And some of the biggest earners among Scots law firms each received over THREE MILLION pounds from the SNP Scottish Government’s single Police service - which was until a few weeks ago run by Iain Livingstone – a ‘former’ lawyer whose register of interests earlier revealed he was still a member of Scotland’s dominant legal regulator and pro-lawyer lobbyist - the Law Society of Scotland.
A list of law firms named by Police Scotland in the Freedom of Information disclosure reveal the sheer scale of law firms, solicitors and advocates cashing in on Scotland’s beleaguered and broke law enforcement agency.
Journalists continue to look at the scale of payouts - declared, and undeclared from Police Scotland in relation to wrongdoing, the use of Non Disclosure Agreements and a range of other ‘confidentiality agreements’ to cover-up issues including misogyny, criminality and other wrongdoing at Scotland's National Police Service, including issues this blog earlier reported here: POLICE SCOTLAND: Non Disclosure Agreements, whistle-blower witch-hunts, £Ms paid to silence victims, institutionally discriminatory & corrupt – The Scottish Govt Policing PR machine & lawyer-led Scottish National Police service that simply ran out of lies
The new list of law firms identified by Police Scotland reveal high earning law firms such as Digby Brown, Pbw Law – run by ex-Sheriff Peter Watson, Glasgow based law firm Levy & Mcrae and other law firms of interest named in the FOI disclosure.
The list includes all payments ‘currently declared’ by Police Scotland in the FOI disclosure - in UK pounds sterling to law firms, and Faculty Services Ltd – the ‘accounting arm’ of the Faculty of Advocates.
Digby Brown £3,542,599.74; Faculty Services Limited £3,278,006.95; Pbw Law £3,125,900.10; R S Vaughan & Co £2,416,844.59; Levy & McRae Solicitors LLP £2,289,992.27; Ledingham Chalmers £1,921,785.46; Km Law £1,688,753.90; Clyde & Co £932,049.54; Morton Fraser Llp £788,754.02; Miller Beckett & Jackson £665,000.00; Thompsons Solicitors £460,255.00; Slater & Gordon £412,075.54; Gildeas Ltd £275,645.02; Reid Cooper Partnership £272,696.20; Bdo Llp £247,219.86; Macroberts Llp £145,329.69; Thorntons Law £111,842.70; Balfour & Manson Llp £96,791.77; BTO Solicitiors LLP £94,000.00; Jackson Boyd LLP £90,814.14
Watermans Solicitors Ltd £84,908.93; £Tlt Llp 82,305.60; £Kerr Brown 79,337.49; £Dac Beachcroft 70,985.38; £Horwich Farrelly 64,717.72; £Lawford Kidd 63,580.00; £MML Client 50,000.00; £Keoghs LLP £46,582.99; £Anderson Strathern Llp £44,611.80; Jane Gordon Legal Consultancy £42,126.10; Newlaw Scotland LLP £39,112.38; Kindertons £38,763.30; Brodies Llp £36,405.05; DJ MacKay £33,896.04; Livingstone Brown £31,976.30; John Boyle £30,170.00; Harper Macleod Llp £29,927.98; G A Fordyce & Co Solicitors £28,542.20; Lyons Davidson Scotland LLP £27,292.63; Brechin,Tindal,Oatts Solicitors; £26,076.90; Dla Piper Scotland Llp £25,240.76; D J McFall £25,000.00; Carpenters £20,572.94; DWF Law LLP £19,242.50; Curle Stewart £14,574.87; SatchellMoran £13,000.00; Irwin Mitchell £11,581.30
Mullen&Co £9,799.68; Parabis Scot £9,351.50; P I Campbell t/a Campbell McCartney £9,250.00; Aamer Anwar £8,598.20; Kudos Legal £7,952.66; Grant Smith Law £7,625.20; Braenalli&Or £7,500.00; Belmont Legal £7,064.20; DallasMcMillan £7,011.60; Rollos Law £6,603.20; J Myles & Co £6,568.80; Bridge Litigation £6,509.59; Bonnar Accident £5,742.20; Sheperd&Wedderburn £5,500.00; HEDS Law £5,497.20; Jones Whyte £4,615.09; Grigor & Young £4,500.00; Winn Sols £4,500.00; Crawford Legal £4,270.12; Henderson Chambers £3,240.00; Friends Legal £2,883.38; Bond Turner Limited £2,675.40; Spectra Drive Ltd £2,527.33; MacLeod & MacCallum £2,386.80; Lindsays £2,240.15; Burness Paull Llp £2,137.20; Keoghs £2,062.98; Gray&Gray £2,000.00; Kennedys £1,786.31; Mclennan Adam Davis Solicitors £1,248.00; I M S Ltd £1,128.00; Canford Law £1,107.90; McCready / Co £1,094.00
Strata Sol £829.35; Russells Gibson & Mccaffrey £804.00; McLennan Adams Davies £780.00; MSM Law £720.00; Walker & Sharpe Solicitors £652.15; RSAMotability £549.33; Legal Services Agency Limited £504.25; Corrigall Black £324.00; Cullen Kilshaw £312.00; Hunter And Robertson £306.00; Morgan Law £285.00; Boyd Turner £218.50; Killean & Co £194.78; Tc Young Solicitors £132.00; W & As Bruce Solicitors £84.00; Mcmullen Law Limited £72.00; Linda George Family Law £48.00; Milne/Burge £19.40
“Additionally, the figures provided are inclusive of payments made to firms and the Faculty of Advocates relating to Police Scotland’s participation in Public Inquiries, most notably the Sheku Bayoh Public Inquiry.”
However, Police Scotland refused to release the identities of advocates and Kings Counsel who received substantial public cash payments from the underfunded force – claiming their names were exempt from release.
The FOI disclosure stated: “Finally, in relation to advocates, payments are made to the Faculty of Advocates, however, the individual names of advocates instructed to represent the Chief Constable is considered exempt.”
“In terms of section 16 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, I am refusing to provide you with this information.”
Commenting on the scale of payments to law firms, a solicitor who did not wish to be named said: “While some of the smaller payments to law firms relate to administration and other genuine legal work, the scale and frequency of larger payments to some law firms identified in the disclosure give us all an idea of the scale of secrecy, wrongdoing and cover up at Police Scotland.”
A now retired Police Officer described Police Scotland as “a sinister work environment” adding “senior officers prefer to cover up crime and wrongdoing within policing to please their political masters in the Scottish Government”
Wow! - clearly there is more than one 'bad apple' in Police Scotland.
ReplyDeleteso under Iain Livingstone who is a member of the Law Society of Scotland according to his own declarations of interests
ReplyDeletegroups of law firms lawyers and advocates take twenty four million quid in three years
I should ask if there will be any investigation of these payments but we all know in Scotland when lawyers do anything there is never an investigation
well done for publishing the FOI so we can all see for ourselves how lawyers are fleecing us all for their own ends
Strange how every news outlet promoted the story on the new Chief Constable's taxi ride back to Durham and now the Police Station closures but no one dare mention the content of £24 Million going to lawyers and their brethren in your Police Scotland FOI response.
ReplyDeleteAs a retired journalist and regular reader of your blog I have read often your use of the term legal mcmafia in Scotland.
Taking your two recent postings of developments in legal services complaints reform and Police cash to law firms it seems appropriate to discuss the media mcmafia whom I am sure you will agree are closely allied to and heavily influenced by the legal mcmafia.
Keep up the good work Peter.
Ahha - so another 'revolving door' between vested interests. For another look no further that politicians and big business....remember Iain Hamilton and Harrods?
ReplyDeleteI was thinking much the same of our "media mcmafia" them being so eager to write praise of and paid-for news by the "legal mcmafia"
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
Strange how every news outlet promoted the story on the new Chief Constable's taxi ride back to Durham and now the Police Station closures but no one dare mention the content of £24 Million going to lawyers and their brethren in your Police Scotland FOI response.
As a retired journalist and regular reader of your blog I have read often your use of the term legal mcmafia in Scotland.
Taking your two recent postings of developments in legal services complaints reform and Police cash to law firms it seems appropriate to discuss the media mcmafia whom I am sure you will agree are closely allied to and heavily influenced by the legal mcmafia.
Keep up the good work Peter.
15 December 2023 at 10:38
How many Tories in Scotland met the PPE thief and supported the you know what from you know who?
ReplyDeleteWhy does this need to be in a paper?
ReplyDeleteWhenever we see stories on FOI they never show us the FOI and make it all party political so you never really get the truth.
Here on this blog and for free Peter Cherbi posts some of his work and we get to read and learn from it and decide for ourselves.
Much better than having to download a snooping newspaper app that spies on our bank accounts and our online shopping or anything else.
The SNP are allowing these payments to go on to keep their greed living lawyer friends in the legal fraternity happy
ReplyDeleteIf you look at who is in the SNP half of them are lawyers same as all the other political parties either lawyers or their family in the legal industry
Scotland is mostly bought up and bought off this is why nothing ever really happens at Holyrood other than filling their own pockets
Digby Brown £3,542,599.74; Faculty Services Limited £3,278,006.95; Pbw Law £3,125,900.10; R S Vaughan & Co £2,416,844.59; Levy & McRae Solicitors LLP £2,289,992.27; Ledingham Chalmers £1,921,785.46; Km Law £1,688,753.90; Clyde & Co £932,049.54; Morton Fraser Llp £788,754.02; Miller Beckett & Jackson £665,000.00; Thompsons Solicitors £460,255.00; Slater & Gordon £412,075.54; Gildeas Ltd £275,645.02; Reid Cooper Partnership £272,696.20; Bdo Llp £247,219.86; Macroberts Llp £145,329.69; Thorntons Law £111,842.70; Balfour & Manson Llp £96,791.77; BTO Solicitiors LLP £94,000.00; Jackson Boyd LLP £90,814.14
ReplyDeleteThe supposedly independent Scots media and you can read umpteen stories promoting many of the same law firms.If you make a comment in email to the newspapers and journalists they email you back with a F* off I am award winning journalist and I will send your email and home address to the lawyers I wrote about.This is why they refuse to criticise lawyers anymore in Scotland.
recent headlines on Police Scotland are down to rival factions leaking against the other and being egged on by politicians trying to undermine Police Scotland for anti-SNP headlines.
ReplyDeleteFancy a gander at messages? read next comment and contact
Brilliant to see you writing again Peter!
ReplyDeleteSeasons Greetings to you and thanks for sticking up for the wee guy!
The 'media' are as guilty as others for allowing the SNP Government to fritter away billions on themselves while Scotland burns in debt.No matter what they write nothing changes.If anything the scandals grow larger and add on millions.The Ferries scandal is one example.If you look back to the run up to what happened the press were too busy giving gongs to SNP politicians and lawyers so you can easily imagine the SNP Government were fine with splashing billions on themselves with no bad press around to warn us.The same 'media' keep awarding the SNP politician of the year awards while they ruin every one of us.
ReplyDeleteSO in Scotland buying a paper or watching television news is not worth it because we only hear of what happened five years later when everyone has forgotten about it or has their own problems to deal with and nothing happens when the news comes out.How many lawyers of the week and top lawyers and top politicians and top journalists are there in Scotland?Anyone like to do a survey on these statistics because Scotland is the worst state I have ever seen it and we have all these top lawyers top journalists top politicians and *ck all is working.
Where is the TOP SCRUTINY?As yourselves this question everyone and think about what you are being told in the news they want you to read instead of what is really happening to you!
Happy New Year Peter!!
ReplyDeleteHope to see more of your fine work in 2024!!
The leak of Chief Constable Jo Farrell's travel itinerary is nothing to do with anti-SNP headlines.The Police car taxi leak originated from disgruntled Police Officers who were unsuccessful in attaining promotion and are now on one to topple their new English boss.
ReplyDeleteHappy new year to MI5's top man in Scotland who:
ReplyDelete1.nailed the judiciary with one single question
2.nailed the nats with one single story on FM#2
3.engineered the exposure of nat FM#1 for the corruption we always knew was there but no other dared publish
BUT I suspect you are pro-Scotland all along and only want to let us see the truth of Scotland is run by lawyers and as you call them unelected judges and not the pretend parliament pretend Scottish Government and pretend politicians
Amazing guy are you!
Check Farrell's statement!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/scottish-news/police-scotland-exodus-third-top-31836029
Police Scotland exodus as THIRD top cop to quit crisis-hit organisation in less than a year
Deputy chief constable Malcolm Graham has become the third top cop after Sir Iain Livingstone and Fiona Taylor to announce their retirement amid a funding crisis in the force.
A third top cop is set to quit Police Scotland, joining an exodus of experienced staff from the crisis-hit orgnisation. Deputy chief constable Malcolm Graham has announced his intention to retire from policing in just three months' time, after almost 30 years' service.
He joins fellow deputy chief constable Fiona Taylor and former chief executive Sir Iain Livingstone in exiting the force in just under a year. Sir Iain retired back in August last year, while Ms Taylor will also be hanging up her uniform next month.
The exodus of top staff comes as Police Scotland faces a funding crisis and a new leader, with Jo Farrell joining from Durham Constabulary. But her reign got off to a bumpy start when she was forced to apologise for making an on-duty cop drive her home to Northumberland from Edinburgh after trains were cancelled due to Storm Babet.
Mr Graham was a candidate to replace Sir Iain as the country's top cop but lost out to Ms Farrell and has now decided to exit the force as well. He leads the Local Policing portfolio, and notified the Scottish Police Authority on Monday and will leave Police Scotland on April 8.
He said: “After almost 30 years in policing, including more than 11 as a chief officer, I have decided the time is right to leave Police Scotland and take up new challenges. It has been a privilege to serve the people of Scotland as a police officer and I hope to be able to do so in some other capacity in the future. I want to thank my colleagues and friends in Police Scotland, in partner agencies, and in communities across the country, for the support they have given me throughout my career.”
Chief Constable Jo Farrell said: “I want to thank Malcolm for his outstanding leadership throughout a distinguished career defined by integrity and commitment. Malcolm has driven high standards of compassion and professionalism in Police Scotland, establishing our Major Investigations Team and enhancing our response to Violence Against Women and Girls. He played a vital role in the policing response to the Covid pandemic and following the death of Her Majesty The Queen."
Mr Graham announced last month that the force was looking at closing 29 police stations across the country, including two busy stations in Edinburgh and one in Glasgow city centre. A recruitment freeze was also put in place over the festive period to free up cops to help out in communities over the busy time.
Cops are also investigating Scotland's governing party over alleged embezzlement and misuse of funds, with Operation Branchform leading to the arrest of Nicola Sturgeon, Peter Murrell and Colin Beattie. Police Scotland have been criticised for the alleged glacial pace of the operation, with no charges brought since the probe started in summer 2021.
Mr Graham became Deputy Chief Constable in 2019 and took on the remit of Crime and Operational Support, where he was responsible for specialist policing functions including major crime investigations and major incident response. He also led the policing response to the Covid=19 pandemic and the policing operation for the funeral of Her Majesty The Queen.
The Scottish Police Authority is currently recruiting to replace Ms Taylor, with the Authority now being forced to consider whether a separate process is necessary to fill the vacancy caused by Mr Graham's retirement.
@ 12 December 2023 at 18:31
ReplyDeleteMore info to come out, incl. what law firms have been doing with the money and how in some cases clients have encountered interesting issues with their legal reps ...
@ 15 December 2023 at 10:38
Certain news editors enjoy doing favours for vested interests, one even asked for deletion of all coverage in relation to their pal, a sex offender - who appears to have been given a reference for a job by a Scots ultra=right wing politician who previously called him out ...
@ 18 December 2023 at 11:24
In Scotland the revolving door is much more extensive and elaborate, kept hidden mostly by the legal mcmafia and the dishonest courts system who enjoy lining their pockets with public and client cash.
@ 18 December 2023 at 20:20
Many it seems, and more who also benefitted from the PPE scandal and other yet to be published scandals.
@ 20 December 2023 at 15:02
Media is back to the bad old days of the 2000s in Scotland - where legal vested interests have stepped up lobbying against coverage of their scandals & mistreatment of clients.
Example - An interesting set of comms leaked to a journo reveal an [unnamed for now] MSP asked for a meeting with a journo to air a legal regulator's grievance against their coverage on matters relating to the judiciary.
The series of comms then ask the MSP to intimidate the journo and warn off depending upon their response.
The meeting never took place because the journo was tipped off by a source on what to expect at the meeting - but the legal regulator appears to believe the MSP had themselves tipped off the journo not to attend ...
@ 27 December 2023 at 17:26
Thanks, and hope you have a Happy New Year for 2024
@ 1 January 2024 at 21:40
Don't look for top scrutiny in Scotland, or England & Wales for that .. not while the Tories run Westminster and the Tartan Tories run Scotland.
Not saying any other party will do much better and they will have to prove to the electorate they can - and as always it is up to the media to hold the next Governments to account.
However the entire UK needs a change of government across the country and with a General Election for 2024 there are many who feel an effort should be made to campaign for an election in Scotland this year 2024.
16 years of SNP power and scandal, lies and false promises in Scotland is approaching junta status - and 13 years of Tory scandals have reduced major parts of the UK and it's reputation to rubble.
@ 2 January 2024 at 11:30
Thanks, and Happy New Year for 20240
@ 4 January 2024 at 22:46
Yes, quite so ... material from FOI disclosures show exactly this and further material from whistleblowers confirms much more ... almost a civil war going on in Scots policing, courtesy of Police Scotland's rather unfortunate political and vested interest masters who are themselves trying to cling on to power at any cost.
@ 9 January 2024 at 14:36
MFI only do domestic kitchens & cover-ups for politicians, judges & vested interests .. so not interested.
The remainder of your comment is quite good, incl. the pro-Scotland part.
@ 9 January 2024 at 20:25
Interesting, thanks. Suppose the question may be - why hire a Chief Constable then elements from within their new force try to set them up for a fall to enable the previous leadership to retake power ... and why are some right-wing politicians mentioned in the cop-coup discussions ...