyers in their jobs so they can go on ripping off more of the public.
The Executive too, shares plenty of blame for standing by while all this was going on. I know many who have written to the Executive over the years, either themselves, or through their politicians, and got the same tired response that the Law Society was respomsible for regulating the legal profession .. etc ..
The Executive knew for many years how corrupt self regulation was - they had been provided with plenty evidence from members of the public - so they are equally as guilty as the legal profession and must shoulder some of the compensation costs. After all, they could have cleared up regulation of lawyers years ago, and done a lot more than they did.
To all of those people who have complained against their lawyer & had the complaint messed about, or received little or no compensation for the financial & personal losses - It is in all of your interests to support this petition - its for you.
Yes, make them both pay for this mess.
ReplyDeleteThose fucking lawyers who send their families to private schools and have big houses on the back of stolen clients money should fork out or be punished for whats been going on.
Well Peter, you certainly have some fandom over at the Law Society of Scotland.
ReplyDeleteMill,Yelland & co have an unhealthy obsession with you over this campaign of yours.I think anyone else would have probably bought you off by now.
Im amazed you got as far as this against lawyers.
ReplyDeleteMust be horrible in Scotland to deal with lawyers and courts.A real fix up between then.
Keep up the good work !
Good work on the petition Mr Cherbi.I will look into this further.
ReplyDeletegood to see someone doing this.should have been done a long time ago.
ReplyDeletethe papers were ordered to throw the story ? so much for the free press in scotland
ReplyDeleteAndrew Penman is robber.
ReplyDeleteHe's ruined more than you, I know several people he has ruined property sales for and nothing was done about it by the Law Society.Some of his friends end up getting the properties.
There are plenty more like him in the Borders.
Peter Cherbi from the Scotsman message board ?
ReplyDeleteWow what a site ! You dont like lawyers then, do you!
Good luck kid with your stuff, looks like you all deserve a pay off for what those bastards did to you.
all the best from Stirling!
Excellent petition. I agree with your aims.
ReplyDeleteAbout time these criminals were made to pay for what they did to clients
Your postings in the Scotmsan seem to be upsetting the lawyers again, Peter.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the paper is using you as a counterbalance against all that drivel they have to write about the legal profession.
Keep up the good work, and good luck on your petition, I think you certainly deserve it, and the rest of those ruined clients.
Hi Pete
ReplyDeleteAny reply from the petitions committee yet ?
Saw this in the Evening news - Peter Cherbi, Edinburgh / 7:23pm 5 Feb 2007
ReplyDelete"I'm sure Edinburghsucks.com will have something to say about it, but it seems that most Planning Depts of Councils are awash with corruption.
Worst I've seen myself was the Borders where it was so bad, I often wondered if they might start printing images of Councillors & Dept officials on fivers !"
The Borders is that bad ?
Archie - yes, I will run an article on it when I get time, been out working on a story with a friend .. should be a good one but too important for here, just keep watching the news !
ReplyDelete#whatsinaname
Thanks for your comments, well who knows, but at least they give me the chance to debunk some of the legal chatter from the unmentionables.
#anomymous - yes the Borders is that bad ! That's why I got out !
I will support your petition Mr Cherbi.
ReplyDeleteI made a complaint to the Law Society over my lawyer who undersold investments because I caught him selling a house to a colleague.
The Client Relations Office (Yelland) kept saying there was no financial loss to us, in the face of all the evidence and we got no compensation from the Guarantee Fund (corrupt).
I suspect from readig your side there are many like us and your ideas should be put into action.
Keep up the good work and make sure you feature on Mr Yelland
Good effort, hope it gets through the wasters on the Petitions Committee.
ReplyDeleteWould you like to bet the lawyers have already offered them bribes to kill it ?
Thanks for this, about time too.Will pass it around
ReplyDelete