Unprotected: Scots consumers have no protection from dodgy solicitors who regulate themselves. UNTIL the dual role of representing both clients and solicitors is removed from the Law Society of Scotland, and clients of Scotland’s closed shop legal profession are given the same or even greater standards of consumer protection & independent regulation as currently operate in England & Wales, there is little incentive for Scottish solicitors to behave anything other than badly, as BBC Scotland found recently in their investigation of Lawyers Behaving Badly.
More often than not, the fact is, those of us who require to use legal services in one way or another via a lawyer, or those of us who require access to the courts in Scotland are taken on the same, well trodden, fee-generating-years-long ride by solicitors & law firms who have no reason to offer high quality, low cost access to justice in a legal system which is closed shop, monopolistic, and poorly regulated.
Just as fee paying clients are routinely ripped off, so is the taxpayer by way of a £150 million pound legal aid budget which seems to exist as little more than a public subsidy to prop up dodgy law firms & lawyers who would serve the community better from a position behind bars, sitting in a High Street office raking in tens of thousands of pounds a year from the public purse.
This is of course, not news to anyone who has been let down by a solicitor, and it is certainly not news to members of the public who have experienced the almost inhuman mix of regulatory bodies in Scotland, the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC), the Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal, who currently hold court over all complaints against Scottish solicitors.
The SLCC often claims to be “independent”. It is not. Diary of Injustice reported on the secret vested interests at the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission in an earlier article here: A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP : Investigation reveals Scotland’s ‘independent’ legal regulator is mired in family, business & personal links to legal profession & Law Society
Neither has the SLCC cleaned up standards in the legal profession, nor has it named and shamed any crooked lawyers, nor has it protected clients any better than the Law Society of Scotland, who are equally as fixated as the SLCC on attending to, and apparently representing the interests of its membership the legal profession and much the same, found BBC Scotland in their recent Lawyers Behaving Badly investigation of Scotland’s out of control legal profession.
As the Lawyers Behaving Badly programme has now finished its term on the BBC’s iPlayer and clips of what was broadcast have been removed from the internet by the BBC, apparently after alleged protests from the legal profession and the Law Society of Scotland, those with an interest in how the Scottish legal profession regulates itself in Scotland still have access to articles on this site.
How Scots solicitors regulators dealt with dodgy legal aid solicitor:
A solicitor who ruined pensioner's legal affairs was given slap on the wrist by law complaints regulator SLCC. KILMARNOCK solicitor Niels S Lockhart, who was accused by the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) of making £670K worth of dodgy claims for legal aid work and who then went on to ruin the legal affairs of a pensioner and other clients was allowed to continue working as a lawyer after the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC), the ‘independent’ regulator of solicitors decided his firm NS Lockhart Solicitors need only pay a meagre fine of ONE HUNDRED POUNDS to a victim who had complained about the legal nightmare she had been put through.
Solicitor Niels Lockhart was the subject of lengthy investigations by the Scottish Legal Aid Board which were uncovered by Diary of Injustice & the Sunday Mail newspaper and reported earlier here : One law for lawyers : Secret Report reveals Legal Aid Board, Law Society & Legal Defence Union ‘cosy relationship’ in Lockhart case
Diary of Injustice published the full SLAB S31 complaint report to the Law Society of Scotland obtained after a Freedom of Information disclosure, here : SCOTTISH LEGAL AID BOARD S31 COMPLAINT REPORT TO THE LAW SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND : NIELS S LOCKHART
Diary of Injustice also published the investigation carried out by the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission into Niels S Lockhart. The report can be viewed online here : SLCC Investigation of complaint against Niels S Lockhart of NS Lockhart Solicitors, Kilmarnock.
How Lord Advocate & Crown Office dealt with Legal Aid fraudsters who all happened to be solicitors:
Crown Office also refused to prosecute dodgy legal aid lawyers. An exclusive report in the Sunday Mail newspaper also raised questions about the Crown Office lack of will to prosecute lawyers who were accused of legal aid fraud, revealing that FOURTEEN lawyers accused of multi-million pound legal aid fraud escaped justice as Scotland’s Crown Office fail to prosecute all cases in 5 years.
Legal aid bosses reported 14 lawyers to prosecutors for allegedly fiddling a fortune in taxpayers' cash - but not a single one has been put in the dock. Eleven suspected fraud cases were marked no proceedings, one lawyer was declared insane, one died and the other is still being considered. Crown officials did not identify any of the lawyers involved or reveal the scale of their alleged fraud. The revelations were made by Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service director of operations Scott Pattison in response to a freedom of information request.
Diary of Injustice has reported on the BBC’s investigation into self regulation of the Scottish legal profession in previous articles here: Lawyers Behaving Badly - a window into the world of lawyers regulating themselves
36 comments:
So, Scottish Lawyers have free reign to do as they please without fear of prosecution by their own Professional Body, the SLCC and the Crown Office?
The consequences of this National Policy over decades has resulted in the eroding of standards of Scottish lawyers because they have learned over time that their is absolutely ZERO incentive for them to act lawfully in the interests of their Client?
Instead this system trains a Scottish Lawyer to chase easy fraudulent money and encourages a culture where Scottish lawyers are only concerned with stuffing their Client and stuffing £50 Pound notes in their boots in the process?
Now that the State Broadcaster has drawn the Scottish Public's attention to this. What are the authorities going to do about this endemic corruption now?
Ah well .......... you see it's like this .......... Mr MacAskill will come on and say something about Scotland being unique and the legal profession being the envy of the world and all the usual crap he comes up with and will then go on to say we dont need any more regulation because we have the independent SLCC (although he will miss out any reference to it being staffed by and controlled by the Law Society)
He was and is part of the mess and should also exit the scene.
Apparently the SLCC hate your new graphic of their logo joined up with the Law Society
Well,it's a start.Any scope for further coverage from the BBC or will the Law Society gang stage a protest outside the beeb's offices in Glasgow?
The lockhart thing is a real shocker and shows them all up along with this ridiculous slcc
Agree 100%
Have you seen Douglas Mill's critique of the Lawyers behaving badly program?
http://www.firmmagazine.com/license-fees-behaving-badly/
About time!I've been trying to watch this for a week and its not available here in the US.
So how come these lawyers who have records are still able to claim this legal aid!
None of the people from Scotland who are supposed to be regulating come across as credible.The English ones seem to know what they are talking about especially on the dishonesty subject which the Scottish guy completely dismisses!
Anonymous said...
Apparently the SLCC hate your new graphic of their logo joined up with the Law Society
23 January 2014 15:09
???????????????????
But the Law Society of Scotland is the SLCC
Looks like the SLCC have been forced to adopt the morals and trickery of the Law Society of Scotland? How else could they arrive at decisions which are so far from reality?
So you are correct - no Yelland and no You!
Part 2 is the more spicy one I think also yeah could have been a lot more considering what is all going on about lawyers and stuff these days
None of the people from Scotland who are supposed to be regulating come across as credible.The English ones seem to know what they are talking about especially on the dishonesty subject which the Scottish guy completely dismisses!
23 January 2014 19:33
Welcome to Scotland where dishonesty is a way of life and an industry for lawyers and their allies in other so called professions!
It is clear that the Scottish Regime of regulating lawyers is hopelessly and irrevocably corrupt?
There must be a moratorium of all cases before the SSDT & SLCC to prevent more miscarriages of Justice being perpetrated. A failure to do so would leave the Scottish Government susceptible to claims for negligence. Then all cases must be transferred over to the England & Wales' Solicitors Regulation Authority and a Public Inquiry must be set up in Scotland where Law Society of Scotland Office Bearers are compelled to give evidence?
Otherwise, the police must move into these organisations and remove all of their files and then make the appropriate arrests in the Public Interest?
Anonymous said...
Have you seen Douglas Mill's critique of the Lawyers behaving badly program?
http://www.firmmagazine.com/license-fees-behaving-badly/
23 January 2014 18:22
Is this the guy Swinney duffed up in the parliament video clip?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-25862325
Mother loses bid to sue NHS Highland for £10.5m
A mother who sued a health board for £10.5m following the birth of her daughter who suffers from cerebral palsy has lost her case.
The woman claimed that the girl suffered catastrophic injury because of fault and negligence by medical staff at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.
NHS Highland had denied liability in the action raised at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.
Off topic I know,anyway thoughts anyone?
Interesting from the BBC and the presenter catches them out a lot.But I am left with a horrible feeling that if your blog did not exist neither would the clips or a lot of other law subjects I see you are news to.I am sorry I do not live in Scotland and I cannot really help you but I will be reading the Sunday Mail online a lot more now I have read other posts on your site.
Best wishes.
If the Scottish Public vote to stay as Britain, should we Scots be allowed to report crooked Scottish lawyers to the England & Wales Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) or would we be stuck with the substandard and corrupt regime that we have in place at the moment, where guilty crooked Scottish lawyers are routinely let off Scot-Free by BORROWERS WITHOUT CONSENTERS?
As Mr Yelland was the Law Society of Scotland Director of Regulation and involved with all of the cases the BBC highlighted, why then was he not prepared to go on camera, if the Law Society's legal position is safe?
Is there a Scandal here still to be revealed?
Yes can see it now thanks so these Scottish lawyers really are just a bunch of hoods and it is all over your national television well that's fine with me so I will tell all my friends to watch this and never ever do any biz with lawyers from Scotland because they are harming all you guys and this is just not fair
Mill's take on it is just the usual to be expected from lawyers trying to rubbish anyone who disagrees with their choir boy line.
Just like the bankers saying everything was fine in the banks and we all know how that one ended up.Good on the beeb for finally listening,the prorgrame could have had a lot more in it but at least people can now see there is something very wrong in Scotland with our lawyers and how they are able to get away with anything they like including all that legal aid fraud.
Now that the State Broadcaster has drawn the Scottish Public's attention to this. What are the authorities going to do about this endemic corruption now?
23 January 2014 14:20
In Scotland?doubt anything will be done due to the fact those in power are part of the problem and part of the group who are making a financial killing from all of this.
Imagine that! Scotland's world class legal profession are yet again unmasked as just a bunch of crooks and very sinister ones too!
The perils of a wee country's legal profession ruling the roost are now well and truly exposed by the bbc after years of Mr Cherbi's work to educate us all!
Thank goodness someone is beginning to listen!
Anonymous said...
Mill's take on it is just the usual to be expected from lawyers trying to rubbish anyone who disagrees with their choir boy line.
Just like the bankers saying everything was fine in the banks and we all know how that one ended up.Good on the beeb for finally listening,the prorgrame could have had a lot more in it but at least people can now see there is something very wrong in Scotland with our lawyers and how they are able to get away with anything they like including all that legal aid fraud.
24 January 2014 11:56
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Have you considered that Aunty Beeb's programme is just a starter for 10 and the real meaty stuff is still to come and that they are just flushing out the Law Society of Scotland apologists, to make them look like fools?
It would be interesting to see just how many Scottish lawyers should have been jailed but were let-off Scot Free to allow them to continue their campaign of corruption against the Scottish Public?
The Australians appear to have similar problems .... look at the following, read the comments and listen to that mp3 link attached!
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lawreport/sa-legal-profession-laws/4629776
Reforms target lawyers behaving badly
Tuesday 16 April 2013 5:45PM
http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2013/04/lrt_20130416_1745.mp3
South Australia is considering new changes to laws that govern the behaviour of lawyers.
The Legal Practitioners Act is set to encompass the conduct of lawyers in the course of their professional duties as well as behaviour that occurs outside of their work.
While some of the proposals are being welcomed by reformers there are concerns about the regulatory body's impartiality and the effectiveness of dealing with fraudulent conduct by insolvent law firms.
The twisted elite at the Law Society of Scotland were apparently successful in stifling even more damaging information from being revealed by the BBC's Special Investigation Team. However, the terminal haemorrhaging has begun and they are all panicking and desperately looking for help from certain MSP's to prevent the inevitability of either Public Enquiry or straight jail?
The clock is ticking?
Whoever allowed lawyers to investigate themselves from the start made a big mistake and I am guessing it was lawyers who made sure they had this power and no one bothered to stop them or were paid off somehow
From what I understand of the BBC's disclosure programme of corruption by the Law Society of Scotland, it seems clear that the Law Society have not had a dual role for some time?
Instead, they have been doing everything they can, mostly unlawfully, to protect known crooked Scottish lawyers from the jail and they have completely disregarded their responsibilities under law to look after the rights of the Scottish Public?
This is a serious state of affairs which should result in the Law Society of Scotland being disbanded forthwith as an unlawful organisation and that the Scottish Government now have to legislate to change the way that Scottish lawyers within the Justice System are to work?
I think there is a case for there to be separate organisations to monitor & control General Solicitors Practises, Defence lawyers and Prosecution Lawyers and that Judges & Sheriffs should be monitored and controlled by their own organisations?
This would stop all of the corruption and cronyism in its tracks, as each organisation would be competing against the other organisations to represent their members and this would lead to specialist lawyers for their respective roles?
Finally, all of these disciplines would be overseen by an independent Regulatory Body which would deal with ethics and professional standards expected by each discipline, with a zero tolerance, one strike and your out policy to make sure that this corruption is never allowed to creep in again?
No axe Law Society all together, jail it's leadership for the years of client abuse and suicides they have never denied.
And I like the SLCC Law Society graphic, the stench of corruption from this single organization with two names which were intended to fool the public has failed. Let's face it there is no complaints system in place. Great work Peter and the rest of the DOI team. Wonderful exposing of the corrupt self protecting crooked Judiciary.
Lawyers behave badly because the Law Society and its offshoots behave worse. The buck stops with the Law Society of Scotland and its reaping its nemesis. They never get upset about the Penman's of the industry only get upset when the corruption is reported.
Only clients can look after their interests and the Law Society should have no problem with an E Bay type feedback system for clients to comment on law firms. But they have a massive problem with this because of the horror that would emerge of the Law Society single function they are brilliant at exonerating corrupt lawyers. Imagine a football match played in secret and the referee is a member of one of the teams. Self regulation in action.
As a sole blogger with the entire justice system legal profession and the odds stacked against you I think it is remarkable what you have achieved so good work and keep it up!
Anybody reading the SSDT Decisions over the past many years..
http://www.ssdt.org.uk/
..will easily see that this panel have been giving them the Decisions that the Law Society of Scotland are looking for with some Scottish lawyers struck-off for not responding to Law Society correspondence and other known crooked Scottish lawyers are given a 'help' so that they can continue their Campaign of Crime against the Public?
The Law Society of Scotland told one victim, who was the victim of one of the crooked Scottish lawyers featured on the BBC's programme, that it wasn't fair to allow her complaint to continue to the SSDT to prosecute their member, as this man (crooked Scottish lawyer) had already received numerous Sanctions by the SSDT?
In other words because this crook had left a trail of damaged victims behind him, that her case could not proceed to a prosecution because the crooked Scottish solicitor had been punished enough?
Is this Independent Regulation of crooked Scottish lawyers?
Or was this done as a favour to the crooked Scottish lawyer, after the Law Society of Scotland struck a secret deal with him NOT to prosecute him?
A secret deal which may be an offence in itself?
Or was this done so as to hide the fact that this crooked Scottish lawyer had appearing multiple times before the SSDT for the same offences and that this could mean that this victim could sue the Law Society of Scotland for negligence?
Did the Law Society of Scotland do this to snuff out the chances of this victim taking the Law Society of Scotland to court?
Is this not another example of the Law Society of Scotland defeating the ends of justice?
How is Carole Ford & Philip Yelland going to explain this situation?
Maybe Carole Ford hasn't heard of Contributory Negligence, as a result of her misleading statements to the BBC?
How many times have these offences been committed by the Law Society of Scotland over the years?
All of these questions can only be properly examined by a Public Inquiry?
Any further delay could lead to multiple negligence claims against the State?
Why would a lawyer in Scotland not screw their clients for as much cash as they can?
There is zero incentive for them not to because so many Scottish lawyers over many years have been let off and then it is published so that other Scottish lawyers can read for themselves the degree of corruption of the system to regulate Scottish lawyers?
It has become something of an in-joke for Scottish Lawyers who laugh and joke about how they can get away with it, which must only manifest a certain amount of disdain and malevolence towards their clients?
Who said anything about a 'dual role'?
The Law Society of Scotland abandoned looking out for the Scottish Public many years ago?
The BBC caught the Law Society of Scotland and the SSDT with their pants down?
As an infamous Scottish lawyer once said, when he was also caught with his pants down, in a brothel but this time during a police raid, 'It's alright Sergeant, I am a Scottish lawyer and I just came in here for a shave, nothing to see here....'trot along now?
The deal they agreed to was that it was not 'fair' to prosecute crooked Scottish lawyers and send them to jail because they would be exposed to all of the innocents who they had stitched-up and put them away, so it was better to allow these crooked Scottish lawyers to be immune from prosecution and all of the damage they cause is a price worth paying because after all it is only the lives of ordinary Scots people that are destroyed?
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