Monday, July 11, 2011

Spies, Lies, Hacking & Facebook : Law Society Master Policy snooped on ‘difficult clients’ to undermine damages claims, complaints about lawyers

logoIf your complaint against a solicitor involves negligence, or the theft of your funds, prepare to be hacked. LET’S BE HONEST. Spying hacking or snooping is endemic in daily life. In the name of cutting crime, the last UK Labour Government even passed legislation, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, with our own Scottish version (RIPSA), which greatly expanded the number of organisations who could spy or even in some cases, hack into your every move where, for example your local authority could & did use snooping powers which were originally meant to sniff out terrorists, to check if you put recyclables in your general waste bin, if you were trying to get your child into a school outwith your home address area or if your dog made a foul & murderous use of a tree in a public park.

So, while many of us may, or may not be so shocked about the lurid headlines of the past two weeks which culminated in the closure this past weekend of the News of the World newspaper, after allegations were made that former journalists hacked into the phone messages of celebrities, politicians & public figures (crooked or otherwise) and allegedly, murder victims, it should come as no surprise to all of us, the same tactics employed by certain sections of the media to dig up dirt on, well, anyone, have been employed by the legal profession for decades to target those consumers who have been put in the unenviable position of being forced to complain about their solicitors poor service, taking in many subjects & actions which, if committed by the ordinary man on the street, would be classed as criminal.

Spot the difference ? Well that’s easy. Headlines about the News of the World have been in the news for months, if not years. The revelations proved too strong for News International to bear, the advertisers pulled their business, there are rumours yet more allegations are to be revealed, and so, the paper closed.

When it comes to the legal profession and its insurers use of snooping practices to follow clients, dig up dirt on their lives, use friendly pubic servants out for financial gain to intimidate the ‘difficult ones’, put clients on blacklists banning them from ever obtaining a lawyer again, harassing clients families, generally making life difficult, well … such things are not talked about in public and hardly ever, if at all, hit the headlines.

Over the years many people who have contacted me over their complaints about solicitors, have spoke of an almost shared experience, numbering well into the hundreds of people, where for instance, individuals have encountered problems with their mail, problems with their bank, problems with the Police, problems with their local council, and so on, and all these problems beginning, strangely enough, only after they had been ripped off by their solicitor and had felt strongly enough about it to register a complaint with the Law Society of Scotland, demanding compensation for negligence, or lost, stolen or embezzled funds.

Coincidence ? Yes, perhaps, if it happened to three or four people in the past twenty years ... but as the numbers built up, and even journalists from various newspapers who referred these increasing numbers of clients to me began to say themselves, “Coincidence flies out the window when dealing with crooked lawyers and the Law Society, these people have been targeted”.

Coincidentally, all of those who suffered many of these reported difficulties brought on by their complaint to the Law Society, were those seeking to take legal action against their solicitor, legal action against the Law Society of Scotland, legal action against an advocate or to pursue a damages claim against the Master Policy, the Law Society of Scotland’s Professional Indemnity Insurance scheme designed to protect crooked lawyers from damages claims for negligence.

I recently reported on the level of intrusion into the lives of consumers by the Law Society of Scotland and persons working for its Master Policy insurance scheme, in an article on the latest SLCC research into the Master Policy, here : Suicides, ill health, financial ruin : Will SLCC's latest Master Policy report deliver solution to Law Society 'pro-crooked lawyer' insurance scheme ?

In the earlier article, I reported on the text of a document sent to a solicitor suggesting ways in which to protect himself from a complaint, and an impending claim against the Master Policy. I also reported how John Swinney, the Scottish Government’s Finance Chief revealed the text of a secret memo where a Director of Marsh UK discussed secret moves with the then Chief Executive of the Law Society of Scotland, Douglas Mill, to spy on members of the public by collating information on clients & their claims against the Master Policy.

Marsh UK were identified in memos released by Cabinet Secretary John Swinney during a Justice Committee meeting at the Scottish Parliament, which revealed the Law Society of Scotland & its insurers were engaged in interference in clients legal representation and were also actively blocking damages claims & court cases against crooked lawyers from entering the Scottish courts.

A legal insider speaking to Diary of Injustice some weeks ago alleged several firms of Private Investigators in Edinburgh & Glasgow have been routinely used by law firms working on behalf of the Master Policy to “dig up dirt on difficult clients”. He named several firms and provided information still being looked into.

He said : “If someone becomes publicly involved with the Law Society of Scotland to the degree a solicitor may end up in court or the society faces severe criticism for its actions, that person is checked out. Its been this way for years.”

He continued : “Its common knowledge if a client manages to obtain legal representation to pursue a negligence claim against their former solicitors, their lives will be put under the microscope using any means possible. This has involved using Private Investigators and other bodies to engather information. I’d like to think this is used for honest purposes but I know its not. Put it this way, if there’s no dirt there, it will be put there and used to make someone’s life very very difficult.”

One of the firms of Private Investigators named by the insider initially denied allegations their role “entails surveillance on difficult clients of solicitors”, however in an email received prior to publication of this article this afternoon, they have since admitted working for a key law firm acting for the Master Policy.

Their admission may have been influenced by the fact copies of mobile phone text messages and a dummy letter sent upon my advice from a client who was suspicious about the security of his mail to his new solicitor, ended up in the wrong hands, with the information therein being made available to certain people at the law firm who are defenders in an ongoing legal action. It also transpires Facebook profiles of the client’s son & daughter were also found among papers of the defending law firm, who are fighting allegations with significant proof that they deliberately lost their client's case against a leading insurance firm.

The firm of Private Investigators, who claim to use former Police officers in their work, have requested a meeting with Diary of Injustice to discuss the matter further and I will report any developments to readers as the story unfolds.

In a recent report on Scottish Law Reporter, it is worth noting the subject of “Police involvement” on the side of an advocate who had been the subject of complaints to the Faculty of Advocates by builders chasing sums allegedly owed to them. Scottish Law Reporter reported the builders had been threatened by a Police Office from Strathclyde Police after a Sheriff and former Law Society Fiscal’s law firm had become involved in the dispute.

The details in the above story as reported by Scottish Law Reporter reads almost the same for tens of clients, who, after making a complaint to the Law Society of Scotland, and in some cases going onto make a claim against the Master Policy, encountered growing problems with their local Police forces, information on which unexplainably ended up with law firms representing & defending ”crooked lawyers” in court.

Recently, the case of Ian Puddick, a plumber who exposed a love affair between his wife and an insurance executive was debated in the Westminster Parliament, where MPs were told actions resulting from the involvement of a “private security firm”  (Kroll) who were hired by the insurance executive “to bury” Mr Puddick led to Mr Puddick being raided by several units from the City of London Police including its Anti-Terror branch with claims over a million pounds of public money were spent on investigating Mr Puddick, whose life was made a misery. It is a fact Kroll were owned by MMC (Marsh McLennan Companies) during these incidents in 2009. In June 2010, Marsh & McLennan Co Inc agreed to sell investigations unit Kroll to a firm led by former Marsh CEO Michael Cherkasky for $1.13 billion.

MMC (Marsh McLennan Companies) is currently chaired by Conservative Peer Lord Ian Lang. MMC is the parent of Marsh UK, who operate the Law Society of Scotland’s Master Policy, and who also provide insurance services for the Scottish Government, much of Scotland’s local authorities & public services, many bodies within the Scottish legal system including the Police.

Today, anyone in Scotland who has perhaps at some stage, felt there was someone looking over their shoulder because they complained about their solicitor, or took the matter to court, can take a little heart from the fact the Scottish legal profession are now spying on their own, with the revelation that two ‘representative bodies’ of Scotland’s legal profession are snooping on the lives of staff at the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, (SLCC), according to documents shown by a legal insider to Diary of Injustice which include printouts of Facebook pages, a list of names and other information gathered on individuals who work at the SLCC.

One has to wonder, if the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission has managed to close down record numbers of complaints yet has only managed to uphold one single complaint against a solicitor, why would information on those working at the SLCC be of such importance to the likes of the Law Society of Scotland and other ‘representative bodies’ of Scottish solicitors ?

42 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very good.I like your honesty.
We can be assured none of this will be talked about in the new SLCC report on the Master Policy.Too much like rocking the boat for them.

Anonymous said...

When it comes to the legal profession and its insurers use of snooping practices to follow clients, dig up dirt on their lives, use friendly pubic servants out for financial gain to intimidate the ‘difficult ones’, put clients on blacklists banning them from ever obtaining a lawyer again, harassing clients families, generally making life difficult, well … such things are not talked about in public and hardly ever, if at all, hit the headlines.

EASY TO BUY OFF A NEWSPAPER WITH MORE ADVERTISING PERHAPS NOT SO EASY NOW NO ONE IS BUYING THEM OR BELIEVING THEM ANYMORE

Anonymous said...

And what exactly has John Swinney done about Marsh since coming into power?

Yes that's right paid them more money for insurance services he talked about in that video you have about it!

Anonymous said...

Private investigators get away with murder these days so no surprise to me the Law Society have them in tow

Anonymous said...

Oops has someone decided to talk at last?
I look forward to all the dirty details of what this scum did to the victims of crooked lawyers!

Anonymous said...

Its not for me to tell you how to do your reporting but that meeting you refer to I would hold off for now.Can you really trust these people anyway?What if they do something to you?I wouldn't put anything past them.This thing you are writing about is worth huge amounts of money and look what they did to Mr Puddick.It might be in their interests to kill you to keep the Scottish end quiet so watch yourself Peter.

Anonymous said...

The lesson from the News of the World episode is this - If you want to curtail these kinds of activities make sure you make so much trouble for the companies behind it they lose customers because it was the loss of ads to the notw which changed the game not the smoking emails or anything else.
Start campaigns against all the insurance firms supporting lawyers and lose them their business - its a crooked racket anyway and they deserve to go under!

Anonymous said...

I wonder what dirt might have been dug up on John Sminney that has kept him so silent for several years?

Anonymous said...

After reading your previous on the Law Society this does not surprise me one bit.
If the tables were turned I wonder what would be revealed from the Master Policy files?

Anonymous said...

"Their admission may have been influenced by the fact copies of mobile phone text messages and a dummy letter sent upon my advice from a client who was suspicious about the security of his mail to his new solicitor, ended up in the wrong hands, with the information therein being made available to certain people at the law firm who are defenders in an ongoing legal action."

This could be a job for the Police,that is if you can find any one of them honest enough to take it on (I doubt it)

Anonymous said...

I thought the Tories were going to scrap ripa?lol not a chance when its pulling in such information as this!

Anonymous said...

Funny to read the Law Society are now spying on the SLCC!
Those at the Stamp Office will be getting their knickers in a twist reading about this!

Anonymous said...

You may like to know a certain firm of solicitors in Edinburgh invested heavily in a well known if utterly corrupt private detective agency not too long ago..

Anonymous said...

If Cameron's inquiry into hacking is of any use it will go right into all this hacking by lawyers too otherwise its meaningless to have any inquiry and you are correct too Peter about Labour giving the Councils all those spying powers they should all be scrapped NOW

Hitler's insurance is the Master Policy said...

NO doubt about it,if Hitler ever wanted insurance he would have been a member of the aptly named Master Policy of a crooked profession who consider themselves above everyone else.

Anonymous said...

Hitler's insurance is the Master Policy said...

NO doubt about it,if Hitler ever wanted insurance he would have been a member of the aptly named Master Policy of a crooked profession who consider themselves above everyone else.

11 July 2011 18:39

Master Policy for the Master Race with a swastika and Law Society on the background would make a good poster against these thugs!

Anonymous said...

Heh yes good point the comment about there should be an inquiry into this racket especially if Government is paying out our money to this pet project of the lawyer mafia

Anonymous said...

I predict a few soon2b unemployed private scumbags heading off to guard the mall after MMC read your post

Anonymous said...

I'd like to ask you a question Mr Cherbi about your knowledge of the Master Policy.

In view of all you have written about it and particulalry your report of today how far up the line would you say knowledge or authorisation of these kinds of acts committed against clients goes/comes from?

Anonymous said...

They are the spineless scourge of the earth and its high time they were treated as such. Campaign and close them down with immediate effect and being perfectly honest the time for talking was over years before the slcc opened so action is the only way.

Anonymous said...

Why the offer of a meeting after all you've said about them?
Is this buy you off or kill you off time?
Dont go!

Anonymous said...

Dont expect any changes from Fat Salmond on the Marsh double dealing.He will happily throw more money after those who cause the deaths of Scots.Example Salmond is up to his double chin in the Murdoch caper so Marsh will be just another caper for him!

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2011/07/11/pressure-on-alex-salmond-over-links-to-rupert-murdoch-newspapers-86908-23263063/

Pressure on Alex Salmond over links to Rupert Murdoch newspapers

Jul 11 2011 Torcuil Crichton

Alex Salmond is coming under pressure to reveal his links to the Murdoch newspapers which backed him to become First Minister.

Salmond has been pilloried by opponents for dragging his feet on the phone-hacking scandal.

He only broke his silence on it last week when Labour leader Iain Gray questioned why he had said nothing.

And he has not joined other Scottish political leaders in calling for News International boss Rebekah Brooks to resign.

Now he is being asked questions on his personal connections to News International after it emerged he attended a celebration dinner to thank the newspapers for backing the SNP in the Scottish election.

Glasgow Provan Labour MSP Paul Martin said: "I suspect Alex Salmond's sudden and close relationship with News International explains his refusal to criticise the people who backed him so strongly last May."

Labour said they knew NI hosted a business breakfast for the SNP just weeks before polling day and that NI officials came to Holyrood to discuss the SNP election strategy in detail.

Most recently, he went for a thank-you curry with NI journalists in June. It was the culmination of the close links the First Minister forged with Murdoch's News International to get the press baron's backing.

In January, Salmond met James Murdoch in London. Shortly after, Scottish editions of the Murdoch newspapers began running pro-SNP stories.

The party provided an interview with SNP supporter Sir Sean Connery and increased their advertising spend in the Murdoch titles.

The Sun then delivered a ringing endorsement of Salmond on election day, in sharp contrast to the image of an SNP noose around Scotland in the 2007 campaign.

A spokesperson for the First Minister said last night: "Labour's hypocrisy is breathtaking, given that practically their entire leadership attended Rupert Murdoch's summer party in London last month, downing champagne and oysters with Rebekah Brooks.

"The meeting with James Murdoch was in early January and was to discuss jobs and business opportunities in Scotland - they are after all one of Scotland's biggest private sector employers."

Anonymous said...

The Police are not interested in crooked lawyers and I know this because I tried to report one and ended up being persecuted by the Police for doing so just like the builders you mentioned

Anonymous said...

Well it can't be that bad if these firms emply former Police officers surely......err, but then again....

Anonymous said...

Phew Peter how do you survive dealing with all this scum?
Arent you afraid you will end up like Dr Kelly?
Surely you must be on their death lists with all your exposing of lawyers tricks and treachery!

Anonymous said...

I could not believe what happened tonight so I will write it here for you to have a think about.While watching the BBC News channel at 9.15pm they had a former Chief Inspector on discussing the latest leaks about some Policeman who guarded the Royals selling their phone book.He said he was surprised about it if it was true then went onto say what he does now,something about being a corporate investigator and has more meetings now with lawyers than journalists. What he said next is the kicker,it was something like "lawyers are asking for all kinds of information for their civil cases and not fussy about where it comes from".Also he mentioned the "dark arts" are creeping into those subjects too,presumably he means the same hacking as went on in the News of the World,so just to let you know about it if you have BBC News because everything this ex Policeman said confirmed to me what you have been writing about with lawyers and insurance companies using private detectives to bury their difficult clients.

I admire your bravery in taking on these hoodlums as you do! Keep up the good work and take care Peter!

Anonymous said...

Crooked cops and crooked lawyers mixing together must be about the worst combination ever.Glad you wrote about it.

Anonymous said...

People have strong feelings about this and I dont blame them because its a scandal this is allowed to go on

Anonymous said...

Absolutely spot on Peter.

The News of the World scandal is being reported all over the place yet the Law Society and its hoodlums have been using the same tactics against clients for years and not a peep in the media except from experienced and honest campaigners such as yourself.

Anonymous said...

I wonder what prompted those ex-policemen to 'leave the force' - a real cushy number as even a cursory glance at their pension entitlements will confirm - and join up with a firm of private dicks.

One thing is certain, John Swinney knows a lot more than he is telling.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure the SLCC will be reading this so I wonder what their staff think of being stalked by their own kind in the profession?

Anonymous said...

Without a doubt none of the notw stuff was possible without lawyers and if you look closely these emails now coming out were sent to lawyers in 2007.I wonder if Marsh have any dealings with them also?

Anonymous said...

Given what you have said about the Law Society & Master Policy there should be a full inquiry into those who run it except who can we trust?Surely no one in Scotland because its all too cosy and crooked among the establishment who probably all benefit from it one way or another

Anonymous said...

My dad tried to take his lawyer to court and he ended up jobless after the sick f*ck lawyer told his boss loads of lies about him so I know what u are talking about here is true.Turn the tables on these sick f*cks asap!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

I wonder what dirt might have been dug up on John Sminney that has kept him so silent for several years?

11 July 2011 16:44

LOTS I BET!

Anonymous said...

I imagine some of those crooked master policy private investigators have a lot of questions being hurled at them today!

Anonymous said...

I see today's headlines include lawyers knowing all about poor Gordon Brown's family details so what you've exposed at the Law Society seems to be pretty consistent with what's been going on at some newspapers.

Keep up the pressure!

Anonymous said...

didnt some of those cops sound so crooked today when they were being asked about news international?
I imagine if the cops were asked about the law society and Marsh they would be equally as ignorant!

Anonymous said...

I had a look at Ian Puddick's website after reading your post now I cant help wondering if Marsh learned from Kroll or the other way around?

Anonymous said...

Really if anyone is thinking the Police are going to properly investigate anything to do with the hacking or even the Law Society they must be out of their bloody minds!

Come on you lot how long has Peter been writing about this stuff and not one bloody Police investigation into any of it yet he keeps uncovering more and more and still nothing is done?

I think you all have a serious problem there in the UK not just in Scotland with all these crooked organisations controlling politicians and public life you better get them sorted out before they sort you out for good.

Anonymous said...

So why dont the Police investigate all this too or is this a case of more bent cops in the pay of bent lawyers which IS EXACTLY WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE TO ME

Anonymous said...

The Law Society and their Master Policy are clearly evil entities undeserving of any involvement with the public.