Friday, July 13, 2012

Delaying Motion : Hamilton Citizens Advice ‘to complete’ investigation on taxpayer funded ‘in-court adviser’ who referred clients to rogue lawyer

Gilbert Anderson lawyer gets paid by us refers to O'Donnell Sunday Mail 20 May 2012Citizens Advice Bureau in Hamilton investigated allegations over their in-court adviser Gilbert Anderson. AN INVESTIGATION into Gilbert Anderson (53), a publicly funded ‘in-court’ adviser based at Hamilton Citizens Advice Bureau who’s salary is paid for by the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) is due to be completed today, Friday 13 July, several weeks on after allegations were made he had referred clients with legal difficulties to a solicitor who was already struck off and was using the identities of colleagues in the legal profession to fool his victims.

Diary of Injustice reported on the allegations in an earlier article made against Gilbert Anderson (53), here : Crooked lawyer impersonates DEAD COLLEAGUE to lure clients in fraud scam as Law Society of Scotland’s self regulation of solicitors fails yet again detailing a letter of complaint submitted to Hamilton Citizens Advice by client Elizabeth Campbell, who challenged discrepancies in claims from Citizens Advice and the Scottish Legal Aid Board that there was no case to answer regarding Anderson’s actions.

In the letter to Hamilton CAB’s Chairman, Mushtaq Ahmed, Mrs Campbell said in reference to earlier reports in the media, that “Mr Anderson is quoted as saying he did not refer me to Colin Davidson, but merely gave me a list of Solicitors. It seems Hamilton CAB Manager has investigated the matter (incidentally, without referring to me) and has given assurances to CAB’s Tony Hutson, and to SLAB, that Gilbert Anderson has done nothing wrong in this matter.”

Mrs Campbell further wrote : “On the Client Record Sheet produced by Mr Anderson (which I found in Davidson Fraser’s file) it clearly states on two separate occasions that he would endeavour to recommend a Legal Aid Solicitor to me. Also, on the back of this Client Record Sheet is a handwritten note “possibly in my mind a cash for Colin £3000”. I have enclosed a copy of this Record – the original is with Elaine Motion who is acting the the Law Society.”

The letter went on to inform Hamilton CAB that Mrs Campbell “could not have have got Davidson Fraser’s name from a list of Legal Aid Solicitors as they didn’t do Legal Aid. Mrs Campbell goes on to detail a number of points regarding Mr Anderson’s referrals to the already struck off O’Donnell, who was posing as Colin Davidson, who has since died.

It later became worrying to Mrs Campbell that the “Colin Davidson” she had been referred to by Gilbert Anderson was none other than struck off solicitor John G O’Donnell. Mrs Campbell told the Citizens Advice Chairman in her letter : “I asked Gilbert Anderson about why people kept calling Colin Davidson “John” and voiced my other concerns about his identity and he said there was a reason for this which he was not prepared to divulge to me. I have now discovered that the Solicitor to whom Gilbert Anderson sent me, was not in fact Colin Davidson, but a struck-off solicitor, John O’Donnell, who between them conspired to deceive clients – John O’Donnell lost his licence because he had over 20 cases of negligence proved against him and the insurance had to pay out hundreds of thousands of pounds. The real Colin Davidson (whom I never met) has since died, and John O’Donnell has disappeared.”

Maureen Chalmers, manager of Hamilton Citizens Advice Bureau has since issued a statement to Diary of Injustice on complaints made against Mr Anderson, saying : “Given the level of detail included in Mrs. Campbell’s letter of complaint it is taking some time to work through all the issues. We shall not therefore complete our investigations by Friday 29th June. For clarification, the 20 day period referred to in our Complaints Policy is working days and this did not include the two Public Holiday days in early June. We are dependent on responses from external bodies over which we have little control but we anticipate our investigations shall be completed by Friday 13th July. We have informed the complainant in writing of the above.”

Mrs Chalmers continued : “Please be assured that any complaint about our service is treated very seriously indeed and we are keen to conclude this matter as quickly as possible. We shall not be making any further comment until our investigations have been completed.”

slabScottish Legal Aid Board ‘continue to monitor the situation’ on Gilbert Anderson. A spokesperson for the Scottish Legal Aid Board said in response to enquiries : “We cannot comment on a specific complaint which is the subject of an investigation by an external organisation. However, we have been informed by Hamilton Citizens’ Advice Bureau that a complaint has been received in relation to the Hamilton In-Court Advice Project based at Hamilton Sheriff Court.

“We have had assurances from Hamilton CAB that it is investigating the allegations in line with its procedures and the requirements of the project agreement. We have also received assurances that we will be informed as soon as any outcome is reached. In the meantime, we will continue to monitor the situation to ensure that all the necessary steps are taken to satisfy the requirements of a Board-funded project.”

Diary of Injustice will report on the results of Hamilton CAB’s ‘investigation’ of Mr Anderson when developments are available, meanwhile readers can refer to the Sunday Mail’s investigation of Mr Anderson’s referrals of clients to John G O’Donnell, and the Law Society of Scotland’s lack of ability to take the matter in hand, here :

Exclusive  Dodgy Lawyer back at it - Sunday Mail 22 April 2012EXCLUSIVE : DODGY LAWYER BACK AT IT

COLIN YOU A LIAR

Client's fury at identity fraud

By Russell Findlay, Sunday Mail 22 April 2012

A banned solicitor has been accused of conning a client by impersonating another lawyer in an elaborate fraud. The client also claims that John O'Donnell, 61 cost her 50,000 by botching a land deal and that he failed to turn up to defend two small claims for her.

Widow Elizabeth Campbell, 69, believed that the solicitor working for her was called Colin Davidson. But she discovered "Colin" was actually O'Donnell - who is serving two five year bans from working as a solicitor and is bankrupt - when she saw his photo in the Sunday Mail.

Elizabeth, from East Kilbride, said : "I met "Colin" in his office many times between March and September last year. I was stunned when I came across a Sunday Mail story about O'Donnell which carried his photo. I recognised him as the man I knew as Colin. I was shattered."

Elizabeth claimed that O'Donnell botched a land deal dispute by allowing it to be sold for less than its true value, costing her 50,000. And she also accused him of lying by saying that he defended two small claims cases at Hamilton & Glasgow Sheriff Courts.

Elizabeth, who suffered from depression after her husband's death four years ago, said she had trusted "Colin" when they first met.

She said : "He said that he understood as he had also suffered. I thought to myself, I've got a soul mate here" Then I discovered that he had failed to represent me at Hamilton and Glasgow Sheriff Courts for small claims and two decrees were awarded against me. Debt collectors began chasing me yet he continued to lie and say that he had been in court. I've been able to recall the Glasgow case but the Hamilton case is still against me."

O'Donnell was given a five year ban in 2009 and another five-year ban in 2010 due to his appalling track record of professional misconduct. His bankruptcy also disqualifies him from practising.

In March last year, the Sunday Mail warned the Law Society of Scotland that O'Donnell was allegedly working for the real Colin Davidson’s firm Davidson Fraser. Former Bankrupt Davidson - who has since died - told us then : "He's not employed here."

Elizabeth believes she was targeted because she was vulnerable. She said : "He only took around 210 from me. I think the long- term aim was to get my house." She added that staff at the law firm's office in Clarkston Road, Glasgow seemed aware of the deception, making excuses when she asked why people called him John.

She said : "I was so angry that I was going to attend Davidson's funeral. I wish I had done just for O'Donnell's reaction. I find it incredible that he has been able to get away with this, especially given that the Law Society was warned what was going on."

Law Society chiefs have refused to say if other clients were also duped and declined to comment on the case. A senior legal insider said that O'Donnell could now face criminal prosecution for working as a solicitor without a practising certificate.

BID TO BEAT BAN AT LEGAL BODY'S CHRISTMAS PARTY

Another lawyer tried to strike a deal for O'Donnell at a Law Society Christmas party in 2009. A Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal report said Steven Gold asked Law Society prosecutor Elaine Motion to consider dropping complaints against O'Donnell if he agreed to surrender his practising certificate.

Motion met O'Donnell as the Society considered five more complaints. But because he was not struck off by the SSDT, Motion decided that O'Donnell "may be hearing from her again".

LINKS TO SOLICITOR PAID BY OUR TAXES

Elizabeth was referred to Davidson Fraser by taxpayer funded lawyer Gilbert Anderson.

Anderson is a Citizens Advice Bureau adviser at Hamilton Sheriff Court whose wages are paid by the Scottish Legal Aid Board. He said yesterday : "I gave her a list of firms and she asked if I knew of any particular firm. Davidson Fraser were not specified."

However, Anderson's name appeared as an employee on the firm's letter headed paper in July 2011.

He said : "The moment Mrs Campbell brought that to my notice I was down to Davidson Fraser to find out exactly what they were doing. Mr Davidson said he was under the impression I was going to work for them. But I said no, I said I would consider. It was agreed that he was to remove my name."

Davidson also used a room to meet clients at the volunteer-run South Side Advice Centre in Glasgow. But he was kicked out in October due to a number of complaints.

104 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hamilton CAB investigated their own in-court adviser.

Hmm well not trying to judge the outcome before they announce it but this sounds like an in-house recipe for an in-house whitewash.

Anonymous said...

A good paying desk job for Mr Anderson at the Law Society perhaps?

What of this Elaine Motion and her attempts to prosecute John O'Donnell?

Is she waiting for the world to end before she does something or just trying to outlive the ones O'Donnell ripped off?

Anonymous said...

Interesting.
The CAB Manager at Hamilton mentioned "We are dependent on responses from external bodies over which we have little control but we anticipate our investigations shall be completed by Friday 13th July."

Exactly which "external bodies" is she referring to?

Has Mr Anderson been suspended during the investigation or allowed to carry on working as if nothing has happened?

Anonymous said...

How come Citizens Advice are taking on lots of crooked lawyers and making US pay for them?

What a disgrace!

Anonymous said...

I spoke to someone at CAB Hamilton sone years ago about a lawyer and the advisors body language was that the lawyer had done nothing wrong. But all are not like that, one woman who was there knew my lawyer was not on my side.

The best advice I can give anyone is avoid lawyers at all costs. I know that is not always possible, but you may pay a heavy price if you fail to heed my warning. Everywhere you go to complain about a lawyer, they do not want to know.

Anonymous said...

I hope potential clients in the Middle East have a good read at your blog Peter before they deal with Scottish Law Firms. No doubt [Alex stab the voters in the back Salmond] will be doing all he can to being millions of pounds of overseas revenue to the crooked Law Society dictatorship.

Nothing the Scottish Legal Profession are capable of could shock me.

Anonymous said...

If it were not for the DOI team and other campainers what would these people be doing? Ripping off clients as they see fit. In my opinion it is not realistic to expect these people to clean up their corrupt ways. A clean up means less profitability. Clients have to do that for them. Only we can unite with others and warn the public what an utterly corrupt profession they are.

The Law Society hate Peter's guts but that is because they want to keep pilfering client accounts, and blocking the doors to the courts. Look inside Law Society, you are the problem not the DOI Team. Only immature people expect to ruin clients and we just accept it. Would you Mr Lafferty, if you were robbed of all you worked for?

Anonymous said...

Another lawyer tried to strike a deal for O'Donnell at a Law Society Christmas party in 2009. A Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal report said Steven Gold asked Law Society prosecutor Elaine Motion to consider dropping complaints against O'Donnell if he agreed to surrender his practising certificate.
-----------------------------
Drop all the complaints Law Society, in the long run the profession will suffer for it.

Anonymous said...

Exactly the kind of thing Lord Gill should be reading to give him an idea of real world events as someone suggested in your report on Lord Gill's installation & speech.

Also I think SLAB need to stop throwing our money at people who are obviously on the take.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Anderson will swap identities with O'Donnell to get out of this complaint?

Anonymous said...

Why no Police investigation?

Clearly this man is being paid a salary by taxpayers and it sounds very much like he's getting money from lawyers who then pose as dead people and rip off their clients or ruin their business (again probably for money)

In most countries this would be enough to get the cops in so what's going on in Scotland??

Anonymous said...

The part about this Elaine Motion in the Sunday Mail story is relevant to what happened to us with the Law Society and our complaint about our solicitor.It took years to get the Law Society to look at it and eventually they sent it to the ssdt with Elaine Motion supposed to represent the Law Society.I was told I may be asked to give a statement and wrote one up then heard nothing more not even told when the hearings were taking place.I sent in my statement to the Law Society and they said Motion would contact me.Nothing and then found out quite by accident the case had been put back because solicitor threatened to sue the Law Society.Motion never replied to any letter I sent to her via the Law Society and we are still waiting to hear what is happening about our complaint after 6 years.My advice to anyone involved with Elaine Motion is to run to the press immediately and tell your story because we are getting nowhere and I imagine there are others in the same boat.

Thanks for making my day with this blog whoever you are.

Anonymous said...

Kinda weird a lawyer paid from public money sends people who are probably at their wits end to some skunk posing as a dead lawyer.

Not the sort of people I'd expect to find in a citizens advice office.

Not fussy about who they take on?

Anonymous said...

Well at least everyone knows what these crooks look like thanks to the press and your efforts so anyone who uses them now is just asking for trouble!

Keep up the good work!

Anonymous said...

Is he the only one at it or are others at cab up to same?

There must be money involved in this he's probably getting referral fees and when there's one at it,they are all at it.

Makes you wonder how safe it is to use Citizens Advice for really serious problems and how deep does this sending poor people to bent lawyers or crooked bankers go?

Horrible thought really..

Anonymous said...

The client is the fox, the network of lawyers the hounds and the Law Society the Horsemen. But they do not physically tear the client apart, they mentally torture you. You want your soul ripped out. Trust a Scottish Lawyer then, you will only realise how bad they are when you deal with them.

Anonymous said...

Passing off as a dead lawyer. Have this profession ever been taught ethics? Burke and Hare stole cadavers, this guy takes the cadavers identity.


The methods used by this profession are simply, do what you want because some scumbag will save you.

Anonymous said...

Are there any lawyers who are not crooks? Must be like rocking horse manure.

Anonymous said...

I do not trust anyone to investigate a lawyer unless that person or persons are campainers.

Anonymous said...

It is now very clear that if you have a dispute with a lawyer ,whether it is fraud ,stealig money or as the profession call it BORROWING WITHOUT CONSENT, there is virtually nothing you can do ,none of the Agencies that should help ie The Law Society, SLCC,MP's MSP'sthe police ,and even all branches of the media, do absolutely nothing. However there are people out there with plans to counter this inactivity.
Many people have now suffered and had their lives and business destroyed with suicide and near suicide.the time has now come to turn the tables and there will be no turning back it has gone to far , lessons will be learned it looks like the hard way.

Anonymous said...

The problem with this investigation is CAB Hamilton already told Mrs Campbell that Gilbert Anderson had done nothing wrong so if they now find against him they are basically admitting they lied the first time around.

Not very inspiring is it.My bet is they will cover it up unless you continue the headlines.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
The part about this Elaine Motion in the Sunday Mail story is relevant to what happened to us with the Law Society and our complaint about our solicitor.It took years to get the Law Society to look at it and eventually they sent it to the ssdt with Elaine Motion supposed to represent the Law Society.I was told I may be asked to give a statement and wrote one up then heard nothing more not even told when the hearings were taking place.I sent in my statement to the Law Society and they said Motion would contact me.Nothing and then found out quite by accident the case had been put back because solicitor threatened to sue the Law Society.Motion never replied to any letter I sent to her via the Law Society and we are still waiting to hear what is happening about our complaint after 6 years.My advice to anyone involved with Elaine Motion is to run to the press immediately and tell your story because we are getting nowhere and I imagine there are others in the same boat.

Thanks for making my day with this blog whoever you are.

13 July 2012 20:20
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Law Society of Scotland instruct their Agent Elaine Motion to protect crooked Scottish lawyers. That is her job?

I know I guy who's lawyer is attacking him unlawfully in court and Elaine Motion has assisted this crooked lawyer by making a submission to SLAB, so that SLAB refuse the crooked Lawyer's client Legal Aid, to try to force a win in court for this crooked lawyer?

All totally against the law?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
The part about this Elaine Motion in the Sunday Mail story is relevant to what happened to us with the Law Society and our complaint about our solicitor.It took years to get the Law Society to look at it and eventually they sent it to the ssdt with Elaine Motion supposed to represent the Law Society.I was told I may be asked to give a statement and wrote one up then heard nothing more not even told when the hearings were taking place.I sent in my statement to the Law Society and they said Motion would contact me.Nothing and then found out quite by accident the case had been put back because solicitor threatened to sue the Law Society.Motion never replied to any letter I sent to her via the Law Society and we are still waiting to hear what is happening about our complaint after 6 years.My advice to anyone involved with Elaine Motion is to run to the press immediately and tell your story because we are getting nowhere and I imagine there are others in the same boat.

Thanks for making my day with this blog whoever you are.

13 July 2012 20:20
____________________________________________

Please, tell the DOI team the details of your case as a matter of urgency?

It sounds as though you have suffered at the hands of a well practised fraud by the Law Society of Scotland involving Elaine Motion?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
A good paying desk job for Mr Anderson at the Law Society perhaps?

What of this Elaine Motion and her attempts to prosecute John O'Donnell?

Is she waiting for the world to end before she does something or just trying to outlive the ones O'Donnell ripped off?

13 July 2012 14:37
_____________________________________________

You are misunderstanding the role of Elaine Motion?

Elaine Motion (although titled Prosecuting Fiscal) is employed by the Law Society of Scotland to give as little a sanction as possible to crooked Scottish lawyers, so that they can continue to charge fat fees to their victim clients?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Interesting.
The CAB Manager at Hamilton mentioned "We are dependent on responses from external bodies over which we have little control but we anticipate our investigations shall be completed by Friday 13th July."

Exactly which "external bodies" is she referring to?

Has Mr Anderson been suspended during the investigation or allowed to carry on working as if nothing has happened?

13 July 2012 14:58
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"external bodies"

If the CAB are independent and free from outside influence, then exactly who (plural) do they need to contact for them to carry out an Internal Investigation?

Answer - Zero?

This show's that the Law Society of Scotland have infiltrated the CAB to such a degree that the CAB is a sham organisation?

I predict that after their 'independent and thorough investigation', they will find that they and their employee have absolutely no case to answer?

Anonymous said...

13 July 2012 16:40
Anonymous said...
Another lawyer tried to strike a deal for O'Donnell at a Law Society Christmas party in 2009. A Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal report said Steven Gold asked Law Society prosecutor Elaine Motion to consider dropping complaints against O'Donnell if he agreed to surrender his practising certificate.
-----------------------------
Drop all the complaints Law Society, in the long run the profession will suffer for it.

13 July 2012 16:42
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

At best this is plea bargaining which is a criminal offence?

At worst it is inducement to defeat the ends of justice?

What is significant however, is that Elaine Motion DID certainly give O'Donnell a light touch?

Questions also need to be asked whether Elaine Motion on behalf of the Law Society of Scotland negotiated a 'placement' for crooked O'Donnell in the Hamilton lawyer practice, where he could pass himself off as a dead man in order to continue to charge exorbitant fees to unsuspecting client victims?

Since there is plenty for the police to get tucked into here....why are the police being kept out of it and why is one of the main 'players' being allowed to pretend she is some kind of solution, when she has shown herself by her actions to be part of the problem?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Why no Police investigation?

Clearly this man is being paid a salary by taxpayers and it sounds very much like he's getting money from lawyers who then pose as dead people and rip off their clients or ruin their business (again probably for money)

In most countries this would be enough to get the cops in so what's going on in Scotland??

13 July 2012 19:36
ccccccrrooooookkkeeddddccrrrrooowwwnnnooofffffiiicee

Congratulations, this is THE million dollar question!

In Scotland, what the Crown Office don't want you the Scottish People to know is that it is lawyers (in the form of the Procurators Fiscal Office & Crown Offiice) who DIRECT the police whether to investigate or not to investigate certain crimes and certain people..............?

This is precisely why the Police are not involved because if they were involved they would put a report into the Crown Office exposing endemic criminality in Scotland's Law Society and of its Agent?

This is also why Elaine Motion has been sent in by the Law Society to try to cover over the mess that she has had an involvement in, to falsely reassure the victims that the Law Society will act to protect them, when is a lie, as evidenced by the facts that have already happened to these poor client victims?

Without a doubt, the Police should be going in here to make arrests and to make arrests at the Law Society of Scotland, which is at the root of where this corruption lies?

Anonymous said...

I bet there will plenty of eyes awaiting the outcome of this particular case - I predict a slap on the wrist at most.

Anonymous said...

What a can of worms - cleary there are many interconnecting threads binding together a thoroughly corrupt and self serving legal profession in Scotland.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if the partners who left Ross Harper Solicitors did so because one of them was rightly named and shamed on Solicitors from Hell?

Well he did take on cases for clients he could not win without damaging the Master Policy underwriters.

Anonymous said...

Is this the same Elaine Motion who metaphorically speaking carries a knife in both hands?........

....So that she can stab you in the back twice?

Anonymous said...

Elaine Motion never replied to any letter I sent to her via the Law Society and we are still waiting to hear what is happening about our complaint after 6 years.
----------------------------------
I an not surprised. The medical compliants system is the same. I remember a programme on TV years ago. A woman patient claimed a GP had touched her during an intimate examination. She was horrified to find that 9because she was getting nowhere with the health board0 she made the allegations public. The result, over the previous twenty five years he had been doing the same and a lot of women told the same happened to them. The GP had been moved from health board to health board.

The Law Society targeting firms by appointing Judicial Factors is I believe their reponse to stories in the press. They know they are the same as the health boards and if enough victims unite they are done for. These systems have always been designed to protect corrupt deviant professionals. It is only when there are enough victims do they start to panic, for themselves.

Waiting six years for a reply from this woman is not a surprise to us. They are all the same, protect the profession at all costs. I like many found out that if you are complaining about a so called professional you do not have rights.

Anonymous said...

http://scottishlegalconsumercomplaints.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/solicitor-catriona-macfarlane-of.html

6th July 2010.

CATRIONA MACFARLANE, 49, of Hasties Solicitors, Glasgow, has been found guilty by the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal of professional misconduct while covering up a scam by her mortgage broker husband, but allowed to continue working as a solicitor.

Did her husband "borrow without consent". Why is this woman allowed to keep working. They always do this allow someone who is up to no good to keep working with potential unsuspecting clients, no victims. And where there is theft does the SSDT give the lawyer a criminal record? No, this court rewards lawyers who are up to no good.

I have no doubt every lawyer in Scotland has been reported multiple times to the Law Society and it branches. If I worked for a Bank and stole money would I get a job as a banker again? The moral of the story is that the SSDT found her guilty, not of a crime but of sharp practice.

Trust none of them, they are all the same because the punishments never mirror the crime.

Now there is a guy impersonating a dead lawyer. O'Donnell should be jailed, why is this guy allowed near clients?

Do lawyers have morals? I think they are all the same.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if you might be interested in what happened to me.
I used to work for a CAB until I was dismissed for reporting a colleague who was doing exactly the same as Gilbert Anderson - referring clients to law firms who ended up doing them more harm than good.Money was definitely changing hands between my colleagues and solicitors.Two of them who were flat broke one year ended up buying new cars and taking holidays the next.It was so obvious everyone was talking about it but did nothing.I raised it and was sacked.
I could not get legal representation to take my employers to a Tribunal because all law firms in my area had been told not to take me on,three of them even admitted it to my face and one of the three who refused to take my case was involved and I later found out they charged an old lady who visited our cab about nine thousand pound and then kicked her out of their office after pretending to work for her for two years.
I contacted my msp who refused to answer any of my letters or help me (she is apparently well connected with the CAB/CAS structure).I called in at my local paper and told them all about what happened,took documents I have to prove what happened and even gave them names of clients willing to speak up for me.They were very keen to print then backed off,telling me my ex manager had warned them not to run anything I said otherwise they would lose any chance of news or cooperation in the future.The msp had also contacted the paper behind my back and basically ordered them not to print even though the young journalist I was speaking to wanted to run the story.I have not been able to find work since all of this happened and one job I put in for I was told "I am marked as a troublemaker" so wouldnt be taken on.This is the price I have paid for reporting wrongdoing at Citizens Advice.I can assure you the kinds of things Anderson is up to is more widespread than anyone thinks as you only get to hear the success stories instead of the cases that end up a mess or what really goes on inside cab.I hope you or your colleagues in the newspapers are reading this and take a serious look into what is really going on in Citizens Advice in Scotland.

Anonymous said...

“possibly in my mind a cash for Colin £3000”

The words of an ex marine working for Citizens Advice paid for by taxpayers and sending an elderly widow to a bent lawyer.

Kind of sums the whole thing up really.Corrupt.

Diary of Injustice said...

# Anonymous @ 14 July 2012 14:37

Good point ...

# Anonymous @ 13 July 2012 20:20

Could you please send details of your case to Diary of Injustice via scottishlawreporters@gmail.com

# Anonymous @ 14 July 2012 13:14

Very interested.Please make contact via scottishlawreporters@gmail.com although from what you say it sounds like your story may be suited to wider circulation in a paper in the first instance.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

“possibly in my mind a cash for Colin £3000”

The words of an ex marine working for Citizens Advice paid for by taxpayers and sending an elderly widow to a bent lawyer.

Kind of sums the whole thing up really.Corrupt.

14 July 2012 14:37

Exactly - and the "Colin" in question is really John O'Donnell.How much was the kickback?

Anonymous said...

The quote from SLAB in your report doesn't sound like it comes from an organisation in charge of hundreds of millions of taxpayer funds,does it?

Do they care how they spend money or is this just some clearing house for public cash to keep lawyers in jobs?

Anonymous said...

I can see Citizens Advice throwing a fit over the comment from their sacked employee.Will be looking forward to this one going to print and no doubt here.

Keep up the good work - just look at all the good you are doing and all these scandals now coming to light about organisations we are supposed to look up to even though deep down they are obviously as rotten as the rest of our banker money grab lawyer hungry society

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

I wonder if you might be interested in what happened to me.

I used to work for a CAB until I was dismissed for reporting a colleague who was doing exactly the same as Gilbert Anderson - referring clients to law firms who ended up doing them more harm than good. Money was definitely changing hands between my colleagues and solicitors.
=============================
I am not aurprised with anything you say here, yes they try to stop you in your tracks, a mafia is what they are. Tell Peter the lot so I can read what I know already.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like there's plenty going on at Citizens Advice for a few investigations.

I don't like the sound of those allegations about staff receiving money from lawyers for referring people to them who probably end up in the same circumstances as Mrs Campbell.

More like Citizens helping themselves on the back of people's misfortunes than Citizens advice

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

“possibly in my mind a cash for Colin £3000”

The words of an ex marine working for Citizens Advice paid for by taxpayers and sending an elderly widow to a bent lawyer.

Kind of sums the whole thing up really.Corrupt.

14 July 2012 14:37

YES ITS VERY CORRUPT SO WHY NO CRIMINAL CHARGES????

Anonymous said...

I must say the comments on this story are getting very interesting,especially now it seems Citizens Advice has sprung a leak.Oh what a tangled web they weave but not one too impenetrable for the Diary of Injustice team to expose..

Anonymous said...

Law Society chiefs have refused to say if other clients were also duped and declined to comment on the case. A senior legal insider said that O'Donnell could now face criminal prosecution for working as a solicitor without a practising certificate.

So is he in jail yet or what?A right bunch of crooks this lot!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
I wonder if you might be interested in what happened to me.
I used to work for a CAB until I was dismissed for reporting a colleague who was doing exactly the same as Gilbert Anderson - referring clients to law firms who ended up doing them more harm than good.Money was definitely changing hands between my colleagues and solicitors.Two of them who were flat broke one year ended up buying new cars and taking holidays the next.It was so obvious everyone was talking about it but did nothing.I raised it and was sacked.
I could not get legal representation to take my employers to a Tribunal because all law firms in my area had been told not to take me on,three of them even admitted it to my face and one of the three who refused to take my case was involved and I later found out they charged an old lady who visited our cab about nine thousand pound and then kicked her out of their office after pretending to work for her for two years.
I contacted my msp who refused to answer any of my letters or help me (she is apparently well connected with the CAB/CAS structure).I called in at my local paper and told them all about what happened,took documents I have to prove what happened and even gave them names of clients willing to speak up for me.They were very keen to print then backed off,telling me my ex manager had warned them not to run anything I said otherwise they would lose any chance of news or cooperation in the future.The msp had also contacted the paper behind my back and basically ordered them not to print even though the young journalist I was speaking to wanted to run the story.I have not been able to find work since all of this happened and one job I put in for I was told "I am marked as a troublemaker" so wouldnt be taken on.This is the price I have paid for reporting wrongdoing at Citizens Advice.I can assure you the kinds of things Anderson is up to is more widespread than anyone thinks as you only get to hear the success stories instead of the cases that end up a mess or what really goes on inside cab.I hope you or your colleagues in the newspapers are reading this and take a serious look into what is really going on in Citizens Advice in Scotland.

14 July 2012 13:14
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This also happened to me.

The CAB adviser advised the lawyer by name and address and said he would help me?

I went to the lawyer the CAB sent me and this lawyer lied to me, deceived me, stole my money (which he inveigled from another Scottish lawyer), he even went to my opponent and then cut a deal with them to make my life a misery?

This Scottish lawyer has ruined my life, I remain a permanent risk of suicide and if it wasn't for this website I would have committed suicide already!

Anonymous said...

Citizen's advice is just another front line office structure where lawyers are protected. I think they are the same as Douglas Mill. Lawyers control every aspect of life,they have to to prevent the truth coming out.

Citizens Advice Bureau RIP. Your credibility if now zero. They are doing when Phillip Yelland the infamous Law Societies Director of Client Relations did, send a client to someone against the clients interests. Only Yelland's client committed suicide with a shotgun.

Anonymous said...

Given all the good work Citizens Advice Bureaus have done for people around Scotland it is particularly disappointing to read this Hamilton CAB office initially claimed Mr Anderson had not done what he was accused of,which seems to fly in the face of what you and the newspapers are reporting.Dishonesty from a consumer help organisation is a step in the wrong direction.

Anonymous said...

So what do these "in court" advisers actually do?

All Anderson seems to have done is refer the old dear to a rotter of a lawyer who then did her some more damage.How come these people are getting paid by the Scottish Legal Aid Board to do this?I thought we were supposed to be in a recession not subbing the legal industry with even more taxpayers money.

Anonymous said...

I have not been able to find work since all of this happened and one job I put in for I was told "I am marked as a troublemaker" so wouldnt be taken on. This is the price I have paid for reporting wrongdoing at Citizens Advice.
=================================
This does not shock me, it is the norm of what happens to any person who stands up to these mafioso thugs dressed up a decency. They are blocking you from employment the same as they block people from the courts. They filter out people who stand against them. Perhaps they can stop people getting car insurance, mortgages, home insurance. They operate outside of the legal system because they are the legal system. Their terror is based of bureaucracy not bullets. It is a legal dictatorship, underpinned by a corrupt Law Society Legislature that destroys anyone brave enough to challenge it. And Salmond and the other MSP's of all parties condone this injustice. Salmond tells us the other countries in the UK are our enemies. No Alex you are undemocratic because any voter complaining about a lawyer loses all of their rights with your full approval. In South Africa we had Ethnocracy, rights for whites but not for blacks, here we have the same but it is full rights for lawyers no matter what their crimes, and rightlessness for Scottish the voters. A vote for an MSP is a vote for Austin Lafferty's Law Society.

Anonymous said...

If I phoned the Police and asked them to investigate the Crown Office it would not happen because the latter control the Police. So without anyone to watch the Crown Office and all other lawyer systems they are a law unto themselves.

Scotland is not a democracy because equality before the law is a critical aspect of a democratic nation. It is an oligarchy which is a form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant clique; government by the few. Yes the MSP's let the clique called the Law Society control everything to the benefit of Scotland's twelve thousand lawyers. Which one did you indirectly vote for?

Anonymous said...

The Law Society of Scotland have absolute power and are the rulers in this country. Anyone who complains to them cannot get to court therefore that person has no protection from the State. One of their own is Scotland's Justice Minister, what does he think about Citizens Advice? Without legal protection lawyers can do what they want to clients. They are human rights abusers, and in my opinion anyone who trusts them (if they have read this blog) takes a great risk.

Anonymous said...

If MSP's really wanted to help the people who voted for them they would not exclude them from Justice Committee debates. Only the lawyers have a place there because only the lawyers are important to the MSP's.

I stopped voting because I realised the the Law Society of Scotland is the clandestine Government of Scotland. A vote for an MSP is a vote for Legal Dictatorship because MSP do not challenge lawyers, they help them oppress the people of Scotland.

Anonymous said...

I think I can explain why the msp persuaded a paper not to print the whistle-blowing story.
Politicians & CAB use each other to maximum advantage a bit like the Law Society does with Holyrood,ie they are never out of each other's offices.It shouldn't surprise anyone really that CAB has the same kind of credibility problems as every other organisation on the planet and this thing with Anderson will end up doing a lot more good for people who approach CAB with misapprehension of the motives of some of is staff/volunteers.
Basically everyone everywhere is out to make easy money for themselves.Don't think this doesn't apply to so called 'consumer organisations' as well as the bankers etc

Anonymous said...

Also had bad advice on our mortgage difficulties from a CAB who tried to send us to would you believe Nigel Macfarlane the very same mortgage adviser crook in the Daily Record and appears on your blog!Too much to tell in this short space to write so will email you and also speak to the Record.I showed the CAB manager the cutting of one of the Record stories and then she warned us not to complain or make a big deal about it or no further help from them!All very dodgy and we didnt get any more help either!

Anonymous said...

I can see the headline of the CAB press release now....

The CAB 'in court advisor' has NO CASE TO ANSWER?

And also that the CAB has NO CASE TO ANSWER?

You see they are now tarnished with their association with the corrupt Law Society of Scotland, where like them, they feel that if they say something over and over again, then they believe it is true and they expect everyone else to believe it is true too?

Anonymous said...

A person whose occupation or specialty is the forecasting of future events, conditions, or developments is a futureologist. My question is, are lawyers futurologists? Did Andrew Penman look into his crystal ball and predict A Diary of Injustice? Did Doulgas Mill look into his crystal ball and see himself being caught out lying to the Justice II Committee, which resulted in his resignation? Well gents, if you did I would throw out the crystal ball if I were you. Did they forsee these events? Not a chance in hell.

What happens with powerful groups and individuals is that contempt and complacency become their mindset. They are not futurologists. But they do not think either. As far as lawyer corruption is concerned it is automatic, ripping of wills, covering up occupational injuries, selling clients houses to their daughters below market price. One lawyer left a comment on this blog which condemned the Law Society for "saving private Penman". All you lawyers out there who are currently ripping of clients beware, you cannot predict how they will act. They may stand outside your offices with boards with your name on it.

But [to some extent] I am a futureologist, and so is every client in the know. We can predict how the Law Society, SSDT, SLCC, Legal Defence Unions will act. That is why only clients can regulate lawyers. The Law Society hate Peter's guts because they could not predict the future. But they are also grossly immature. Only fools ruin clients and expect them to accept it. Would you members of the Law Society accept it? Lawyers beware, remember what I have told you, many of you do not really think, you are not futurologists either. If you think you can predict how ruined clients will act you are foolish indeed. One day your routine daily activities may be upset by a client outside your offices with boards with your name on it. One day your clients may warn others and not write to the Law Society because they know the latter will do nothing about your corruption.

Yes events upset routine processes. That is what Harold MscMillan meant when a journalist when asked what was most likely to blow governments off course. His reply "Events".

Anonymous said...

The client is the poor Fox. Scotland's twelve thousand lawyers are the hounds, and the Law Society, well they are the Masters who delight in the Foxes plight. Their system is designed to protect the hounds and the masters. But they are sick because many of the Foxes are fighting back.

You want your very soul ripped apart? Walk into any lawyers office [step one in the trap]. When it goes wrong and you dare to complain, [step two of the trap] the Masters at the Law Society will set their hounds on you [step three] by telling them to refuse to represent you. You are now in their trap known as "legal hell where people are stripped of their rights”. This legal hell your MSP’s support 100%.

They are client hunters, they even use the names of dead hounds to try and fool you.

The Law Society of Scotland, Masters of the hunt.

The song is called "three steps to heaven". Trust a Scottish lawyer and you can write your own song called “three steps to hell”.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Anonymous said...
The part about this Elaine Motion in the Sunday Mail story is relevant to what happened to us with the Law Society and our complaint about our solicitor.It took years to get the Law Society to look at it and eventually they sent it to the ssdt with Elaine Motion supposed to represent the Law Society.I was told I may be asked to give a statement and wrote one up then heard nothing more not even told when the hearings were taking place.I sent in my statement to the Law Society and they said Motion would contact me.Nothing and then found out quite by accident the case had been put back because solicitor threatened to sue the Law Society.Motion never replied to any letter I sent to her via the Law Society and we are still waiting to hear what is happening about our complaint after 6 years.My advice to anyone involved with Elaine Motion is to run to the press immediately and tell your story because we are getting nowhere and I imagine there are others in the same boat.

Thanks for making my day with this blog whoever you are.

13 July 20:20
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This sounds like what happened to me too, except I submitted a counter-signed affidavit to the Law Society for use against their member for Prosecution at the SSDT?

But the Law Society's Fiscal didn't use my affidavit, then he lied and the SSDT case had to be withdrawn by the Law Society as they had deliberately compromised the case against their member to get him off Scot-Free?

When I enquired to the Clerk of the SSDT about this case I was told that this SSDT case was NOT OF MY CONCERN and HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH ME and THAT I HAD NO INTEREST IN THE CASE OTHER THAN I WAS A WITNESS that IT WAS UP TO THE LAW SOCIETY IF AND HOW THEY WANTED TO PROSECUTE THEIR MEMBER and that THE SSDT HAD NO POWER OVER THE LAW SOCIETY AT ALL?


This is what goes on behind closed doors, so that their crooked Scottish Lawyers continue to be able to damage their clients and to evade Justice?

Anonymous said...

In most countries this would be enough to get the cops in so what's going on in Scotland??

13 July 2012 19:36
Anonymous said...
The part about this Elaine Motion in the Sunday Mail story is relevant to what happened to us with the Law Society and our complaint about our solicitor.It took years to get the Law Society to look at it and eventually they sent it to the ssdt with Elaine Motion supposed to represent the Law Society.I was told I may be asked to give a statement and wrote one up then heard nothing more not even told when the hearings were taking place.I sent in my statement to the Law Society and they said Motion would contact me.Nothing and then found out quite by accident the case had been put back because solicitor threatened to sue the Law Society.Motion never replied to any letter I sent to her via the Law Society and we are still waiting to hear what is happening about our complaint after 6 years.My advice to anyone involved with Elaine Motion is to run to the press immediately and tell your story because we are getting nowhere and I imagine there are others in the same boat.

Thanks for making my day with this blog whoever you are.

13 July 2012 20:20
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the Law Society put Elaine Motion onto my case involving a crooked Scottish lawyer. There was another victim as well as me too but instead of assisting us to have this crooked Scottish lawyer prosecuted she did the exact opposite because this lawyer was a serial offender and if Elaine Motion had proceeded with the prosecution under law that this would lead to the Law Society of Scotland having to pay out extremely large sums df money from the Guarantee Fund to the other victim and myself?

Thus, she conspired with the Law Society to defeat the ends of Justice and act mendaciously against us the victims?

Anonymous said...

I'll be interested to hear more about the fallen CAB employee/volunteer as time permits but you may want to consider certain things I found out in another matter which might just be relevant to the unnamed msp putting pressure on the local paper not to go ahead with the story.
MPs & MSPs love CAB/CAS.They use it to elevate their own profile in the community,in return for nominating senior staff for honours and grooming for jobs in political parties or in the public sector.It's not too difficult to trace the names it's just no one wants the stuff appearing in print.I recall how I discovered one MP did a deal with a local CAB office to get his relative a position.Later the same relative popped up on the MP's Westminster expenses ticket as a researcher even though he was still signed up at the local CAB supposedly helping out people with financial problems.A colleague visited the CAB several times,never saw him in the office once and no trace of him in London yet down on the books for several K's of public funds.I doorstepped the CAB boss,denials all round.The MP tried to tell me the researcher had the same name as his nephew,didn't stack up but the Editor decided not to go with it as relationship with MP was considered more valuable in the long term.
Food for thought Peter?Now get stuck in.I'm sure Hamilton CAB will be squirming over your story and doubtless CAS wont like the thought they may end up with a less than perfect image to present in public.

Anonymous said...

“I asked Gilbert Anderson about why people kept calling Colin Davidson “John” and voiced my other concerns about his identity and he said there was a reason for this which he was not prepared to divulge to me. I have now discovered that the Solicitor to whom Gilbert Anderson sent me, was not in fact Colin Davidson, but a struck-off solicitor, John O’Donnell, who between them conspired to deceive clients – John O’Donnell lost his licence because he had over 20 cases of negligence proved against him and the insurance had to pay out hundreds of thousands of pounds. The real Colin Davidson (whom I never met) has since died, and John O’Donnell has disappeared.”
------------------------
Christ I thought Randal and Hopkirk (deceased) was a TV drama from the seventies, amazingly John O'Donnell brings dead lawyers back to life. What a gift you have John.

Anonymous said...

This latest example of CAB's corruption and victimisation of whistleblowers is hardly a surprise, just look at who they chose as their Chief Executive - until Lord Mandelson had him promptly and unceremoniously removed;

http://www.scotsman.com/news/citizens-champion-blackballed-by-mandelson-quits-after-only-a-week-1-798293

Anonymous said...

A friend of mine has heard nothing from Hamilton CAB about his divorce. He is wondering if it is because of this investigation. I told him CAB originally denied there was any wrongdoing going on.

In life we are all citizens on the same road. Then we get to a junction which splits into two. One is to the Courts when we do something illegal, the other to the Law Society, the lawyers private Court. In the private Coutrt called the Law Society there is nothing illegal. The result Joe Bloggs gets done for £4000,00 fraud of taxpayers money in Airdrie Sheriff Court. Five lawyers embezzling Legal Aid and Mr Neils Lockhart of Kilmarnock, £670K Legal Aid fiddle, no case to answer.

Now are the Scottish Public being P****d on or what? The Police report people to the Procurator Fiscal [a member of the Law Society of Scotland]. The PF decides who goes to court. Imagine a court where the jury are all lawyers and the one in the dock is a lawyer. It would never be tolerated in public, so why is self regulation a legal form of regulation? It is no regulation, it was designed so that those benefiting from it could protect their colleagues.

Anonymous said...

Political favours at CAB now there's a surprise NOT.

Comments on this one almost stand as a story on their own so get the headlines rolling soon!

Anonymous said...

Elaine must have mixed up her motions because O'Donnell is apparently back in business in Glasgow using multiple identities

Anonymous said...

Scotland's Citizens Advice Bureaus, another set of tentacles from the Law Society of Scotland. I told you all there is nowhere to go to get help against any of these criminals.


The Citizens Advice Bureaus have proved they are now unclean, contaminated by that most corrupt office structure The Law Society of Scotland who have serious cracks appearing in their power structure. Good work DOI team.

I expect a whitewash.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Elaine must have mixed up her motions because O'Donnell is apparently back in business in Glasgow using multiple identities

16 July 2012 22:45
........................................l...............................................

Part of their plan?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Elaine Motion never replied to any letter I sent to her via the Law Society and we are still waiting to hear what is happening about our complaint after 6 years.
----------------------------------
I an not surprised. The medical compliants system is the same. I remember a programme on TV years ago. A woman patient claimed a GP had touched her during an intimate examination. She was horrified to find that 9because she was getting nowhere with the health board0 she made the allegations public. The result, over the previous twenty five years he had been doing the same and a lot of women told the same happened to them. The GP had been moved from health board to health board.

The Law Society targeting firms by appointing Judicial Factors is I believe their reponse to stories in the press. They know they are the same as the health boards and if enough victims unite they are done for. These systems have always been designed to protect corrupt deviant professionals. It is only when there are enough victims do they start to panic, for themselves.

Waiting six years for a reply from this woman is not a surprise to us. They are all the same, protect the profession at all costs. I like many found out that if you are complaining about a so called professional you do not have rights.

14 July 2012 11:27
///////////////////////////?/?/?/?/?/?/?/?/?/?/?/?/?//?/?/ //!/!/!/!/

The Law Society of Scotland will only go to the Court for an appointment of a Judicial Factor (incidently, the Judicial Factor usually appointed is Morna Grandison, a Law Society of Scotland employee! On the odd occasion the JF is a Chartered Accountant then they will have a Restrictive Covenant drawn up between them and the Law Society, so that the Law Society can retain a hold over the Chartered Accountant so that any funds can be diverted to the Law Society's coffers) if the lawyers firm in question is not in the Law Society's gang and/or a bank or a serious complaint (usually involving the police) has been made........but the important consideration is that the solicitors firm in question have funds there to be disbursed, therefore the Law Society can maintain the pretence that they are all sweetness and light and that they are acting in the Public Interest..And that everything is done in plain sight....?

The could not be further from the truth.....?

Where a sole practitioner lawyer steals from their clients and there is no money left to pay out then the Law Society will send in Morna Grandison (yes, the same person who acts for the Law Society as Judicial Factor) -She wears two hats-...so that the Law Society can get their hands on any money that remains, as well as documents and files (they do this under the pretence that they do so 'in the interests of the firms clients', however, the real reason they do it is to cover-up for the sole practitioner lawyer's unlawful behaviour and to fill up their coffers. (the Law Society have perpetrated this fraud for years to the tune of £Millions of client's money)?

In the Law Society's end of year accounts published on the internet, this is referred to as receipts from sole practitioner sequestrations?

Check for yourself?

They have not been prosecuted for this fraud?

My understanding is that the Law Society's auditing accountants withdrew their services over this vey fact as they would not be prepared to risk signing off on their accounts and the Law Society were forced into hiding this sharp practice?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Why no Police investigation?

Clearly this man is being paid a salary by taxpayers and it sounds very much like he's getting money from lawyers who then pose as dead people and rip off their clients or ruin their business (again probably for money)

In most countries this would be enough to get the cops in so what's going on in Scotland??

13 July 2012 19:36
Wwwwwwwwwwwwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwu

This is the literally the £100M question sports fans?

And the answer is.....?

Because Elaine Motion has been allowed to go in to attempt a damage limitation exercise, of her own making, IN PLACE OF the Police?

Presumably because the Police would have arms up their backs and cuffs on.........?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
This latest example of CAB's corruption and victimisation of whistleblowers is hardly a surprise, just look at who they chose as their Chief Executive - until Lord Mandelson had him promptly and unceremoniously removed;

http://www.scotsman.com/news/citizens-champion-blackballed-by-mandelson-quits-after-only-a-week-1-798293

16 July 2012 15:35
_____________________________________________

Good knowledge?

Am I correct, that the former Chief Executive of CAB has been parachuted onto the SSDT as an 'impartial' lay member of this corrupt gang of non morals?

Would this be a 'thank you' from the Law Society of Scotland for services rendered?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Anonymous said...

“possibly in my mind a cash for Colin £3000”

The words of an ex marine working for Citizens Advice paid for by taxpayers and sending an elderly widow to a bent lawyer.

Kind of sums the whole thing up really.Corrupt.

14 July 2012 14:37

YES ITS VERY CORRUPT SO WHY NO CRIMINAL CHARGES????

14 July 2012 20:38
===========================================

To me, this reads like, 'OK, this is a juicy case which O'Donnell (Colin) will be able to screw £30,000.00 thirty grand from her, so my cut's gonna be the straight 10% referral fee, which means I will get £3,000.00, three grand in my pooch'

'Ya Beauuuuuuuutaaaaaeeeey'

Anonymous said...

Mr Cherbi and the DOI Team of investigators.......

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You,

You are all doing a wonderful job for the Scottish Public.

Keep up the good work, we are so proud of you.

Anonymous said...

Dear Judiciary

You are a corrupt mendacious faction Scotland is ashamed of. And Alex Salmond tells us we would be better off on our own but ignores the fact that you lot are corrupt as hell. Vote for an MSP, this is what you get.

Anonymous said...

Very good.I've heard of these political liaisons with Citizens Advice before so some of what has been said is no new to me.Hopefully people reading this will be more aware of attending a CAB in the future and what may go wrong.

Anonymous said...

It is a criminal offence for a member of the public to impersonate a Police Officer so why can O'Donnell get away with this? The reason is simple, the Procurator Fiscal would rule the law was broken by the aforesaid member of the public, but not O'Donnell.

Anonymous said...

I just want to make an observation here.You seem to have spent half your life fighting lawyers/the Law Society and campaigning for changes.You have probably helped quite a few people avoid these thugs and their tricks.I'd say this makes you an expert in regulation of complaints about the lawyers.Now here we have Citizens advice and their awful approach to people with legal troubles by handing them over to staff who themselves are either on the take or just plain crooked.So what is that all about?If Citizens Advice want to really help people organise their legal stuff then why not take on someone such as yourself instead of an ex marine allegedly with a law degree who refers people in trouble to a corrupt lawyer in the hopes £3,000 is going to come out of it?Now I suppose you probably would not want to work for any of these groups because a person like yourself is bound to know what goes on behind their closed doors but it really surprises me the way these people so bare faced and without any shame go about protecting their corrupt friends in other walks of life and then send persons like this Mrs Campbell into the vicious circle.Appalling.

Anonymous said...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Poor-Had-No-Lawyers/dp/1841589608/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342600007&sr=8-1

Anonymous said...

The information commissioner has accused David Cameron and other members of the political establishment of launching a damaging attack on the Freedom of Information Act which he says is encouraging civil servants to obscure the government from proper scrutiny.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jul/16/david-cameron-freedom-of-information

Anonymous said...

O'Donnell was given a five year ban in 2009 and another five-year ban in 2010 due to his appalling track record of professional misconduct. His bankruptcy also disqualifies him from practising.
--------------------------------
The Law Society are the biggest criminals in this case. O'Donnell should have been banned for life. Just like Drew Penman, banned for life. 50 year ban so he is like the cadaver he wants to be.

Anonymous said...

Why are most of the press silent on these issues of critical importance to the public good? Are they all so terrified on the Law Society? No the explanation is simply most newspaper editors and like Salmond and his Law Society Minister of Injustice MacAskill. A man who is meant to protect the Scottish people's access to justice is doing the opposite.

They blame the rest of the UK for Scotland's ills, when they protect the torturer of the Scottish people, the infamous Law Society of Scotland. The MSP's don't care if you die at the hands of the Law Society.

Anonymous said...

http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/political-news/salmond-stands-firm-over-same-sex-marriage-plans.18176526


ALEX SALMOND appeared set on a collision course with the Catholic Church and other religious groups last night as he ordered a special committee to finalise plans for legalising gay marriage and ruled out a referendum on the issue.
---------------------------------
Equality Alex, but not for the victims of your Law Society.

Anonymous said...

Justice Secretary MacAskill criticised over his own failure to reform access to justice. While many of the failures to implement the 1990 access to justice legislation can obviously be pinned on previous Scottish administrations who stood by while the Law Society in effect dictated policies on restricting the individual’s right of access to legal representation [THE LAW SOCIETY IS SCOTLAND'S GOVERNMENT] and the courts, the current Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill, and the Scottish Government have done very little, [HE IS PROTECTING HIS OWN] if anything to improve the lot of members of the public who simply cannot get into court because the legal profession feel it is not in their best interests to allow such cases to go forward.

YES BANANA REPUBLIC SCOTLAND WHERE LAWYERS CONTROL ALL POLICYMAKING TO BENEFIT THEM NOT US, WITH THE TOTAL APPROVAL OF EVERY MSP YOU VOTED FOR. DO YOU THINK IT WILL GET BETTER WITH INDEPENDENCE? I STOPPED VOTING BECAUSE VOTING WILL CHANGE NOTHING.

THEN THEY WILL REALLY SHOW YOU WHAT THEY ARE.

Anonymous said...

Mr MacAskill and his band of MSP's of all parties will never be left without legal rights. The Law Society and the MSP's scratch each others backs, and stamp on the man in the street.

The Law Society is the Government of Scotland. Old lady forced out of her house by a lawyer and he keeps working. If it were one of MacAskill's family he would do something about it them.

Mr MacAskill is the Minister for the Law Society of Scotland.

Anonymous said...

My favourite quote so far is from the New Yorker: "I told you that you should've got yourself some legal advice before running to a lawyer."

Do not trust these reptiles, they are bad guys.

Anonymous said...

Law must be a very rewarding profession. There is no quality control (clients have learned that) and no punishments for crimes Joe Public would be jailed for.

Who said "people need legal advice before they go to a lawyer". Says it all really.

So the Law Society will not be ending the careers of the lawyers who helped Mr O'Donnell (the ghosthunter) bring one of his colleagues back from the dead.

The Law Society are every clients enemy because these are the people who do nothing to those helping O'Donnell. If any of you think you are a citizen of this country you are not. Go against a lawyer and you will learn how powerless you are. Perhaps the dead lawyer will give free advice at the Spiritualist Church? "Stay away from Lawyers".

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
“I asked Gilbert Anderson about why people kept calling Colin Davidson “John” and voiced my other concerns about his identity and he said there was a reason for this which he was not prepared to divulge to me. I have now discovered that the Solicitor to whom Gilbert Anderson sent me, was not in fact Colin Davidson, but a struck-off solicitor, John O’Donnell, who between them conspired to deceive clients – John O’Donnell lost his licence because he had over 20 cases of negligence proved against him and the insurance had to pay out hundreds of thousands of pounds. The real Colin Davidson (whom I never met) has since died, and John O’Donnell has disappeared.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

This sounds soooooo familiar.

When I was getting close to discovering that my lawyer was acting unlawfully against me he refused to answer crucial circumstances of my case by saying, 'I am not going to answer your questions because I know you are not going to like the answers......'?

And this crooked Scottish lawyer walked free from the SSDT?

We should all consider becoming script writers for Hollywood, USA because we have a lifetime of genuine but quite extraordinary factual stories which could be the basis of scores of blockbuster movies?

Anonymous said...

Now are the Scottish Public being P****d on or what? The Police report people to the Procurator Fiscal [a member of the Law Society of Scotland]. The PF decides who goes to court. Imagine a court where the jury are all lawyers and the one in the dock is a lawyer. It would never be tolerated in public, so why is self regulation a legal form of regulation? It is no regulation, it was designed so that those benefiting from it could protect their colleagues.

16 July 2012 18:19
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

They have evolved the perfect system to defeat justice and do not need to rig the jury who would be sympathetic to their cause?

Because their crooked Scottish lawyers don't even reach the Court!!!!!!?

I wonder, now that the DOI team have put the spotlight on this subject, if the Crown Office will release a 'Press Statement' to say that the decision to let all of these crooked lawyers off Scot-Free was OK because they had 'tested' their decision by the use of a 'Sifting Panel'?

Remember the sifting panel introduced by the Law Society of Scotland, which was a make believe system whereby they thought it gave them the right to disregard valid complaints against their member lawyers, so that they could fraudulently reduce the charges against them?

Anonymous said...

Widow Elizabeth Campbell, 69, believed that the solicitor working for her was called Colin Davidson. But she discovered “Colin” was actually O’Donnell – who is serving two five year bans from working as a solicitor and is bankrupt – when she saw his photo in the Sunday Mail.
-------------------------------
Mrs Campbell I do not believe any lawyer is ever on their clients side. The bond between lawyers always creates an invisible barrier between the lawyer and his or her client.

The profession always comes first, that is why only clients can regulate lawyers. The Law Society should have ended O'Donnell's career permanently,(no half measures) and also the career of the lawyer who sent you to him.

Good on the Sunday Mail and the DOI Team. Superb journalism.

Anonymous said...

The crutial words in the Sunday Mail report are "O’Donnell broke the law by acting as lawyer for the firm Davidson Fraser".

And his ex marine pal is an accomplice. WHY NO CRIMINAL CHARGES HAMILTON PROCURATOR FISCAL? OH, YOU ARE A MEMBER OF THE LAW SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND, I FORGOT.

Anonymous said...

They have evolved the perfect system to defeat justice and do not need to rig the jury who would be sympathetic to their cause?
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I could not have put this better myself. Karl Marx wrote "ideas gain their material force when appropriated by the masses".

The DOI Team are doing a billiant job and we must spread the word to help the campaign. One ruined client warns others, that is our mission, if people do not walk through law firms doors that is our justice folks. Minimise the supply side of clients. We need to unite the way lawyers are united and warn everyone who will listen. Law Society Rest in Peace, you are losing control and will reap what you have sown.

You Human Maggots. Do not like the medicine do you? Neither do we.

Anonymous said...

The reason why some papers dont run stories of legal scandals is because they are too busy giving free advertising dressed up as news such as stories in the hootsmon about housing market up 11% what a joke poor estate agents and liwyers need money so get friendly paper to run advertising as news!

Good thing we have real reporters left like Peter and his team to tell us whats really going on instead of all the flimflam in the anti Scottish rags!

Anonymous said...

We should all consider becoming script writers for Hollywood, USA because we have a lifetime of genuine but quite extraordinary factual stories which could be the basis of scores of blockbuster movies?
===============================
Yes indeed and the scripts would have much in common, crooked lawyers, crooked Law Society, crooked SSDT, crooked SLCC, Crooked MSP's, Crooked Sheriffs, Crooked High Court Judges, Crooked Procurator Fiscals, this is what they fear. Clients getting together anywhere to tell the awful truth of what happens when people trust scottish lawyers. These bastards taught us the harshest lesson of our lives, (mine 10 years ago) and I will not stop warning others. Only the end of life that paradox of the human condition will silence me.

We never hear motormouth Salmond talking about this on TV, Scotland's greatest traitor our backstabbing First Minister.

Anonymous said...

If clients had the same networks as lawyers many law firms would close. The feedback would finish every lawyer and drive them out of the industry.

Anonymous said...

Scottish crooked lawyers see their clients as CASH TREES?

When you walk into their office, all they see is £ notes which they believe is their own property and that they intend to snatch bundles of cash from 'their' CASH TREE?

Is it not time the People of Scotland employed an effective pest controller to rid us from these parasites which are crooked Scottish lawyers?

P. Thrower

Anonymous said...

How can the SLCC (Scottish Lawyers Care Club) still be operating?

This is possibly the most overt criminal wing of the Law Society of Scotland there is?

Their actions and statistics will prove it that they detest crooked Scottish lawyer's clients and they will hound and humiliate them as long as the Public continue to go to this criminal gang?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
If clients had the same networks as lawyers many law firms would close. The feedback would finish every lawyer and drive them out of the industry.

19 July 2012 10:22
£££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££

Scotland's Public deserve some protection from these criminal gangs?

Why not employ a traffic light warning system for crooked Scottish Lawyers, where GREEN category crooked Scottish lawyers have a clean regulatory history, AMBER for crooked Scottish lawyers whose former clients have reported their concerns about and RED for crooked Scottish lawyers who have had a regulatory history?

This way in one foul swoop, we could starve the crooked Scottish lawyers out of their jobs?

Anonymous said...

So,any more on this case?

Hamilton Citizens Advice Bureau going to cover the whole thing up or do something about it?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
So,any more on this case?

Hamilton Citizens Advice Bureau going to cover the whole thing up or do something about it?

20 July 2012 15:59
CROOKEDSCOTTISHLAWERSSTEALFORFUN

There is more chance of A UFO landing in the middle of the Olympic Stadium in London....

Anonymous said...

Does anyone wonder if these dodgy lawyers actually see their clients as being as devious and wicked as themselves and that this is the reason they steal from them?

Or

Is it just that these dodgy lawyers think that they are so superior to their "useless eater" clients that they can act with impunity against them?

An interesting theological conundrum?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
So,any more on this case?

Hamilton Citizens Advice Bureau going to cover the whole thing up or do something about it?

20 July 2012 15:59
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

It is more than likely, after being caught with their proverbial pants down around their ankles, that the Law Society of Scotland are in a fuddle as to how to go about getting themselves out of this one???

Doh!

The Crown Office, please come and help!!!!!!


H. Simpson

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
O'Donnell was given a five year ban in 2009 and another five-year ban in 2010 due to his appalling track record of professional misconduct. His bankruptcy also disqualifies him from practising.
--------------------------------
The Law Society are the biggest criminals in this case. O'Donnell should have been banned for life. Just like Drew Penman, banned for life. 50 year ban so he is like the cadaver he wants to be.

18 July 2012 10:06
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

It should have been IMPOSSIBLE for O'Donnell to escape Justice and avoid being struck-off?

He appeared before the SSDT in 2010, after being served with a 5 YEAR SANCTION in 2009!

This is proof positive that the CHRISTMAS PARTY fraud committed by O'Donnell and Elaine Motion to conspire to give O'Donnell a soft sanction was successful (contrary to the lie told by the SSDT), after all, O'Donnell did not have to hand in his Practising Certificate and was given a soft sanction which allowed him continue to work and charge FAT FEES?

Amazingly, it shows how the SSDT itself is totally corrupt and unfit to operate if they fail to Strike-Off a Scottish lawyer who 1 year previously they gave a 5 year sanction to?

It also EXPOSES that the SSDT are NOT INDEPENDENT of the Law Society of Scotland and they basically follow the Law Society of Scotland's Instructions?

It is also clear that even although the Law Society of Scotland, their Fiscal Elaine Motion & the SSDT knew that O'Donnell was a rotten crooked Scottish lawyer and would almost certainly re-offend that they happily assisted him to evade Justice and in doing so, they acted against the best interests of O'Donnell's current and future victims?

This is but one example where at the very minimum highlights the Law Society of Scotland, their Fiscal Elaine Motion & the SSDT's negligence, which should result in massive pay-outs for the damage caused or more realistically that the three entities above are guilty of willfully defeating the ends of justice against the public interest and that JAIL is the only realistic remedy?

Anonymous said...

Still nothing from Hamilton CAB?

I wonder if there is anyone left in Scotland who trust the CAB?

Maybe the Scottish Citizen Advice Bureau should now simply be called SCAB, and a festering smelly rotten one too?

Anonymous said...

Has Elaine Motion been arrested yet?

Anonymous said...

Why should we be surprised that O'Donnell is a compulsive lier?

The Law Society of Scotland encourage their member crooked lawyers to repeatedly and consistently lie and steal from their clients so as to cause them maximum damage?

Look no further than this O'Donnell case?

In 2009, he was sanctioned by the SSDT with 5 years effectively probation (in practice this sanction is of no consequence, as these crooks continue to act as if everything is unchanged?)

This is confirmed because one year later in 2010 O'Donnell is up before the SSDT again (incidentally the Law Society Fiscal & the SSDT in 2009 would have known that O'Donnell had another list of offences to answer in the pipeline?)

Therefore, when O'Donnell's lawyer whispered sweet nothing's in Elaine Motion's ear to ask her NOT to prosecute O'Donnell, which incidentally was an attempt to defeat the ends of Justice, especially as plea bargaining is a criminal offence in Scotland, then Elaine Motion should have reported O'Donnell's lawyer to the police but instead she apparently was supportive of this attempt to interfere with the process of Justice?

Then you have a Prosecuting Fiscal who overtly confirms that she is sympathetic to a softer sanction for the person she is supposed to be prosecuting?

An alarming state of affairs?

Then O'Donnell doesn't get struck-off but instead is let of effectively Scot-Free so that then he can pass himself off as a recently deceased colleague lawyer in order to ingratiate himself?

What a disgustingly corrupt state the Scottish Legal Establishment have got themselves into?