Monday, September 28, 2009

Revelations show Legal Aid paid to ‘crooked lawyers’ with criminal convictions as Law Society fears grow over 'regulatory disclosure'

SLABLegal Aid has been paid to solicitors with criminal records & poor complaints histories. Sources close to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission have today claimed that lawyers in Scotland who have criminal convictions for everything from driving offences to embezzlement, and even longer client complaints records on everything from fraud to habitual negligence, have, without any checks on their status, received public funding from the Scottish Legal Aid Board to defend accused persons, criminals and engage in copious amounts of expensive civil legal aid work usually resulting in unnecessarily long drawn out court cases.

Law Society of ScotlandThe Law Society of Scotland is not obliged to inform clients or the Scottish Legal Aid Board of solicitors criminal records. At the root of the problem seems to be the Law Society of Scotland’s exemption to Freedom of Information legislation, which I have covered before HERE. However, and quite astonishingly, according to sources at the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, there is no official requirement on the Law Society of Scotland or even the SLCC itself to inform the publicly funded Scottish Legal Aid Board that solicitors, paralegals and other workers employed in the legal profession who have their fees paid for by legal aid funds, have criminal records or are currently charged with criminal offences or have poor complaints records in their service & conduct towards clients.

A legal insider today claimed the lack of any statutory agreements between the legal profession and the taxpayer funded Scottish Legal Aid Board was no accident. He said : "It has never been in the legal profession's best interests to disclose to anyone the fact there are a growing number of its members and employees who have been convicted of criminal offences. It should therefore be of little surprise to the public that no requirements for disclosure to bodies such as the Legal Aid Board exist, due to the fact the Law Society has continually resisted legislation or agreements which would require it to disclose any information on its members."

He continued : "This issue doesn't just relate to criminal convictions. The number and types of complaints against solicitors and their respective law firms should quite properly be disclosed to the Legal Aid board as it may be the case that a particular solicitor who is currently under investigation for financial irregularities as a result of client complaints, is perversely receiving vast amounts of legal aid funding to continue what he is doing. That just has to be wrong."

A senior solicitor, asked for comment said : "The Law Society seems to feel if such information was obliged to be disclosed to the Legal Aid Board, those affected solicitors and their legal firms would, quite rightly in my view, be excluded from receiving legal aid funding.

He continued : “Client applications for civil legal aid contain a wide variety of questions, to ensure a claim is justified. If the client wilfully conceals information, they may be subject to a criminal prosecution. It therefore seems justifiable to ask solicitors more about themselves before legal aid is handed over enabling them to represent their client. For instance, it may be the client has a good case but a bad solicitor. Perhaps introducing checks on solicitors backgrounds would improve services offered to clients and increase the chances of success in litigation funded by legal aid.”

Insiders at the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, appalled at the situation, have today revealed there are secret moves currently underway to ‘improve’ information disclosure on 'crooked lawyers' to organisations such as the Scottish Legal Aid Board, which is a start in the right direction. However, one example being referred to in the secret discussions, as a basis for increased disclosure from the Law Society to statutory bodies, being the 'Memorandum of Understanding' between the Law Society and the troubled Financial Services Authority, has produced little results over the many years of its existence.

A financial expert claimed the Memorandum of Understanding which exists between the Financial Services Agency and the Law Society of Scotland has not succeeded in its desired effect. She said : "Compared with the numbers of media reports we see on lawyers engaged in financial frauds and the sheer numbers of complaints made to the Law Society of Scotland by disgruntled clients, the numbers of solicitors brought to the FSA's attention under the Memorandum of Understanding are very few, raising questions about the Law Society’s honesty."

She continued : "To be effective, I would recommend a legislative approach to oblige the Law Society and SLCC to disclose such information directly because MOU's basically don't work and have too many get-out clauses."

FSAThe Financial Services Authority reports only one matter referred from the Law Society of Scotland. A Freedom of Information request made to the Financial Services Agency seems to support the view the Law Society is not maintaining its side of the agreement, as the number of reported cases of complaints containing allegations of financial irregularities involving Scottish solicitors do not match those reported by the Law Society to the FSA in London. The FSA disclosed : "The Law Society of Scotland has not reported any solicitors to the FSA within the last 24 months, but it has informed the FSA of one matter regarded as a material concern within the same period."

The FSA went onto explain : "The Society is classified as a Designated Professional Body (“DPB”) and this enables it to regulate licensed firms for certain financial services business that arises out of legal work. The FSA maintains an oversight role, and much of the MoU sets out the framework of co-operation in relation to this regime. The other principal focus of the MoU relates to those member firms directly authorised by the FSA. As a consequence not all practising solicitors or the law firms they work for fall within the scope of the MoU. For example the FSA would not generally expect to be notified of concerns relating to a solicitor working in a firm that was neither licensed under the Society’s DPB regime nor directly authorised by the FSA."

You can download a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Law Society of Scotland and the Financial Services Agency here : MoU between Financial Services Authority & Law Society of Scotland. Clearly, there are too many escape clauses in this 'Memorandum of Understanding' between the Law Society of Scotland and the Financial Services Authority for the agreement to be of any use in terms of consumer protection. Legislation, as those in the know suggest, is therefore certainly the way to go to ensure a full regulatory disclosure including of course, the criminal records of those who are employed in the legal profession - from paralegals to solicitors themselves.

COPFSScotland’s Crown Office are also left out of the loop on disclosures about ‘crooked lawyers’. Curiously, a similar ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ between the Law Society of Scotland and the Crown Office, over the notification of criminal activity which is reported to them by clients of rogue solicitors, or information discovered by the Society during the course of their own investigations, has also produced little by way of productive disclosure, indicating to many the Law Society is resistant to disclose any negative information on its members.

The Scottish Government’s Justice Department was asked for reaction on the revelations but had not responded by the publication of this article. However, a source close to the Law Society of Scotland said it would be “very angry” if information relating to solicitors criminal records or complaints investigations fell into the public domain but offered no reply when asked why consumers should not be allowed to judge if such information may affect their choice of legal representative.

Nevertheless, readers can help compile a register of solicitors in Scotland who have criminal convictions or poor client complaint records, simply by making a comment on this article, informing the name of the solicitor or law firm concerned, and adding any appropriate information which will then be passed onto consumer campaign groups for verification and inclusion in an appropriate register to be made publicly available to all consumers which may help & better inform their choice of legal representative in Scotland.

53 comments:

Anonymous said...

Legal aid paid to crooked lawyers and poor cross checking by the crown office and FSA.

The Law Society is the most corrupt organisation in the UK today. Clients must have rights to know the background of a lawyer, and lawyers must be prosecuted for fraud and struck off. These people have had their own way far too long.

The Law Society will always resist the diminishing of it's powers, but they are engaged in a battle they will not win.

Anonymous said...

"It has never been in the legal profession's best interests to disclose to anyone the fact there are a growing number of its members and employees who have been convicted of criminal offences.

THE PUBLIC MUST ASSUME THAT ALL LAWYERS HAVE CRIMINAL CONVICTIONS THEN.

Anonymous said...

A Freedom of Information request made to the Financial Services Agency seems to support the view the Law Society is not maintaining its side of the agreement, (CROOKS AS USUAL) as the number of reported cases of complaints containing allegations of financial irregularities involving Scottish solicitors do not match those reported by the Law Society to the FSA in London. (WELL LORNA JACK NOTHING CHANGES AT THE LAW SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND) The FSA disclosed :

PROTECT, PROTECT, PROTECT, YOUR LAWYERS, CARRY ON LORNA JACK, YOUR REPUTATION IS IN THE SEWER.

Anonymous said...

The same FSA that fiddled while Fred Goodwin et all played poker with our banks ?

Maybe someone should dig a big hole and fill it full of regulators.Just make sure the FSA and the Law Society are right at the bottom !

Anonymous said...

so criminals are being paid public money to defend criminals !

Anonymous said...

"a source close to the Law Society of Scotland said it would be “very angry” if information relating to solicitors criminal records or complaints investigations fell into the public domain"

FCUK the Law Society!

Anonymous said...

I like your idea of a register for lawyers with criminal and complaints records.Go for it !

Anonymous said...

I dont see this as a problem if its just a speeding offence.However if there are solicitors walking round with fraud convictions and I'm sure there are,this is an issue that needs looked into.

Keep up the good work !

Anonymous said...

Good investigation.
SLAB have handed out legal aid to lawyers for years without a fuss.Makes you want to question why suddenly they feel different ?
Could they have finally taken your points on-board ?

Anonymous said...

The Legal Aid crowd could do with a clean up too.Just because Paul McBride says there wasnt enough evidence to convict Douglas Haggarty over his rent boy escapade does not mean the rest of us believe he should have been let off.
Anyway I think the board has known all along about plenty lawyers being on the take so they need looking into themselves because most of them are also lawyers.

Anonymous said...

Keeping it all among themselves as usual and I tend to think anyone with a practising certificate now is a [potential]criminal.

Anonymous said...

I know of an advocate who was cautioned after trying to solicit a 12 year old boy.I bet hes had lots of legal aid too because his clients are all usually the scum of the earth

Anonymous said...

The secret moves are now not so secret !
Who will be absent tomorrow at the SLCC I wonder ? haha

Anonymous said...

Yes Peter.
Lots of criminals in the legal profession get money to fund their work !
Here's another with a big bloody tall story as an excuse !

Lawyer implicated in theft quits

MARTIN WILLIAMS

A lawyer who is one of four men charged in connection with the theft of a £30m da Vinci masterpiece from a Scottish stately home, resigned yesterday as a corporate partner with his legal firm.

Executives at HBJ Gateley Wareing's Glasgow office were said to be shocked when corporate partner Calum Jones was arrested and charged with conspiracy to rob and extort money.

Yesterday the lawyer tendered his resignation and it is understood that he has parted company with the legal firm with immediate effect.

He was arrested on October 4 and appeared in court the following day, after a raid on his Glasgow office led to the recovery of the Leonardo da Vinci painting, Madonna with the Yarnwinder, which was stolen from the late Duke of Buccleuch's Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfriesshire in August 2003.

The 500-year-old painting was discovered in what detectives described as a "prolonged and thorough investigation". Mr Jones, of Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire, along with Robert Graham, 55, John Doyle, 58, and Marshall Ronald, 51, all from Lancashire were arrested.

An HBJ Gateley Wareing source said that Mr Jones, 52, a company law specialist, had been "embarrassed" by the proceedings. "The whole story came as a shock to the guys at HBJ Gateley Wareing who are top of the tree in Scotland," said the source.

Anonymous said...

"It has never been in the legal profession's best interests to disclose to anyone the fact there are a growing number of its members and employees who have been convicted of criminal offences."

That might be but if I want a lawyer to act for me I'm damn sure I should have the right to know their background.

Anonymous said...

saved £5m so they can spent it on crooks :
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/crime-courts/scotland-s-legal-aid-bill-down-by-5m-1.921940

Scotland’s legal aid bill down by £5m

heraldscotland staff
Published on 24 Sep 2009

Scotland’s legal aid bill fell by nearly £5 million this year, a report said today.

But the cost of civil legal assistance shot up because of the impact of the recession, the report found.

The Scottish Legal Aid Board’s (Slab) annual report showed the average net cost to the taxpayer of publicly funded legal assistance had dropped by 3.2% to £150.2 million - in contrast to 2008’s record high.

Legal aid - paid out of public funds - exists to help people on low incomes to meet the cost of legal advice.

Last year it cost taxpayers £155 million.

The fall is due to changes in the justice and legal aid system brought in to try and make the system more efficient, the report claimed.

Iain Robertson, SLAB’s chairman said the board was committed to “improving efficiency” in the service.

He said: “We can be proud of the work we have done to improve the delivery of legal aid in Scotland.

“We are committed to working with the Scottish Government to deliver their efficient administration savings targets and to continue reducing our administration costs, improving efficiency and so providing value for money for the taxpayer, whilst providing access to justice and an excellent service to the people of Scotland.”

While legal aid costs for criminal and children’s cases dropped by 7% and 7.9% respectively, civil cases cost the taxpayer £42.6 million - an extra 7.1%.

A Slab spokesman said the growth was “largely related to the recession” and £3 million during the next two years had been secured from the Scottish Government to help meet the costs during the downturn.

The report also published the fees paid to individual advocates, solicitor advocates and solicitors firms during the last year.

Criminal defence specialist Donald Findlay QC topped the high-earners list for the fourth year running, with a legal-aid income of £370,900.

Also at the top of the income table were Gordon Jackson QC, in second place with £314,100, and Frances Connor who earned £283,700.

The highest earning firms were Livingstone Brown and Ross Harper, both based in Glasgow, with fees of £1,985,600 and £1,742,500 respectively.

Anonymous said...

We need a consumer website like ciao, or review centre so that clients can leave their views about their lawyer.

My experience, never trust any lawyer in Ross Harper Solicitors, Glasgow although I know all firms are the same. Legal aid cases especially nothing happens, lawyers take their time, screw the legal aid and then dump the client as, Peter said in the street.

Try then and get another lawyer to help you. Clients that can damage lawyers reputations are left in the legal wilderness, a place with no rights, the most frightenting place to be.

Martin Luther King said, "Injustice somewhere is a threat to justice everywhere". The Law Society of Scotland is that threat, that is why right will prevail, the Law Society are Scotland's mafia, who will not succeed in their aim to control Scotland's Legal System. Victory to the Scottish people, never trust a lawyer.

Anonymous said...

Good evening Peter,

I bought some goods on e bay recently, the feedback system is wonderful. It makes sellers look after the purchaser. People do not sell poor quality merchandise, because they want to have 100% positive feedback. Indeed this is why e bay is sucessful.

As you no doubt know we need a e bay style feedback system for lawyers clients.

Lawyers will try to stop this, but if they do, that will highlight they fear their conduct will catch up with them.

E bay style feedback to protect lawyers clients.
Lawyers the jobcentre staff are waiting to help you.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

I know of an advocate who was cautioned after trying to solicit a 12 year old boy.I bet hes had lots of legal aid too because his clients are all usually the scum of the earth

9:00 PM

The advocate you know of needs a long spell in jail with several large inmates to teach him a lesson

Anonymous said...

Control mechanisms: to manipulate outcomes of cases, and pervert justice
Some examples:-
1. Bar council - in the UK, barristers ALL have to take out their PI insurance with the SAME company (BMI insurance) - an illegal MONOPOLY, yet eveyrone complies and cannot speak against it
2. Barristers are all mind-controlled and 'programmed' to not mention the 'F' word or to plead 'fraud'. IF they do, they do not sign off their drafted pleadings ! They can actually be FINED if they plead fraud and it is wrong ! So FEAR and dumbing down, rules
3. Solo lawyers are not covered by indemnity insurance, only large firms. All law firms are monitored and controlled by the incestuous banks & corrupt financial institutions, interwoven with their 'quid pro quo' & mutual back-scratching arrangement: sickos
4. Judges are accountable to NO ONE - they can be blind drunk when giving a verdict, and get away with this perversion (and do): they are rendered 'untouchable' and are appointed by government, so are directly BIASED (Protectionism racket)
5. Courts rely on psychological warfare - often peering down at their subjects from elevated platforms, and vote 'protocol' over Justice
6. The Privy Council decides the outcome of every case that is heard in the Courts - and through their network of corruption and deception, they influence even the Jury through often writing the Judge's final summing up...
7. The Privy Council is kept secret from the People, despite it being in the Public Interest to have full disclosure and independent monitoring of it
8. SRA (solicitors Regulatory Authority) in the UK have stringent and totally one-sided and biased "RULES", about "CONFLICT" which is used against the Public INterest, preventing most law firms from acting against the major banks !
9. SRA and the Legal Services Commission operate secret and illegal BLACK LISTS, which prevent people who are 'flagged' from accessing Justice or legal help
10. The SRA and Legal Ombudsman almost always turns a blind eye to FRAUD and wrong-doing of law firms, becoming conveniently 'blind' and feigning ignorance to understanding important and glaring details
11. The Courts operate cartels within them from the Freemasonry network (in particular) which pervert and prevent Justice (eg MASTER ROSE perverting Justice with Evershed's)
BENT JUDGES and BENT MASTERS, steeped in stuffy protocol which no longer serves,
12. The Courts are dens of vipers with large sums money being laundered through them, aiding and abetting the Banks to commit fraud against the Public
13. Many senior Judges in the Courts are paid bribes: mention friend ex MOD who has seen bags of cash being taken in to the High Court of Justice in the Strand, to pay bribes to Judges & the evidence was destroyed
14. PROTECTIONISM of those in the Legal Industry within our courts - rigged judgements and unfair bias, to protect those in the Legal Industry. e.g.following a certain process of pointing at 'unwanted' or 'unsavoury' evidence, or refusing outright to look at evidence if they are protecting one of their 'own' so it doesn't appear on the Transcript.
15. Financial mugging is rife within the Courts: also, slapping enormous costs orders of tens of thousands of pounds (which are never audited nor overseen), unilaterally, in order to force people into bankruptcy if they are 'out of favour'. Further abuse of power in barring 'nuisance' litigators by slapping a CRO against them so they cannot bring another action to Court, and other such unfair practices

SO WHY ALL THE PROTECTIONISM ?
it is to protect the corrupted interdependent System they have set up, intact

They have a vested interest to keep the financial racketeering, going - the proceeds of this provides their employment !
Time for change ? an unresounding YES ! the situation has become intolerable for the People subjected to these methods

Anonymous said...

First Ive heard of memorandums of understanding.
Even their title sounds too long to trust!

Also why should there be one with the Crown Office when it should be compulsory on the Law Society to report criminal activity ?

Keep up the good work !

Anonymous said...

Excellent article.

Clearly the Law Society has long had all avenues of any meaningful access to independent and honest legal representation stitched up, and it appears the FSA is quite content to see that continue.

As the Senior Solictor quoted quite rightly states - and as anyone who has applied for legal aid will know - the Scottish Legal Aid Board requires an applicant submit every detail about their financial circumstances an indeed the gounds for the claim before it makes a decision.

Obviously the self regulation of the Law Society and its curious exemption from the FOI Act must change - together with that enjoyed by the Faculty of Advocates. But who has the political will to do so, not Swinney, not Salmond, and certainly not McAskill.

Anonymous said...

E bay style feedback to protect lawyers clients.
Lawyers the jobcentre staff are waiting to help you.

BRILLIANT IDEA !!!!

Anonymous said...

What we have here is a thouroughly corrupt little country where the vested interests interests of the legal profession are protected by politicians whose chief distinguishing characteristic is their miserable, self serving and thouroughly selfish complacency.

Anonymous said...

There is no doubt that the Scottish legal system, variously compared to that of a Banana Republic and described as Victorian in its functioning and outlook, is failing consumers on numerous levels, but I believe all is not lost.

Perhaps we could sell it to the Italians?

Anonymous said...

and another :

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland/Lawyer-who-stole-400000-from.5685492.jp

Lawyer who stole £400,000 from pensioner's will faces prison term

Published Date: 29 September 2009
By Michael MacLeod

A FORMER lawyer who stole more than £400,000 from a dead pensioner's will used the money to pay off his own debts, a court has heard.

Michael Karus, 48, embezzled £413,052.81 while acting as the executor of the estate of the late Edith Hampton, who died aged 89 in 2003.

He used the former teacher's cash to settle debts in his own law and property firms. Karus, who lives in Edinburgh's New Town, also paid off a personal credit card debt.

It was originally thought the Cancer Research charity was entitled to the large sum left in Miss Hampton's will. But it was only when the charity began to investigate that it emerged she had drawn up a second will for the money, to be given to a friend, which Karus claimed he knew nothing about.

He was arrested in March last year and yesterday told Edinburgh Sheriff Court he paid the Crown £500,000 to be given back to the genuine beneficiary – a Mrs June Pirie of Edinburgh.

Anonymous said...

There should be criminal checks required on anyone including lawyers receiving public money for whatever purpose.

Anonymous said...

as soon as I saw the FSA image I knew something would be crooked so it doesnt surprise me either that lawyers are avoiding telling on themselves which is really all that memorandum is all about

Anonymous said...

11:03am

I actually reported a lawyer to SLAB for defrauding their legal aid.They did nothing and he is still at it !

Anonymous said...

Definitely a case deserving of a full Police investigation against these crooks getting legal aid.

Anonymous said...

Very clever as usual Peter.
You are spot on.Slab have no statutory authority to deny legal aid funding to solicitors with criminal records and there is no obligation on the Law Society,law firms or solicitors to disclose that info.
I suspect your report on this might get the ball rolling ?

Anonymous said...

It was only the other week slab were shouting about their annual report.No mention of handing money over to convicted criminals or Haggarty getting let off the hook !

Time for an investigation !

Anonymous said...

No doubt MacAskill would argue this shouldnt be part of the crime statistics -2% in the usual fiddled numbers but I'd guess since lawyers started feeling the pinch legal aid fraud by lawyers has went up 60%.

Anonymous said...

If you are looking for names of lawyers I can provide plenty!
I also reported my lawyer to the legal aid board and the Police when he tried to make me pay a huge bill I found out he already claimed for on legal aid,Police did nothing and legal aid totally covered up the whole thing probably because his relative is big in the Law Society.Names will be coming your way very soon so use them wisely and dont trust anyone at legal aid if I were you!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

E bay style feedback to protect lawyers clients.
Lawyers the jobcentre staff are waiting to help you.

BRILLIANT IDEA !!!!

Thanks, let us say Jo Bloggs solicitors, has robbed 30 clients over the years. Our ememies in the Law Society, Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, cover it up. We need to take lawyer checking away from lawyers, by doing it ourselves. Ross Harper ruined my case, if I see a website like e bay feedback system I will leave my warnings for others, and over time these criminals will be exposed.

Then the lawyers will have to clean up their act. You lawyers out there, we will clean up the legal services industry without your cooperation. Law firms who ruin clients, and lawyers within those firms will be forced out of the legal services industry.

It works buying and selling on e bay, and it will work by clients regulating lawyers themselves.

Law Society of Scotland RIP.

Anonymous said...

A FORMER lawyer who stole more than £400,000 from a dead pensioner's will used the money to pay off his own debts, a court has heard.

These lawyers are like Burke and Hare, financial graverobbers, no respect for clients dead or alive.

Anonymous said...

If you have money, would you let anyone handle that money and trust them? I hear a no, but every time you trust a lawyer with your money you take a great risk, because if you complain about your lawyer, another lawyer will deal with that complaint, pretty safe for your lawyer, dangerous for you.

Anonymous said...

A few years ago a journalist tried to write a similar story on legal aid irregularities.He ended up leaving the paper after a hate campaign against him by people at the Law Society you have previously written about.
The weak kneed newspaper group should be ashamed of themselves for failing to support their man but I was pleased to see the principal protagonist at the Law Society get his comeuppance on your blog.

Anonymous said...

Here was me thinking it was a criminal offence to defraud legal aid but now I see legal aid is being paid to criminals with law degrees who have infiltrated every walk of life.

Anonymous said...

Who believes anything the FSA say after what happened with the banks ?
Law Society just as bad.They should get rid of all these corrupt regulators and bring back the gallows.

Anonymous said...

8:57PM

You mean Douglas Mill & Fred Goodwin don't you ?!

Anonymous said...

How much COCAINE for a lawyer does LEGAL AID buy these days ?

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland/Solicitor-supplied-cocaine-to-man.5638523.jp

Solicitor supplied cocaine to man who later died

Published Date: 11 September 2009
By gordon smith

A SOLICITOR'S career is in tatters after a man he invited to take drugs in his office died, a court heard yesterday.

David Norris, 25, died after he fell unconscious in the Dalkeith office of the legal firm Allan MacDougall & Co.

Grant O'Connor, a partner at the firm, gave Mr Norris and three other men cocaine in his office in January.

The 37-year-old, of Easter Road, Edinburgh, had pleaded guilty to supplying Mr Norris and the others with cocaine.

He was ordered at Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday to perform 150 hours of community service.

The court heard that Mr Norris, a scaffolder, and three friends had spent the evening drinking and Mr Norris had also taken some cocaine.

The men then met O'Connor in a pub and he invited them back to his office in Dalkeith's High Street, where Mr Norris and O'Connor both produced bags of cocaine.

A short time later, Mr Norris appeared to lose consciousness, and later died.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

The Legal Aid crowd could do with a clean up too. Paul McBride says there wasnt enough evidence to convict Douglas Haggarty, so the Procurator Fiscal dropped the case.
McBride wakey, wakey, they were caught in a public toilet in a cubicle, for fuck's sake.

The moral of the story,

Homosexuality with a rent boy in a public toilet, is tolerated by the legal establishment, if the perpetrator is one of their own.

If this had been two non lawyer homosexuals, the charges would never have been dropped, If you are gay and hold a law degree, you can fornicate anywhere you want. I am sure the procurator fiscal will find it impossible to deny this.

Anonymous said...

"The Law Society of Scotland has not reported any solicitors to the FSA within the last 24 months, but it has informed the FSA of one matter regarded as a material concern within the same period."

I read in an earlier post of yours the Law Society gets about 5000 complaints a year.

So there has to be more than one matter regarding concern out of 10000 complaints surely ?

Just goes to show this is all a stitch up between bent lawyers and bankers.Disgusting.Rise up and do something about it people !

Anonymous said...

IS HE A FRIEND OF HAGGARTY'S? THEY SHOULD GET TOGETHER FOR A SESSION AND LEAVE BOYS ALONE.

Advocate charged with indecency
An advocate has appeared in court charged with an indecency offence involving a 13-year-old boy in the toilets of a shopping mall.

Marc Strachan, 48, denies persuading the youngster to follow him into a public toilet at the McArthur Glen Shopping centre in Livingston.

Mr Strachan, of Linlithgow, appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

He is accused of behaving in a lewd manner or committing an indecent breach of the peace on 13 February 2006.

Mr Strachan said to have indecently assaulted the boy and make indecent sex remarks to him.

His agent Cameron Tait pled not guilty on his behalf and the case was continued for one week to allow for further investigations.
-----------------------------------
BREAKING NEWS, IF YOU CANNOT FIND YOUR LAWYER AT HIS OFFICE, CHECK THE LOCAL MALE TOILETS.

Anonymous said...

Tip from the night staff for your readers :
A Sheriff is under investigation for falsely claiming legal aid during his time as a solicitor in a well known city law firm.

What's the betting he will be quietly retired ?

Anonymous said...

Cameron Fyfe took legal aid payments for 6 yes six years and on the day of the proof it transpired that he had forgotton to tell the defenders in my case i had been sequestrated in 2004. (Fyfe is a serial crook, he does nothing for clients, a perfect example of a legal aid expoliter and client abuser. He will do nothing for you, he has won a high profile case or two but do not let that fool you. He will string you along for the legal aid money, tell you your case will get to court and shut you down once he has lined his wallet. The Law Society of Scotland and the commission will spit on you if you complain).

So after 8 years of trying to get my case into the court of session edinburgh, the defenders called caution and it was granted £50,000.

To be able to continue i would have to find that money, i am now representing myself as a party litigant and am horrified at his mistakes. (These are not mistakes, they are Mr Fyfe's method of working, and why does he do this? He is safe because of that demon, self regulation, perhaps Douglas Mill has helped him in the past?

I have the productions in the case i have reported him to the law society and they have done nothing. (The Law Society have done what they always do for clients, nothing, that is why their days are numbered).

Anonymous said...

Blackadders of Dundee
30-34 Reform St
Dundee
Angus
DD1 1RJ

Solicitor :
Mr. Simon Allison & Mr. Ken Glass

01382 229222

These two represented an ex employer and an ex landlord who were in multiple breaches of housing and employment laws.

Everyone deserves representation but both the landlord and the employer were personal friends of the solicitors.

Both these lawyers invented facts and were even prepared to use faked evidence to support their claims and help their friends out....Don't know about you, but that's not what I call a fair play.....The site listed, I posted months ago as things were developing, I haven't updated it since then and it's still ongoing and there's more.......I'm guessing the bigger the firm, the more confident they can be about their lies especially when it comes to helping out their mates.

If you have any doubts about the validity of this statement, feel free to email me at - alastair_smithuk@yahoo.co.uk and I'll give you a step by step guide

On both occasion all the above parties have lied through their teeth.

Don't be fooled by their advertising, these people have one thing on their mind and that's getting your money, oh, yeah, and looking out for their law breaking mates.
===================================
People of Dundee and surrounding areas, danger, do not go to this law firm.

Scott said...

I think you are onto a winner with this one Peter.
Good work keep it up mate !

Anonymous said...

If the public defraud the legal aid, the result is prison.

Lawyers pay back legal aid, no investigations or charges.

Different laws for different sectors.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

Cameron Fyfe took legal aid payments for 6 yes six years and on the day of the proof it transpired that he had forgotton to tell the defenders in my case i had been sequestrated in 2004.

Hello Mr Cameron Fyfe,

The person who left the above comment about you, they would have been better with a McKenzie Friend, you Mr Fyfe are a serial crook, who gets as Dire Straits said "money for nothing."

I know a lawyer who I will not name who said you were "a bum solicitor, who does nothing for the majority of clients".

It is strange Mr Fyfe out of the 10,000 lawyers in Scotland you lost a substantial sum of money to a conman. Well, clients the money he lost is poetic justice, because the man ruins clients and sleeps easy at night because of his masters at the Law Society. If you get conned out of your own money Mr Fyfe, what chance do clients have, letting you deal with their business?

The legal establishent want to stop McKenzie Friends, because party litigants will not need lawyers, and the lawyers monoploy on coverups and providing legal services will be broken.

There is an old saying "every B*****d get's their day", lawyers you day is coming. Please do not trust Cameron Fyfe, it will cost you if you do.

Anonymous said...

Smart wasnt so smart in his press statement - he forgot to mention his members were stealing legal aid hand over fist :
http://www.lawscot.org.uk/media_centre/news_arch/news_20090924.aspx

Solicitors play key role in legal aid system

Commenting on publication of the Scottish Legal Aid Board’s (SLAB) annual report for 2008/09, Oliver Adair, Convener of the Society’s Legal Aid (Solicitors) Committee, explained that much of the savings had been achieved through reform of summary criminal legal assistance.

He said: “Solicitors played a vital role in achieving these savings, while also providing legal services to the most needy in society.

“We understand that there are pressures on the public purse but these figures show that, even in challenging economic circumstances, solicitors continue to provide an excellent service to the public and excellent value to the taxpayer.

Anonymous said...

I note that the Law Society of Scotland does not put on their front Web page, as the UK Law Society Web page does "Supporting Solicitors"
They sure do?