Paid for by you – legal regulator is no guarantee of justice for wronged clients. WHENEVER someone asks the question – who exactly pays for the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) - the ‘independent’ regulator of solicitors in Scotland, from judges to Justice Secretary, from lawyers to advocates, and even the SLCC itself, the answer is always – the ‘independent’ regulator is funded by a levy paid by lawyers.
The levy – hovering between £2.5m to £3m a year is collected by the Law Society of Scotland, and handed over each year to the ‘independent’ SLCC – itself staffed by former staff members of the Law Society of Scotland, lawyers, relatives of lawyers, and friends of lawyers.
With fifteen members of staff who qualified as solicitors, five members of staff who held a previous position at the Law Society of Scotland, eight members of staff who held a previous position at a law firm, and five members of staff who have held previous positions at a law firm and Law Society of Scotland ..costs are high, to keep all those lawyers and former lawyers in a job of self regulation.
But, who really pays for the SLCC?
The SLCC – created in 2008 with over £2 million of public money, unashamedly state clearly on their website: “The SLCC is funded by a levy paid by legal professionals operating in Scotland.”
And just exactly how do lawyers get the £3 million a year to pay for the levy ? – a follow up question you might be forgiven for thinking should come easily to any inquisitive mind.
£3 million a year - It has to come from somewhere, right?
The answer is easy – from you, the client. Yes, you - in the form of ripped off clients, ripped off estates, mortgage frauds, embezzlement, and of course, fees for legal work charged to you by your lawyer. And, many times over.
Remember that ‘hard hitting, deserving of justice, easy to win case’ you took to some solicitor who looked you in the eye and said, no problem as the pound signs flashed by ?
That same case … now dragging on for months … months … months … turning into years … years … years … adjusted court dates, cancelled hearings, expert witnesses on the blink … counsels opinion costing up to £6K a time – and you almost never get to see … appearances before a judge who, unbeknown to you - is having dinner later on with the other side’s lawyers. As the delays mount up, so does your bill and it is easy to slip in a few extra pounds here and there…
After all, the annual SLCC levy is a mere £324 for solicitors … less than the cost of a decent flat screen television. How easy solicitors find it to add this amount many times to fee notes sent out to their private & corporate clients. It is so easy, you never notice. But it happens. You realise that now, don’t you.
And just because some former High Street solicitor posing as a Scottish Minister sits in front of a Parliamentary committee and says Scotland’s ‘independent’ regulator of lawyers the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, is funded by a levy paid by lawyers – you now know - you – the client, pay for it.
So, next time someone tells you the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission is paid for by lawyers, you know different. You pay.
24 comments:
If a thieving lawyer has already stolen from his client it is likely they are going to steal some more to play for some £300 levy to keep their own in jobs!
£3 million a year ripped off clients to pay for a bunch of lawyers to look after their own!!Only in daft MacAskill Scotland could this be described as independent!
It is about time this Law Society stooge was removed from his post, preferably forcefully?
Nicola Sturgeon would be wise to strap the Law Society's Ken to one of those Trident missiles and firing it off into space, never to be seen again?
MacAskill knows full well that the Scottish Judiciary are at it and that the Law Society of Scotland are still running a 'Self-Regulation' of their members by colluding with the SLCC and SSDT to keep things exactly as they were but this time there is a veil of beurocracy called the SLCC to make it look as if they are in control when the truth is the Law Society of Scotland remained in charge all along?
Just the way they planned it with the Labour/ Liberal MSP's at the time the LALP Act 2007 was brought into place to hammer victims of crooked Scottish lawyers even more?
Your headline is bang on and this is why every time someone asks who pays for the slcc they say it is paid for by lawyers and try to end the questions.Just go back to that video in the other post and watch what happens when the msp talks about the levy and MacAskill shuts them up with it and NO follow up on where the money comes from just as you say!
I would not have expected otherwise.
Lawyers never pay their bills they always make someone else do it for them.
"With fifteen members of staff who qualified as solicitors, five members of staff who held a previous position at the Law Society of Scotland, eight members of staff who held a previous position at a law firm, and five members of staff who have held previous positions at a law firm and Law Society of Scotland ..costs are high, to keep all those lawyers and former lawyers in a job of self regulation."
How can anyone call this fair????No one ever heard of conflict of interest???
Is this how the SNP are running Scotland as some big club for lawyers to play around and soak up ££££££
This is like drug dealers forming a Police force and paying them not to investigate their drug dealing
Last year the partners at my former law firm used a whiteboard to list how much they thought they could overcharge clients.Lowest figure was £200 and highest was €21k for a French company.A doctor and his wife were overcharged £9k for a land purchase transaction.Down the end column was a % to work out the total against the levy.
It stayed up for a month until a senior partner returned from holiday and removed it.
@ 1 October 2014 10:09
If clients have been deliberately overcharged they deserve to be told, and the law firm with the white board should be identified so potential clients can avoid it in the future.
Anonymous said...
If a thieving lawyer has already stolen from his client it is likely they are going to steal some more to play for some £300 levy to keep their own in jobs!
30 September 2014 20:26
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This is as easy as double-billing or triple-billing an extra client.
Anonymous said...
"With fifteen members of staff who qualified as solicitors, five members of staff who held a previous position at the Law Society of Scotland, eight members of staff who held a previous position at a law firm, and five members of staff who have held previous positions at a law firm and Law Society of Scotland ..costs are high, to keep all those lawyers and former lawyers in a job of self regulation."
How can anyone call this fair????No one ever heard of conflict of interest???
Is this how the SNP are running Scotland as some big club for lawyers to play around and soak up ££££££
1 October 2014 00:37
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This is the Fraudulent Agreement forced by the Law Society of Scotland that has ensured that they have retained full control of the Regulation of Scottish lawyers in Scotland and confirms that the LALP 2007 Act is a fictitious scam, designed to trick the Scottish Public into changing their perception that there is now a 'fair' structure in place to deal with complaints where the reality, backed up by SLCC statistics, is that the Law Society of Scotland are continuing as normal as if no Act had been inaugurated and they are keeping known crooked lawyers out of jail and continuing to cause fear, alarm and damage to the Scottish Public, just as they have done for decades?
Diary of Injustice said...
@ 1 October 2014 10:09
If clients have been deliberately overcharged they deserve to be told, and the law firm with the white board should be identified so potential clients can avoid it in the future.
1 October 2014 11:01
£££££££££££££££££££££££?
Given the lax regulatory framework that Scottish lawyers work under, due to the unlawful actions of the Law Society of Scotland, where crooked Scottish lawyers are considered to be above the law and where the Law Society of Scotland have never reported a single crooked Scottish lawyer to the police, would it not be a safer bet for every single Client who hires a Scottish lawyer to take it for granted that they will be double billed or triple billed for the hopelessly garbage service provided?
Scottish lawyers are the worst bunch of gravy belching, wine slurping, skill-less and spiteful people on the planet and that just describes their attributes?
Hopefully my comment will cause some worries to my former employer.I will be in touch on the detail.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
This is like drug dealers forming a Police force and paying them not to investigate their drug dealing
1 October 2014 01:19
Yes - just swap the phrase drug dealers for lawyers and you have the Law Society/SLCC ghoulish complaints regime.
I agree, who is the company behind the white board. They need to be exposed so they can put up another white board showing the percentage of clients who are not using them anymore.
Stands to reason lawyers who steal from their clients are going to steal again to pay this slcc
So much for MacAskill's claim the world admires Scotland's legal system!Nothing but a bunch of crooks and criminals along with the judges!
WE pay as always!
Te Law Society of Scotland are still in control of complaints against crooked Scottish lawyers and they are laughing at Scotland's People?
Anonymous said...
Last year the partners at my former law firm used a whiteboard to list how much they thought they could overcharge clients.Lowest figure was £200 and highest was €21k for a French company.A doctor and his wife were overcharged £9k for a land purchase transaction.Down the end column was a % to work out the total against the levy.
It stayed up for a month until a senior partner returned from holiday and removed it.
1 October 2014 10:09
£££££££££££££££££££££££
Fraud by Scottish lawyers is considered Par for the course, as in Scotland lawyers are above the law?
Most Scottish lawyers charge their client victims at between 200% & 300%?
Why?
Because they can?
Kenny MacAskill's job seems to be to run to the Law Society of Scotland's beck and call.
The Law Society of Scotland view members of the Scottish Public as stupid victims for their members to take full advantage of?
They are like a terrorist organisation who see's everyone they aim their bitterness and vengeance at as a legitimate target?
The Law Society of Scotland have worked for years to engender this working environment and they believe that they have perfected their system of crime and unaccountability?
Tods Murray are broke and have been bought up by Shepperd and Wedderburn.
TM ruined a lot of people on behalf of lawyers and did over a lot of their own clients.Always saved by their Law Society buddies and wheels within wheels.I wouldnt be surprised if the judges were in there filling their pockets too.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/jobs-to-go-in-law-firm-takeover.1412371896
Jobs to go in law firm takeover
Victoria Weldon
Reporter
Friday 3 October 2014
Around 50 legal jobs are expected to be axed after the takeover of a major law firm which was facing administration.
Tods Murray LLP was bought out by rival firm Shepherd and Wedderburn after the appointment of administrators.
The firm, which has operated in Scotland for more than 150 years, said it had struggled to meet "fixed costs" - understood to be the high costs of its office in Edinburgh's Fountainbridge. More than a third of staff are now expected to be made redundant.
A consultation period for Tods Murray's 138 employees will begin on Monday before the remaining workers are transferred to Shepherd and Wedderburn's existing offices.
Joint administrators Tom MacLennan and Iain Fraser of FRP Advisory, said the deal - for an undisclosed sum - offers the chance for the remaining staff at the firm, which has an office in Glasgow, to continue operating from a stronger position.
Mr MacLennan said: "Tods Murray had exhausted every option to turn the business around, and was faced with an unsustainable gap between high fixed costs and income. Administration was the only alternative … but we are delighted that Shepherd and Wedderburn has acquired the Tods Murray business, and will provide the partners and staff with a stronger platform from which to service their clients."
Stephen Gibb, chief executive of Shepherd and Wedderburn, said the acquisition was an "excellent business opportunity".
David Dunsire, executive partner of Tods Murray said: "We are grateful for the support of our clients over the years and look forward to working with our new colleagues at Shepherd and Wedderburn."
Tods Murray, whose clients included Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and Santander, specialised in corporate, commercial and private legal advice, as well as property services.
It was recognised as a UK top 100 law firm and in 2012 became the first solely Scotland-based firm to achieve Lexcel, a prestigious international quality mark.
@ 6 October 2014 12:37
Regarding your comment, yes, and yes.
The long list of clients ruined by Tods Murray should now have their say in a media article about how bad the firm was to their legal interests.
Perhaps members of the public should also take note of which corporate clients use particular law firms ... and stay away as people now seem to be doing.
Why go to law firms who take tens of thousands of pounds from you in fees, lead you up the garden path for years then dump you on the court of session steps and demand a few £K extra in a money or your life scenario.
People really should wise up, take their legal business elsewhere and, on matters of wills, disperse their assets prior to death instead of leaving wills written by lawyers and administered by lawyers who end up taking it all for lawyers.
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