Saturday, October 29, 2011

Lord Advocate tells Holyrood his own Fiscals are wrong over claims of case backlog & ‘stress’ as £108 million pours into failing Crown Office

Scotland’s Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland refutes Procurator Fiscals claims to msps they were short of staff, money. LORD ADVOCATE Frank Mulholland, head of Scotland’s staggeringly expensive and often criticised Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) which received £108.2 MILLION POUNDS from the Scottish Government to ‘fight crime’ has today been forced to defend his department’s prosecution of criminal cases after evidence was submitted by the Procurators Fiscal Society earlier this week to the Scottish Parliament alleging a huge backlog of cases were building up because of staff cutbacks, work related stress and other failures attributed to, but not in so many words, the budget cuts forced on all public services by the recession.

Earlier this week, a written submission (pdf) from the Procurators Fiscal Society to Holyrood’s Justice Committee, in response to the committee's call for written evidence on the Scottish Government's Draft Budget 2012-13 and Spending Review 2011, alleged the reduction in staff numbers within the COPFS was damaging the justice system.

The Procurators Fiscal Society told MSPs : We believe we can evidence the impact that reducing staff numbers is already having on performance targets by looking at the increasing number of unmarked reported cases.

Looking back only 6 months to April of this year there were approximately 7,000 unmarked cases, and of those only c. 1,300 of them were over 4 weeks old.

As at 16 October 2011 there were nearly 14,000 unmarked cases. This is 52% higher than the same point in 2010/2011 and 100% higher than only six months previously. When looking at the number of those cases which are more than 4 weeks old (the performance target being to take and implement a decision (mark) within 4 weeks), these account for approximately 31% (c. 4,300) of all the unmarked cases.

The submission from the Procurators Fiscals Society also claimed a number of staff on fixed term contracts have not been replaced, and many of the previous years ‘trainee solicitors’ with the COPFS had not been offered new contracts. The PFS told msps COPFS is already operating with significantly fewer legal staff and that there is work in the offices that cannot be done within existing resources and targets.

However, a statement released today by the Crown Office ‘sought to correct’ some of the claims by the Procurators Fiscal Society to the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee, setting the Lord Advocate firmly against some of the PFS claims, in attempts to reassure msps who may be minded to take a closer inspection of Scotland’s widely disrespected prosecution service.

The Crown Office statement :

The Lord Advocate, Frank Mulholland QC has written to Christine Grahame MSP, Convener of the Scottish Parliament Justice Committee to confirm that workload and staffing levels within the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) are sufficient to deal with local increases in numbers of cases that have been reported by the police in recent weeks to some Procurator Fiscal offices.

The Lord Advocate reassured the Committee that some misleading and erroneous assertions in various media reports had been made around the written submission by the Procurator Fiscal Society (PFS) on 25 October to the Committee in relation to its scrutiny of the Draft Budget 2012/13 & Spending Review 2011.

He said: “Within the constraints on the public purse, COPFS has been given priority in the Spending Review. Its total budget in 2014/15 will be £108.7M compared with £108.2M this year. “The COPFS aims to take a decision in 75% of cases within 4 weeks of reports being submitted by the police who aim to report 80% of cases within 28 days of caution and charge. For the year to date COPFS is currently meeting the target in 84% of cases. COPFS and the police also work closely together to ensure that cases which are reported are processed by both organisations to comply with statutory timebars.”

“COPFS has sufficient staff to deliver a modern prosecution service for Scotland. Although there have been recent localised increases in reports submitted to Procurators Fiscal, our use of modern IT systems to move the work around the country as necessary means that COPFS responds more effectively to such fluctuations than ever before.”

“There is no risk that our present staffing levels would lead to cases in our current workload becoming subject to timebar. The number of cases awaiting decision as at the start of this week amounted to just over 2 weeks of the average weekly reports received from the police, which is normal and is an acceptable level of “work in progress”.

The Lord Advocate also clarified that the COPFS does have sufficient staff and there has been no overall increase in the number of cases reported to COPFS each year. He said: “By mid year this year COPFS had 513 lawyers compared with 505 in mid year 2009. “The annual number of cases received by COPFS has decreased and has been running at below 280,000 since 2009/10 compared with 320,000 in 2005/06 (when COPFS had 433 lawyers).”

The PFS submission to the Committee also made reference to COPFS not employing former trainee solicitors. The Lord Advocate set out the COPFS position: “It has never been the case that a legal traineeship with COPFS guaranteed a permanent post upon qualification as a solicitor. COPFS have work which is ideally suited to legal trainees and see the operation of a training programme as financially efficient as well as providing crucial investment in the future of the Scottish legal system. We also see this as an opportunity to put something back into the profession and give high quality legal graduates the opportunity to qualify as a solicitor. COPFS offers an excellent traineeship and all who have trained with us are well placed to apply for positions across the legal profession.“

The Procurators Fiscal Society represents over 300 members of mainly legal staff within COPFS. It began in 1930 as a professional association, and operated for over 60 years on that basis. In the early 1990s the Society became a section of First Division Association - the trade union representing senior managers and professionals in the Civil Service.

The current spat between the Lord Advocate & the Procurators Fiscal Society are a world away from the relationship under previous administrations where lavish dinners held in honour of the PFS’ 75 year anniversary saw then Lord Advocate Colin Boyd praise the society, saying : “I am very pleased to be here to mark the 75th anniversary of the Procurators Fiscal Society. The Service and the Society have a long tradition of working together to serve the public.”

However, there are many who doubt the COPFS actually serve society and the public interest, after investigations by Diary of Injustice & the Sunday Mail newspaper revealed the Crown Office REFUSED to prosecute FOURTEEN solicitors for legal aid fraud involving huge sums of public money. An additional investigation by Diary of Injustice revealed one of the alleged fraudsters who the Crown Office refused to prosecute, was married to a Procurator Fiscal.

Clearly the Justice Committee should make the time for a full investigation into Scotland’s Crown Office and how the criminal justice system does not make the punishment fit the crime, when vested interests collide.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

JUDGE OUR JUDGES : Petition seeks ‘judicial transparency’, asks Westminster require judiciary to ‘declare all’ to a Register of Interests

Britain’s highly paid judges are unaccountable & currently refuse to submit to a register of interests, so let’s change their minds in the public interest. A REGISTER OF INTERESTS FOR JUDGES will provide greater transparency within the judicial system, will assist in the administration of justice & public confidence in its procedures, and most of all, will avoid any conflicts of interest in the judiciary which currently go unnoticed due to the fact judges have until now REFUSED to hold themselves to a higher standard of transparency & accountability than most politicians & public servants who are required by Government or Parliamentary rules & even the law itself to register their financial & other interests & any hospitality received.

E-Petition to Downing Street Petitions website asks for judges to be required to declare all to a register of interests. An E-Petition, filed yesterday on the No10 website asks the following : This petition requests the Government bring about a Register of Pecuniary Interests of Judges Bill (as is currently being considered in New Zealand's Parliament) or amend present UK legislation to require all members of the Judiciary to submit their interests & hospitality to a publicly available Register of Interests.

PLEASE CLICK THIS LINK AND SIGN THE PETITION : Register of Interests for UK Judiciary

In an age of public expectations of full accountability & transparency, it is time to end some or indeed all of the myths created around the judiciary by the legal establishment, vested interests and even the judiciary itself, by bringing the UK’s highly paid, if not always highly respected or respectable judges into line with all other public servants in requiring them to comply with a full register of interests & hospitality.

While this e-petition relates only to members of the judiciary in England & Wales, it does apply to members of the UK’s Supreme Court, who for now have said in an online document : “… The Justices have decided that it would not be appropriate or indeed feasible for them to have a comprehensive Register of Interests, as it would be impossible for them to identify all the interests, which might conceivably arise, in any future case that came before them. To draw up a Register of Interests, which people believed to be complete, could potentially be misleading”.

Politicians and other public servants simply cannot get away such a statement with excusing themselves from transparency & accountability via a register of interests & hospitality, so why should members of the judiciary. Judge our judges by signing the petition.

Here in Scotland, the judiciary have also REFUSED to submit to a register of interests or hospitality, however their reasons for refusing to bring greater transparency to the judicial process in Scotland may well have something to do with the fact no all Scottish judges have been honest in excusing themselves from cases where they have conflicting interests with vested interests before them in court or in their private lives, as I reported in an earlier article here : Offshore trusts, property holdings, insurance syndicates, hospitality from dodgy lawyers, yet no plans for a register of interests for Scottish judges 

A spokesperson for the Judicial Office for Scotland, commenting on the lack of a register of interests for Scottish judges who receive up to £230K a year plus expenses & massive gold plated pensions, stated : “The Judicial Office for Scotland does not hold a register of hospitality for members of the judiciary and there are no plans to do so. The Lord President has set out formal guidelines to the judiciary in the STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES OF JUDICIAL ETHICS. Para 4.9 and 7.2 address this particular point.”

Lord Hamilton judicialLord Hamilton, Scotland’s Lord President has REFUSED to create a register of interests for Scottish judges. Lord President Lord Hamilton said in his statement : “While attempts to corrupt the judiciary are virtually unknown in this jurisdiction, a judge should be circumspect in the acceptance of any gift, hospitality, or favour from any private source. Where the benefit sought to be conferred upon the judge is not commensurate with an existing family or social relationship between him or her and the donor, or host, it should normally be declined. However, it is recognised that a judge may, from time to time, legitimately be entertained by legal, professional or public organisations or office-holders, in furtherance of good relations between them and the judiciary as a whole, or representatives of it. Furthermore, nothing said here should be understood as inhibiting judges from accepting invitations to give lectures, addresses, or speeches of a non-legal nature at dinners, or other occasions, or, in such an event, from accepting commensurate hospitality, tokens of appreciation for their efforts, or appropriate expenses of travel or accommodation.”

Lord Hamilton's statement continues : “It is considered appropriate that a judge may write, lecture, teach and participate in activities concerning the law, the legal system, the administration of justice and related matters. However, to obviate the perception that judicial office is being exploited for personal gain, a judge holding a full-time appointment should not generally receive any remuneration for such activities, with the traditional exception of fees and royalties as an author or editor, although the acceptance of a modest gift in recognition of a service given would be unexceptionable. Where a judge is offered a substantial fee for the activities described, such fee should go directly to charity. There is, of course, no objection to a judge accepting reasonable reimbursement of the cost of any necessary travel or accommodation required in attending lectures, seminars, etc. In the event of a judge engaging in literary, or other creative or artistic activities, there can be no objection to that judge receiving the normal royalties, fees, or other payments in respect of the results of those activities.”

A similar petition has been filed with the Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee, which is now being discussed with Scottish Parliament officials prior to being published on the Scottish Parliament’s website, which Diary of Injustice will continue to report on.

A MODEL FOR OPENNESS : NEW ZEALAND MOVES AHEAD OF UK WITH JUDICIAL TRANSPARENCY

New Zealand’s Parliament will enact laws to require judges to comply with register of interests. In New Zealand, there is Member’s Bill in the New Zealand Parliament, known as the Register of Pecuniary Interests of Judges Bill, introduced in late 2010 by Dr Kennedy Graham of the Green Party to introduce a Pecuniary Register of Interests for all judges, after a scandal involving the resignation of Justice Bill Wilson rocked the New Zealand legal establishment and brought into question the interests & relationships between judges & others. Justice Wilson was forced to resign after it was reported he had failed to step down in a case or disclose his business and financial relationships with Auckland QC Alan Galbraith when sitting as a member of the Court of Appeal in an appeal in which Mr Galbraith successfully represented the Wool Board Disestablishment Company in their appeal against superfine wool producers Saxmere over wool board levies. There were allegations that Justice Wilson owed Mr Galbraith $242,804, which was not disclosed to the Court of Appeal hearing. The debt was denied by Justice Wilson. More on the scandal can be read HERE, HERE & HERE.

There are concerns similar relationships between members of the judiciary and law firms, lawyers & advocates have now been found to exist in Scotland and have now been found to significantly affect some cases where big business, members of professions including the legal profession and even the Law Society of Scotland itself have faced legal action in the courts, cases which all went the way of vested interests.

The full details of New Zealand’s intentions to bring about judicial transparency via a register of interests can be viewed online here Register of Pecuniary Interests of Judges Bill. Dr Graham’s bill states :

It is a time-honoured principle of Western democracy that public servants of every kind must be beyond reproach, and suspicion thereof. Public confidence in the standard of behaviour and conduct observed by leading servants of the people is a cornerstone of social harmony and political stability. A threshold of confidence to that end should ideally be enshrined in constitutional and legislative form. Little scope should be available for individual discretion or subjective perception.

The principle of transparency in this respect pertains in particular to issues of financial (pecuniary) interest. Nothing undermines public confidence in a nation’s institutions and procedures more than suspicion that a public servant may have, and especially proof that one has, suffered a conflict of interest arising from a pecuniary interest in a particular dealing in which he or she was professionally involved.

The correct balance in this respect appears to have been achieved over the years–the public interest in such annual statements is significant without appearing prurient, and few complaints have been voiced by those on whom the obligations are placed. There seems to be a general acceptance that such exercises are in the public interest and are neither unduly onerous nor revealing.

No such practice, however, has been observed in the case of the judiciary. Recent developments within New Zealand’s judicial conduct processes suggest that application of the same practice observed by the other two branches of government might assist in the protection of the judiciary in future.

Being obliged under law to declare pecuniary interests that might be relevant to the conduct of a future case in which one is involved would relieve a judge from a repetitive weight of responsibility to make discretionary judgements about his or her personal affairs as each case arises. Having declared one’s pecuniary interests once, in a generic manner independent of any particular trial, a judge may freely proceed in the knowledge that, if he or she is appointed to adjudicate, public confidence for participation has already been met. Yet care is to be exercised to ensure that the final decision is left to the individual judge whether to accept a case. There should be no intention of external interference into the self-regulation of the judiciary by the judiciary.

This is the reasoning behind this draft legislation–the Register of Pecuniary Interests of Judges Bill. The purpose of the Bill, as stated, is to promote the due administration of justice by requiring judges to make returns of pecuniary interests to provide greater transparency within the judicial system, and to avoid any conflict of interest in the judicial role.

Additionally, in the New Zealand lawyer online, it was reported New Zealand’s Law Commission discussed the possibility the planned register of interests should be expanded to include all judicial officials who could affect a case, saying in Chapter 8.25 of their discussion paper. The Law Commission stated : “If there is to be legislation, should it apply to all judges, or only to judges of some levels, or to all judicial employees and officials such as prosecutors and registrars? An argument can be made that if there is to be financial disclosure it should be required of all officials whose positions give them sufficient potential to influence the outcome of a case, whether as a result of a bribe or other improper influence.” The New Zealand Law Commission’s discussion paper on a register of judicial interests can be downloaded here : NZLC IP21 - Towards a New Courts Act: A Register of Judges' pecuniary interests? (pdf)

The intentions of the New Zealand Parliament to move ahead with a register of interests for judges should serve as a model for a similar register of interests for all members of the UK’s judiciary, whether in Scotland, England, Wales or Northern Ireland. I also support the idea from the New Zealand Law Commission that all officials whose positions give them sufficient potential to influence the outcome of a case should be required to disclose their financial & other interests.

I therefore ask all of you who feel our judges should be more accountable, rather than being shrouded in myth & secrecy, to sign the Westminster version of the petition and the Scottish petition when it is published, to be featured on Diary of Injustice in the near future.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

‘Clean Slate’ Update : Scottish Parliament’s major website relaunch archives most petitions, reports, debates, bills & pre 2011 legislation

Big changes at the Scottish Parliament’s website have seen most pre-2011 content moved or archived. AS KEEN OBSERVERS of the Scottish Parliament website have noted, with the launch of the new Scottish Parliament website earlier this month, there have been recent, significant changes to the location of much of the debates, petitions, official reports, bills & legislation passed by Holyrood in the years since the parliament reconvened in 1999. Much of the content pre 2011 has now been archived, leaving ‘backlinks’ posted to it by news & media websites and online social media, dead or redirecting to the Parliament’s main page.

To clear up some of the confusion surrounding the relocation of entire sections of the Scottish Parliament’s website and questions to Diary of Injustice & journalists from those who have submitted petitions, material; other content over the years since 1999, a Scottish Parliament spokeswoman said today :“Our approach was to ensure that all key content has been retained from the old website.  Our website plays a vital role in Parliament being open and accessible to the public - our home page receives around 100,000 hits each month so it is important that we keep pace with technology and people’s expectations of a decent quality website.  The old website was last updated in 2004 and web technology has moved on significantly.”

A statement from the Scottish Parliament revealed some of the changes with the launch of their new website :

The new Scottish Parliament website went live on October 12th 2011 and we have tried as far as possible to ensure that all key Parliament content has been retained from the old site; Most content from 1999 is still available, although possibly not from the same place and we are aware that some links in documents, web pages, or pages that have been set as favourites by users will no longer work.  This is unavoidable to some degree when sites have major overhauls and the structure is changed. To mitigate this we have put redirects in place to ensure that users do not get broken links and instead get redirected to the relevant channel home page, from which users can navigate to the content. Here is some information about how older Parliamentary Business content can now be found on the new site:

Official Reports – via OR search tool.  This includes all Official Reports from 1999 onwards.

Business Bulletin  – current session available

Committees – all previous committees can be accessed from http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/1702.aspx; Each committee has full membership details, all committee reports, and links to meeting papers and Official Reports.

Bills – all previous Bills can be accessed from http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/Bills/610.aspx

Minutes - current and previous session available at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/15519.aspx (with links to minutes from 1999 onwards)

Motions, Questions and Answers – all available via search from 1999 onwards

Petitions – current petitions available at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/CurrentCommittees/29869.aspx

There is an archive for older content which has been agreed to not be migrated over to the new site at present and is not included in the search tools.  This is available at http://archive.scottish.parliament.uk/.

Links to specific parts of this site have been added to the new site so that users do not have to find the archive site and navigate through.  The search tool will pick up content from both the current and the archive site. This includes: Business Bulletins 1999-2011, Minutes 1999-2011, The Journal for Sessions 1 and 2, Other Committee material for Sessions 1, 2 and 3 (designed to include more ephemeral or background information).

Closed petitions are now located here : http://archive.scottish.parliament.uk/business/petitions/closed/index.htm although while the team are working to ensure all closed petitions are archived, not all appear to have been transferred to this link as of today.

While noting all links to previous bills & discussions relating to justice & law issues discussed on the Scottish Parliament’s website are now changed, readers can still view my coverage of these issues via the LABELS section on this blog, along with video footage of Parliamentary discussions at InjusticeTV. Holyrood.TV & BBC Democracy Live Scotland also carry video feeds of political discussions & other archived material.

Monday, October 24, 2011

MSP says Justice system must be ‘open & representative’ as QC Paul McBride calls for reform of jury selection, tests & declarations for jurors

Top QC Paul McBride calls for jurors to sit tests to establish their suitability to be on a jury. REFORM of the current system of juror selection is a must if their verdicts are to be respected, says top Scots QC Paul McBride who believes jurors should be made to sit tests to establish their suitability for sitting on juries in Scotland’s courts. Mr McBride’s remarks come after the puzzling verdict in the Neil Lennon assault case, where a Hearts fan was acquitted of a sectarian assault after the jury removed the reference to making a sectarian remark from the charge relating to breach of the peace, and returned a not proven verdict for ‘aggravated by religious prejudice charge’.

Currently, the only requirements for people to serve on a jury in a Scottish Court are that they be over 18, be registered to vote and have lived in the UK for at least five years. However, the perception these requirements are somewhat lacking has been considered & debated for some time by leading law figures & observers of the way the courts operate, although many of those attending courts have observed over the years there are significant problems throughout the entire courts system from the judiciary down, not just with how juries are selected.

Scottish Justice in the dock as QC calls for juries to be reformed : Paul McBride QC on Neil Lennon Celtic v Hearts assault verdict (click image to watch video)


Mr McBride, speaking to the Herald newspaper, said he would like to see jurors be required to disclose their employment and whether they have been a victim of crime. The Herald reported : “This is an area that lawyers have been discussing for some time. Judges and lawyers undergo a high standard of training. The only area where there is no scrutiny at all on the people who actually make the decision, which is baffling. “You don’t have to be able to read or write or speak English. “We have got 15 people deciding whether a person is guilty and we know nothing about them.”

Mr McBride continued : “In Scotland, unlike any other country on the planet, a person can be convicted by one vote. Following the Lennon verdict a lot of people, and newspapers were asking about the selection process for juries. In every other country there is some kind of jury selection process to determine whether they have got the basic skills and whether they have committed a crime. A lot of trials are conducted by police statements. If a member of the jury can’t read or speak English that’s a bit of a disadvantage.”

It is noteworthy these calls for jury reform have only re-entered the arena of public debate after a case involving sectarian charges pursued by the Crown Office against a Football fan were found not proven by a jury, while coincidentally, the Scottish Government are pursing legislation in the form of the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill which it is claimed, will give the Police more powers to deal with sectarian offences and threatening behaviour. Scottish Law  Reporter covers the issue in more detail HERE.

However, legal observers note there are arguably many more problems in the justice system relating to sectarianism than solely with jurors who might not manage a verdict which happens to be favourable to current legislative plans. Earlier this year, Scottish Law Reporter featured coverage on a report which the Scottish Parliament’s Petitions Committee had debated whether to publish or keep secret, academics had established there was evidence to suggest the courts system itself was sectarian due to studies on sentencing statistics involving religious minorities. The report, by Dr Susan Wiltshire of the University of Glasgow can be read online or downloaded here : OFFENDER DEMOGRAPHICS AND SENTENCING PATTERNS IN SCOTLAND AND THE UK and readers can draw their own conclusions.

John lamontJohn Lamont MSP, Scottish Conservative. Asked for comment on Mr McBride’s calls for jury reform, John Lamont MSP, the Scottish Conservative's Justice spokesman said : "Jurors have a vital place within our justice system and it is important that we take the greatest care in choosing them. The idea of having more detailed information to help select juries is worthy of further consideration."

Mr Lamont continued : "However, we must not undermine the principle behind trials by jury. We need to ensure that the privacy and impartiality of juries is maintained as they must always continue to represent all sectors of society if they are to provide a balanced judgement. The right to jury trial ensures that one class of people don't sit in judgment over another. The public must have confidence in an open and representative justice system."

Friday, October 21, 2011

Criminal in nature ? Law Society Chief Des Hudson off the hook over ‘criminal’ jibe against Solicitors from Hell website owner as judge dismisses case

SFH vLaw Society of England & Wales Chief Des Hudson will not face court over “criminal” remarks against critics of crooked lawyers. Des Hudson the £400K-A-YEAR Chief Executive of the Law Society of England & Wales will not face further court scrutiny of his remarks branding the owner of naming & shaming website SOLICITORS FROM HELL “a criminal” after the judgement in the case published earlier today revealed Mr Justice Tugendhat has dismissed Mr Rick Kordowski’s claim for damages against the Law Society Chief who is alleged to have told Law Professor John Flood in reference to Mr Kordowski “That man is a criminal” and “He should be closed down”. The ‘disputed remarks’ were apparently born out of the Law Society’s frustration and it’s inability to prevent members of the public documenting their experiences at the hands of crooked lawyers on the Solicitors from Hell website.

The ruling in the case states that Mr Justice Tugendhat said Mr Kordowski’s complaint against the Law Society could not go ahead because he had not also complained about Mr Hudson’s alleged remarks being republished by others including Professor Flood. The judge said there was no evidence of any real or substantial harm to Mr Kordowski and also held the case brought against Des Hudson was “an abuse of court process”. The judge said : “Whether or not there is a good reason for refraining from suing in libel on the words posted by Professor Flood, that is not relevant to my decision that the action for slander on the words spoken to Professor Flood [by Hudson] is an abuse of the process of the court.”

Diary of Injustice reported on the claims in an earlier article, here : Naming crooks is criminal ? Law Society of England & Wales Chief Des Hudson to face legal action from Solicitors From Hell owner over "criminal" jibe

In this latest case, the Law Society of England & Wales was represented by QC Hugh Tomlinson, who is also representing the Law Society of England & Wales in their court efforts to have the Solicitors from Hell website taken down and all its content deleted forever from public view. It is understood Mr Tomlinson is the only QC who agreed to represent the Law Society in their attempts to have the Solicitors from Hell website taken offline.

Professor Flood’s statement to the court. Mr Hudson’s remarks against the Solicitors From Hell owner were corroborated by Professor John Flood in a written statement. Professor Flood’s statement read : I John Flood [address removed] provide the following statement of fact : It was about 12.30 on 21st July. I and Des Hudson had finished our live on-air discussion about Rick Kordowski and his website “Solicitors from Hell” on the BBC Radio 4’s ‘You and Yours’ programme. We were being led out of the BBC and as we were going through the doors at the BBC, Des Hudson said 'that man is a criminal' referring to Rick Kordowski, to which I replied, the police rejected that. Des Hudson further said 'he should be closed down' after that he went his way and I went mine".

Mr Hudson, responding to the allegations, told the court in his own statement, which has not been published in full : “Professor Flood suggested that our actions were likely to make Mr Kordowski a martyr and we would be seen as muzzling free speech. I replied that our actions were focussed on an issue that had nothing to do with free speech but rather his methods of collecting payment to remove comment. I believe that I said 'in my view this amounts to criminal behaviour which is why we have reported him to the police'. Professor Flood told me (and by this time I was almost at the main doors of the entrance hall to Broadcasting House) that the police would do nothing, and I remember speaking over my shoulder to him as I walked out of the room 'we'll see'. I did not say to Professor Flood 'that man is a criminal'. I would add that indeed it is my belief that the actions of Mr Kordowski are criminal in nature…."

A legal observer commenting on Mr Hudson’s submission challenged the Law Society Chief Executive's belief Mr Kordowski’s actions “are criminal in nature”. He said : “As far as I am aware, the Police are having nothing to do with the Solicitors from Hell website, and I think any reasonable person may think naming crooked lawyers so other consumers can avoid the same fate as ruined clients before them, is simply providing a much needed service to consumers of legal services we currently do not have. Naming and shaming crooks is certainly not an act which can be branded criminal in nature.”

The full judgement in Kordowski v Hudson can be read here : Kordowski v Hudson [2011] EWHC 2667 (QB). It is understood Mr Kordowski was ordered to pay £14,000 in costs and his application for permission to appeal was refused although Mr Kordowski said he would be appealing the judgement.

Speaking to Diary of Injustice, Professor Flood commented on the High Court decision against Mr Kordowski, saying : “At some point the legal profession must stop trying to shoot the messenger and listen to the complainants' voices and work to recreate the professional bargain of caring for clients.”

A legal insider speaking to Diary of Injustice this afternoon partly blamed the Legal Ombudsman for as-yet failing to use its powers of naming & shaming rogue solicitors as a factor in ongoing court attempts by the Law Society of England & Wales to pursue websites which name & shame the worst elements of the UK’s legal profession.

He said : “The Legal Ombudsman in England & Wales already possess the necessary power and backing to identify poorly performing solicitors in published decisions. If the LeO had already begun publishing the names of solicitors who fail their clients, I believe the Law Society’s case against the Solicitors from Hell website with an aim to having it taken down would also have been thrown out. ”

LEGAL OMBUDSMAN STILL TO NAME & SHAME CROOKED LAWYERS :

Legal OmbudsmanLegal Ombudsman for England & Wales is expected to decide on naming & shaming before end of the year. AS DEMANDS GROW from consumers of legal services in Scotland & throughout the UK for an independent and transparent ratings system for lawyers & law firms, insiders from the consumer world report the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) which regulates complaints against the legal profession in England & Wales is expected to decide by the end of the year at the latest on how it will finally proceed to identify ‘crooked lawyers’ who have been found guilty of failing their clients after being subjected to investigations by the independent law complaints regulator.

adam_sampsonLegal Ombudsman for England & Wales, Adam Sampson has backing to name rogue lawyers & law firms.As the LeO’s plan to identify solicitors & law firms in complaints judgements has the backing of consumer organisations such as Which?, and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), the UK Government and the Legal Services Consumer Panel, more of which cab be read in an earlier report here : Legal Ombudsman moving to name & shame crooked lawyers in England & Wales, crooked Scottish solicitors records to remain protected by secrecy for now, observers in the consumer world say the time has now come for the LeO to act on the matter at hand, as consumers are being put at an ever increasing risk of using the wrong lawyer they know nothing about, particularly in these tough financial times where clients cannot afford to get into long running & costly spats with their legal representatives over misrepresentation, negligence, or even fraud.

USE IT OR LOSE IT – SOLICITORS FROM HELL

solicitors-from-hellSolicitors from Hell website allows clients to comment on their experiences with lawyers. While the Legal Ombudsman takes the time to decide on how to proceed with naming & shaming ‘crooked lawyers’, the website “SOLICITORS FROM HELL” currently offers clients an opportunity to write about their own experiences with their lawyers, whether good or bad. I suggest consumers use the Solicitors from Hell website to comment about their own experiences with lawyers and find out all they can those in the legal profession who are best to be avoided.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Decision day looms for Legal Ombudsman on ‘naming & shaming’ rogue solicitors as Scottish & UK consumers demand freedom to ‘rate your own lawyer’

Legal OmbudsmanLegal Ombudsman for England & Wales is expected to decide on naming & shaming before end of the year. AS DEMANDS GROW from consumers of legal services in Scotland & throughout the UK for an independent and transparent ratings system for lawyers & law firms, insiders from the consumer world report the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) which regulates complaints against the legal profession in England & Wales is expected to decide by the end of the year at the latest on how it will finally proceed to identify ‘crooked lawyers’ who have been found guilty of failing their clients after being subjected to investigations by the independent law complaints regulator.

SLCC MacAskillKenny MacAskill’s Scottish Legal Complaints Commission are determined not to identify crooked lawyers, even ones who steal legal aid funds. Yet while consumers in England & Wales will have the added protection of knowing exactly which solicitors & law firms fail their clients, and in what particular types of cases, giving clients the chance to dodge a potentially explosive, expensive bullet of a serial crooked lawyer, there is to be no similar move in Scotland by the Law Society ‘controlled’ Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) who have kept firmly out of the debate of identifying Scotland’s worst lawyers who continue to rip off multiple clients who are given a chance to walk away from a ruined client with as little as a £10 fine, regardless of the true financial loss to their client.

I reported on the Legal Ombudsman’s plans to name & shame poorly performing law firms & solicitors earlier in March, here : Name & Shame : Complaints data on law firms to be published in England & Wales, Scots solicitors complaints history to remain secret, for now however, the road to publicly naming the worst elements of the legal profession in England & Wales has been a rocky one, with consultation after consultation, more on which was reported here : England & Wales : Legal Ombudsman criticised as ‘name & shame’ policy hit by lawyers protests over insurance costs, second consultation now underway and alleged secret threats of legal action by the Law Society of England & Wales if the LeO’s plans went ahead.

adam_sampsonLegal Ombudsman for England & Wales, Adam Sampson has backing to name rogue lawyers & law firms.As the LeO’s plan to identify solicitors & law firms in complaints judgements has the backing of consumer organisations such as Which?, and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), the UK Government and the Legal Services Consumer Panel, more of which cab be read in an earlier report here : Legal Ombudsman moving to name & shame crooked lawyers in England & Wales, crooked Scottish solicitors records to remain protected by secrecy for now, observers in the consumer world say the time has now come for the LeO to act on the matter at hand, as consumers are being put at an ever increasing risk of using the wrong lawyer they know nothing about, particularly in these tough financial times where clients cannot afford to get into long running & costly spats with their legal representatives over misrepresentation, negligence, or even fraud.

One client who spoke to Diary of Injustice said it was imperative the LeO identified lawyers who fail their clients so that others can avoid the same fate.

He said : “The Legal Ombudsman has to get on with this now rather than waiting until its too late. I have spoken to people I know who used the same lawyer as I did and ended up with a huge bill and the same failure to do anything in their case. They said if they had known of what happened to me they would have avoided using the same lawyer.”

He continued : “Everyone should know the names of useless lawyers who mess up their clients cases and there should be some sort of online directory where we as clients can write about what really happened so nothing is missed out. I really wouldn't want what happened to me at the hands of a crook in a suit, happening to others.”

There is no announcement yet from the Legal Ombudsman on how the naming & shaming policy will be implemented, however Diary of Injustice will report on developments as they occur.

RATE YOUR LAWYER – GOOD, RUBBISH, OR CROOKED :

In the meantime, Diary of Injustice has received considerable contact from clients across Scotland and in England & Wales on the subject of implementing a ratings system allowing clients themselves to rate their own lawyer. Many ideas have been expressed on who should be in charge of overseeing such a ‘directory’ with many readers pointing out the legal profession cannot be trusted to maintain any kind of book or register on their own abilities as seen from the client perspective. I agree.

solicitors-from-hellSolicitors from Hell website allows clients to comment on their experiences with lawyers. While the Legal Ombudsman takes the time to decide on how to proceed with naming & shaming ‘crooked lawyers’, the website “SOLICITORS FROM HELL” currently offers clients an opportunity to write about their own experiences with their lawyers, whether good or bad. I suggest consumers use the SFH facility. However, as readers will also be aware, the Law Society of England & Wales, apparently supported by their Scottish counterparts the Law Society of Scotland, are trying to close down Solicitors From Hell on the basis the SFH website gives too much free speech to consumers to name & shame their lawyers over failures we should all have the right to know about.

Diary of Injustice earlier reported the legal profession’s battle against Rick Kordowski & Solicitors From Hell, here : English, Scots Law Societies ‘team up’ in legal moves against “Solicitors from Hell” in bid to stop Legal Ombudsman ‘Naming & Shaming’ crooked lawyers after an investigation in Scotland turned up discussions at the Law Society of Scotland who were keen to support moves to kill off Solicitors From Hell in a joint attempt with the Law Society of England & Wales to ‘scare off’ the Legal Ombudsman’s intentions to identify poorly performing solicitors & law firms in published complaints decisions & investigations. The Law Society of England & Wales battle to undermine the owner of the Solicitors From Hell later took a highly personalised twist as Diary of Injustice reported during mid September : Naming crooks is criminal ? Law Society of England & Wales Chief Des Hudson to face legal action from Solicitors From Hell owner over "criminal" jibe.

Further developments in the Law Society v Solicitors From Hell battle will be reported later this week.

HUSH MONEY MAKES THE CASE FOR NAMING & SHAMING STRONGER THAN EVER :

Since reporting on the naming & shaming issue, Diary of Injustice has been approached by a Scottish solicitor acting on behalf of others who is apparently keen to steer this reporter away from further reporting on the Legal Ombudsman’s moves to identify law firms & solicitors who fail their clients. Additionally, a financial incentive was offered in an apparent attempt to persuade Diary of Injustice to drop reporting on the Solicitors from Hell case. Readers can rest assured, neither of the two incidents will have any effect on this journalist’s reporting on the legal profession or campaigning for reforms of consumer protection against the closed shop world of lawyer regulating lawyer and lawyers covering up for their colleagues, all the way up to the highest positions in the judiciary.

You, the Scots consumer of legal services have a right to know the full regulatory history of those in the legal profession you choose as your legal representatives. Given consumers in England & Wales will eventually be able to find out much of this same information, you should begin writing to your MSPs and the Scottish Government now to ensure YOUR RIGHTS are placed above vested interests.

After all, YOU are paying for your legal services, YOU have the right to know exactly who they are, what they are capable of, and whether they have damaged any clients in the past.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Scottish Legal Complaints Commission refuse to publish details of ‘loose change’ client compensation as board & staff live it up on YOUR millions

SLCC montageThe SLCC’s staff & Board members have done well out of expenses & salaries while some ruined clients received £10 for their losses caused by rogue lawyers. AS the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) prepares carefully arranged coverage to promote its ‘impending’ Annual Report and announce its new intake of Board members to replace its original mix of lawyers, ex lawyers, ex Police Officers & quangocrats, many of whom have multiple jobs and who managed to claim between them more than HALF A MILLION POUNDS IN EXPENSES alone since being appointed by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill in 2008, it can be reported today the amounts of compensation awarded to clients who have lost money or had their financial & legal affairs ruined by their solicitors IS SO LOW, in some cases only amounting to A MEAGRE TEN POUNDS (£10), the SLCC is afraid to release the information via Freedom of Information legislation.

Insiders close to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission who approached Diary of Injustice with details of the paltry amounts awarded in compensation to clients whose legal affairs have been totally ruined by Scottish law firms claim the money handed out to victims of ‘crooked lawyers’ amounts to “loose change” compared to the massive sums of money paid out annually to its Board members in expenses & salaries, lavish staff wages where some are paid up to £1300 per week, and over TEN MILLION POUNDS including TWO MILLION POUNDS OF TAXPAYERS MONEY which has flowed into the SLCC since 2008.

The SLCC can ‘direct’ a solicitor to to pay compensation, having the power to award up to £20,000 to clients who have been affected by their solicitors failures. The SLCC can also recommend compensation be paid to clients by the Law Society of Scotland if Society fails to correctly investigate complaints.

However, insiders have disclosed to Diary of Injustice that some of these awards made by the SLCC total no more than a measly £10 for significant Law Society failures, and to make matters worse, Law Society Committees have gone on to further reduce even their own reporter’s recommendations of compensation of a few hundred pounds to clients whose complaints against their solicitors have involved in some cases, life threatening legal issues and medical negligence cases, and in others the failure of complex legal dealings which have left some clients on benefits and others in jail.

The SLCC, responding to a Freedom of Information request made in early July for information on the total amounts of money awarded to clients and total numbers of awards, confirmed they held the information but refused to release it. The SLCC said it would not release the information to journalists as it was planning to release the figures as part of its latest annual report, which it claimed in August would be published within twelve weeks of the initial request although that date has now come & gone yet no annual report has been published.

SLCC refusal to release compensation awards infoCompensation so low it cannot be reported ? The SLCC refused to release the data, some claim because it needs to bury it among other statistics. The SLCC said in its response : “The SLCC has considered whether to withhold the information is reasonable and decided that it is because it will enable us to publish the information in context and in conjunction with other information about complaints. Also as the information relates to year-end data, it is in the process of being checked for accuracy and completeness as part of the preparation of annual report information.”

The SLCC went onto state : “The information requested is pertinent to the public in that it gives an indication of the effectiveness of the SLCC and information to both complainers and practitioners about outcomes of complaints. It could be argued that publishing this information as soon as possible is in the public interest fo this reason. However as a public authority, the SLCC has a responsibility to ensure that the information it makes public is accurate and complete. As with other data and information being collated for the SLCC’s annual report, the information you have requested is currently being checked. To release it now potentially could result in the release of incomplete information.”

“The SLCC has a wider duty to report on complaints about the legal profession. Putting information in an appropriate context and publishing it in conjunction with other information to add meaning and value to it is an essential part of that reporting. Releasing the information as requested would not enable that to happen. The SLCC has a statutory duty to lay its annual report before Parliament. It is in the public interest that this is complete and appropriately quality controlled. Release of discrete sets of data in advance of publication would not support that.”

An official from one of Scotland’s Consumer organisations commenting on the SLCC’s refusal to release the figures on compensation awarded to victims of crooked lawyers said : “In other words they are going to try and bury the information within their annual report so the effect of it will be watered down.”

She continued : “The reluctance to publish the data prior to the annual report appears to back up speculation the figures are on the low side and therefore cannot be released without significant explanation by the SLCC to justify their position. This state of affairs appears to back up claims in letters we have received from consumers they are losing out on the amount of money involved in their complaint compared with how much they get back in compensation and that is if the compensation is even paid. The SLCC are failing to offer a satisfactory level of protection for consumers of legal services in Scotland.”

A client who has been treated very roughly by the SLCC and its staff said : “The SLCC are a bunch of liars.They promise to investigate your complaint and then it ends up coming back with most of the issues dismissed, and if you are lucky, a sentence telling you they are giving you 10 for being ruined by your lawyer. What a waste of space they are. I knew it from the start when I began speaking to them by phone.You could tell they hated clients.”

He continued : “I’d like to ask Jane Irvine and her board members who getting £300 a day just what can a client do with £10 compensation after their solicitor as robbed them of everything? This SLCC is a scam by the legal profession to wipe their corrupt colleagues slates clean after they have committed fraud against clients.”

While the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission are sticking to their claim their annual report is to be published “imminently” readers will by now be well aware the SLCC’s previous annual reports have been published in January, the last one which I reported on here : ‘One complaint upheld’, 928 more sent back to Law Society & £1.8million spare cash : Scottish Legal Complaints Commission's 2010 annual report

A senior Scottish Government insider who is known to have little confidence in the SLCC spoke to Diary of Injustice last night on the matter of compensation awards.

He said : “Clients who complain about their solicitors to the SLCC might have a better idea of what to expect out of their complaint if the SLCC were to list the value of the client’s case, in terms of how much the solicitor charged for their services, the value of the client’s transaction, money which had been taken from clients by other means, including alleged theft and the client’s view of how much they had lost, and then put those figures next to the actual amount awarded by the SLCC.”

Clearly if the client’s view of how much they have lost through the actions of their solicitor were made known, the awards of compensation made by the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission would look nothing short of “a joke” as some clients who have approached Diary of Injustice on this issue have indicated.

For example, in cases such as where solicitors have dipped their hands into a deceased client’s estate to help themselves, there is little benefit of awarding a client £50 compensation while the solicitor gets to keep the half million pounds he’s stolen for himself and is allowed to continue working as a solicitor. In another case where a solicitor has embezzled tens of thousands of pounds from a client’s bank account, £100 compensation is of little recompense for the loss while again, the solicitor carries on working, able to rip off as many clients as possible.

Clearly therefore, the losses quantified by clients who are forced to complain to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission about their solicitor should be agreed and published against the level of compensation awarded by the SLCC if there is to be any credible statistics on how well the SLCC is protecting consumers funds against crooked lawyers and a corrupt legal profession in Scotland.

However, while the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission refuses to talk about compensation paid out to clients, there is no reluctance on the part of the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) for England & Wales to comment on compensation figures.

adam_sampsonLegal Ombudsman for England & Wales, Adam Sampson. Adam Sampson, Chief Legal Ombudsman, says: “The amount of compensation we order for a case depends on what went wrong and what kind of additional expense or inconvenience a person has had to put up with as a result. The top amount we can order is £30,000. There is no hard and fast rule but we think decisions at the top of the scale will be quite unusual, there’ve only been a handful of cases over £20,000 since we started operating just under a year ago. Sometimes compensation isn’t the best solution– we also have powers to require lawyers to do more work to put things right, return papers or documents and to offer an apology or explanation. Most compensation amounts are likely to be a lot lower than the maximum. But we can't say in advance what this figure will be. It will all depend on the circumstances of each complaint.”

Examples of how the Legal Ombudsman has tackled compensation awards to consumers is reported in an earlier article here : 3 Years & £10 Million later, ‘too close to lawyers’ Scottish Legal Complaints Commission left standing by 'more determined' Legal Ombudsman, where a law firm was forced to pay out £2,650 compensation to a client as the Ombudsman had ordered, plus interest after the LeO took the case to Birmingham County Court under the Legal Services Act 2007. The judge also ordered the firm to pay the Ombudsman’s costs of bringing the case of £1,215.

A second case at the same court was adjourned to allow a different firm to comply with an Ombudsman’s decision.In that case the firm had mismanaged work for a property owner and the Ombudsman had ordered them to pay their client £5,704 compensation. When the firm failed to comply, the Ombudsman issued proceedings for the court’s permission to enforce the decision as if it were a court judgement. The firm initially tried to argue that the decision was defective but, when the Ombudsman produced the relevant legal materials, at the eleventh hour agreed to settle the matter and pay the Ombudsman’s costs of £1,000. The hearing was adjourned for 28 days for this to be done.

A much larger 'award' of £180,000 was ordered by the Legal Ombudsman when a law firm was ordered to repay money it owed a club, as reported in an earlier article here : Annual report of Legal Ombudsman of England & Wales is ‘streets ahead’ of anti-consumer Scottish Legal Complaints Commission. The case involved a social club where a law firm had used various excuses to delay a repayment after the club was sold and a substantial surplus totalling the £180,000 was be distributed towards the club’s members. The case is reprinted below from the LeO’s 2010 annual report to illustrate to readers the level of detail available to consumers of legal services in England & Wales on regulation issues.

Mr P is a trustee of a social club. He and his fellow trustees employed a firm of lawyers to sell the club's premises and to distribute the payment of the proceeds of sale to all the members of the club – about 180 people. The club found buyers, the sale went through and the proceeds were paid to the law firm, as is normal practice. Part of the money was used to pay off the club's final bills and some loans, which the firm handled, leaving a substantial amount of around £180,000 to go to members. The firm also advised that there would be a delay in distributing the money to members for various administrative reasons. Not being an expert in conveyancing, Mr P was satisfied with this. After six months the firm got in contact to begin to sort out the payment to members... and then went silent.

Mr P tried to raise his concerns with the firm. He then came to the Ombudsman, as the firm had not explained what had happened to the money from the sale and the members had not yet received any cash. He also asked that the firm refund the fees the trustees had already paid them, as the work had not been carried out properly.

We found that the firm had been a sole practice – but that the lawyer was no longer practising. This seemed to be why Mr P hadn't heard about the money from the sale of the club, though it was confusing as the solicitor occasionally got in touch. Mr P didn't know what to do, so had sought advice from a second firm of solicitors. They also tried to contact the first firm but had no reply. Mr P heard again briefly from his first lawyer to say that members would get their money soon... and then heard nothing again.

When we looked into this case, there was very little written down about what had happened. There was no client care letter, no written details about how the cash from the sale had been handled, or even about what money had been paid to clear debts and loans. What was clear was that there was some sort of problem in the law firm, and that the lawyer had tried to delay this matter. It was also clear that most of the money from the club was still in the solicitor's client account, even though the firm's records were very poor.

There had been no attempt to pay this money to the club members – but the money was the club's and should not have been kept for so long by the solicitor. It had been three years since Mr P and the other trustees put the club up for sale.

Our Ombudsman decided that there was around £180,000 outstanding and required the firm to re-pay this, with interest, to the club and its members. A formal Ombudsman's decision was required as the solicitor did not cooperate throughout our investigation. We also referred this and the outcome of this case to the regulator, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, for their help in getting the club's cash out of the solicitor's client account and returned to Mr P and the other members.

An insider close to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission indicated : “There is little chance of this level of detail in connection with compensation awards being made public by the SLCC unless there is significant external pressure on them to do so”.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

UK Supreme Court backs Asbestos Pleural Plaques compensation in Scotland, defeating Insurance industry & lawyers who argued “Asbestos is good for you”

sgspTriumph for progressive politics’ as UK Supreme Court defeats insurers challenge to Scots 2009 law allowing asbestos pleural plaques victims right to compensation.  IF A LAWYER stopped you in the street and said to you “Asbestos related Cancer is good for you” you may be inclined to think their clients (and the lawyer) have a vested interest in ending your life. Today, that very notion put to msps by Insurance industry lawyers at the Scottish Parliament in 2008 in a desperate effort to block compensation for Asbestos related illnesses was nowhere to be heard as judges at the UK’s Supreme Court DISMISSED the Insurance industry’s legal challenge against the Scottish Government’s Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) (Scotland) Act 2009 which aims to ensure those who suffer from the Asbestos related condition of Pleural Plaques receive the compensation they are due.

The Supreme Court judges decided unanimously that the Scottish Parliament had acted within the scope of its powers when it passed the Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) (Scotland) Act 2009, legislation that offered those who have pleural plaques the opportunity to claim compensation. The Act has been subject to lengthy legal challenge by a group of insurers who even used the Human Rights Act (ECHR) to argue the legislation passed by Holyrood which reinstated claims for Asbestos related pleural Plaques after the House of Lords sided with the Insurance industry over the Pleural Plaques compensation issue in 2007, was against the “Human Rights” of the insurance industry.

The full judgement from the Supreme Court can be downloaded here : Supreme Court Judgement in AXA General Insurance Limited and others (Appellants) v The Lord Advocate and others (Respondents) (Scotland) (pdf)

I reported on the insurance industry’s decision to challenge the decision at the UK’s Supreme Court in an earlier article here : Supreme Court to decide if Asbestos related Pleural Plaques ‘are good for you’ as Insurers challenge Scottish Govt & Holyrood's law making powers and in that earlier article, a Freedom of Information request by Diary of Injustice to the Scottish Government established the insurers legal challenge had forced a massive expenditure of £341,857.79 of public funds by the Scottish Government on lawyers legal fees defending against the Insurers, who have already lost two challenges against the new law at Scotland’s Court of Session. I trust the insurers will be forced to repay every penny to the public purse, and then some.

The Scottish Government issued a statement welcoming the Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss a legal challenge to a popular Act of the Scottish Parliament with Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill urging the insurance companies to pay up to asbestos victims. The Minister said the failure of the legal case, brought by a group of insurers, was a "triumph for progressive politics" that would bring great comfort to workers that have developed pleural plaques, brought on by exposure to asbestos.

Kenny MacAskillScotland’s Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill. Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said : "I warmly welcome this significant decision, not least for the sake of people with pleural plaques and all those who campaigned so vigorously to help them. It has always been our belief that the legislation is right in principle and right in law and I am pleased that it has been unequivocally upheld. The Scottish Government's Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) (Scotland) Act was passed with overwhelming support in the Scottish Parliament, and today's decision is a triumph for the progressive politics that saw parties unite to do the right thing and help those that have developed pleural plaques as a result of negligent exposure to asbestos.

Mr MacAskill continued : "We firmly believe that people with this condition should be able to raise a claim for damages, and we are delighted that this decision has gone in their favour - a result that will surely bring them some comfort. It is our sincere hope that the insurers will now reflect carefully on the decisions reached by the Scottish Parliament, by both the Outer and Inner Houses of Scotland's Court of Session, and now by the UK's Supreme Court and settle those claims that have been stalled for so long."

Welcoming the Supreme Court ruling on pleural plaques Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) Deputy General Secretary Dave Moxham said : "This is a vindication of the heroic battle by the victims of pleural plaques for fair compensation as well as the work undertaken by MSPs of more than one political party to legislate for justice. The skill and expertise of Thompsons Solicitors has also been central to this victory. The insurance companies involved have now stretched and abused the boundaries of due diligence in throwing their resources at an increasingly desperate fight to deny responsibility and it is now time for them to shut up and pay up"

Nick Starling, director of general insurance and health for the Association of British Insurers, said in a statement after the ruling: "Insurers remain fully committed to continuing to pay compensation to people with asbestos-related conditions, such as mesothelioma The insurers brought this case because they believe that the Damages Act is fundamentally flawed in that it ignores overwhelming medical evidence that pleural plaques are symptomless, and the well-established legal principle that compensation is payable only when there is physical harm.We are very disappointed that the court has not found in our favour on this important principle of law. Insurers will now consider carefully this judgment and what it means for them."

richard keen qcInsurers legal team was headed by Richard Keen QC, Dean of the Faculty of Advocates. The ruling comes after a long & bitter fight through the Scottish courts from the insurers Avira, AXA Insurance, Zurich and the infamous Royal Sun Alliance (who also insure all Scottish solicitors via the Master Policy), and their lawyers Brodies LLP. Earlier, the insurers who were seeking to block the legislation at the Scottish Parliament, used lawyers from another Edinburgh law firm, Simpson & Marwick who told MSPs their understanding was “Pleural Plaques are good for you”. However, the Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) (Scotland) Act 2009 was passed into law and the insurers then challenged the legislation through the Scottish Courts using a variety of Edinburgh law firms & even the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates himself Richard Keen QC. After legal action failed in Scotland, the insurers and their lawyers took the case to the UK Supreme Court on Human Rights grounds and finally today, lost their legal challenge.

Let us remember the depths of the arguments put before the Scottish Parliament to prevent Asbestos victims claiming compensation :

Representing the insurers argument, Dr Pamela Abernethy of Simpson & Marwick told the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee Pleural Plaques ‘are good for you’ (Click image or HERE to watch video)


Insurance companies put up stiff resistance to the legislation, a number of them backing up the notion Pleural Plaques & Asbestos are good for you (Click image or HERE to watch video)

 

Exposure to asbestos can result in the development of a number of conditions, including pleural plaques (i.e. scarring of the membranes around the lungs). This condition is generally asymptomatic, though it does indicate that asbestos fibres have lodged in the body and caused a physiological reaction. Medical evidence is that "people with pleural plaques are at risk of developing diffuse pleural thickening causing breathlessness, asbestosis of the lungs causing breathlessness, lung cancer which is usually fatal and mesothelioma, a cancer which can occur in the lining of the chest cavity or in the lining of the abdominal cavity which is almost invariably fatal, usually within 12 to 18 months of the first symptoms. People with pleural plaques who have been heavily exposed to asbestos at work have a risk of mesothelioma more than one thousand times greater than the general population.

From the 1980s onwards, where pleural plaques arose from negligent exposure to asbestos, Courts throughout the UK made compensation awards; those awards were paid by the negligent party or their insurer. On October 17, 2007, however, the House of Lords ruled in respect of a number of cases in England that asymptomatic pleural plaques do not give rise to a cause of action under the law of damages. The House of Lords ruling is not binding in Scotland, but would be considered highly persuasive by Scottish Courts.

In November 2007 the Scottish Government announced its intention to bring forward legislation to ensure that the House of Lords ruling would not have effect in Scotland. In June, 2008, the Scottish Government introduced the Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) (Scotland) Bill. The Bill was passed in March 2009, got Royal Assent the following month, and came fully into force in June 2009.

The Outer House decision on judicial review was announced on January 8, 2010, which I reported here : Lord Emslie defeats legal challenge over pleural plaques as Insurers ‘big name’ legal team fail to overturn Holyrood’s Asbestos compensation law with the Inner House decision announced on April 12, 2011.

My previous coverage of the Damages (Asbestos-related  Conditions) (Scotland) Act 2009 can be found here : The Scottish Parliament, Asbestos, Pleural Plaques and a Supreme Court victory for the Scottish Government

So, the next time a lawyer tries to tell you “Asbestos is good for you” or “Cancer is good for you”, you know what to think of them, don't you

Thursday, October 06, 2011

Offshore trusts, property holdings, insurance syndicates, hospitality from dodgy lawyers, yet no plans for a register of interests for Scottish judges

Parliament_House,_EdinburghScottish Judges refuse to declare hospitality or interests, yet their decisions on civil cases frequently side with vested interests, affect billions of pounds & countless lives. SCOTTISH JUDGES are refusing to disclose hospitality they receive or complete a register of interests which may potentially reveal to many court users some members of the judiciary presiding over civil damages claims, a professional negligence or medical accident claims, or even in some cases criminal cases, may well have accepted hospitality from, have a friendship or association with, or might even have a business relationship with whoever is standing at the other side of the court room. No matter the severity of the conflict of interest, no one has has the right to know, because there is no register of interests or hospitality for Scottish judges and no plans to bring one in by the current Lord President Lord Hamilton.

The Judicial Office for Scotland, which represents Scotland’s judiciary was forced to publish judicial expenses figures over a year ago after Diary of Injustice investigated judicial expenses claims and Freedom of Information requests revealed a significant amount of money being claimed by judges & sheriffs all across Scotland. The story of Scotland’s multi million pound judiciary and their expenses claims can be read here : Scotland's Judiciary and its expenses claims.

However, it seems transparency in the judiciary only goes so far and will NOT extend to publishing a full & frank register of hospitality or interests, with the Judiciary Office for Scotland declaring there are NO PLANS to publish a register of hospitality for Scotland’s multi million pound judiciary. A further statement by the Lord President available on the Judiciary of Scotland website appears to indicate there are no plans for a register of interests

A spokesperson for the Judicial Office for Scotland stated : “The Judicial Office for Scotland does not hold a register of hospitality for members of the judiciary and there are no plans to do so. The Lord President has set out formal guidelines to the judiciary in the STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES OF JUDICIAL ETHICS. Para 4.9 and 7.2 address this particular point.”

While the Judicial Office may be reluctant to disclose more information on its members, curious court users & legal insiders who have long been looking into the relationships & financial backgrounds of “some” members of the Scottish judiciary say it is in the interests of transparency & justice that judges to submit to a register of hospitality & pecuniary interests due to the power & effect their actions & judgements in court have over billions of pounds, legislation as passed by our elected representatives & the public at large.

In an age where it is now unthinkable for elected politicians and anyone in a public office to avoid registering their outside interests or hospitality received, members of the judiciary who in some cases earn £200K plus a year from the public purse are allowed to remain exempt from complying with any requirement to disclose their hospitality their financial interests, because the judges themselves decided it was not to be required of them to do so. However, in an age where transparency must be brought to all those funded by the public purse, there are growing calls for this to change and for judges who are ultimately paid by taxpayers, to fall into line with everyone else bankrolled by the public purse.

Naturally, anyone receiving such a large salary along with expenses and considerable power & influence to their name, in this case, all starting life from the public purse in the name of upholding justice, looks for safe, sometimes discreet, or even ‘out-of-reach-of-the-taxman’ havens to invest some of their ‘well earned’ crust for sitting in judgement over the rest of us.

From enquiries carried out by a group of court users investigating hospitality & the financial interests of members of the judiciary who quietly exert their considerable influence within ‘little talked about circles’, the investments of some of those on the bench (not just in Scotland) appear to follow a wide and not always expected, range of destinations, ranging from finance companies, insurance companies & their syndicates, care homes (including one accused of abusing its patients), gambling, private schools, & so on, while some others hold burgeoning property portfolios ranging from the expensive to houses on former Council estates, financial relationships with letting agents & housing associations, and even offshore investments along with somewhat dubious trusts managed by equally dubious Scottish law firms operating abroad, the details of which would easily drag down politicians in lurid headlines in the national press, and this is without even mentioning alleged investments in massage parlours, sex saunas & ‘themed dating agencies’ in Thailand.

A legal insider who has been studying some of the preliminary research on ‘judicial investments’ said it was only a matter of time before judges will be forced to declare their financial interests, hospitality and details of who they associate with, to ensure there is public confidence in an open & transparent judiciary.

He said : “The problem here is you have judges making their own rules. Its no use allowing judges to decide for themselves what they should or shouldn’t declare. In any profession such a power is a recipe for corruption, just as we saw during the expenses scandal at Westminster, where politicians were caught out stealing from the taxpayer and some were sent to jail.”

He continued : “In the case of judges, rather than the issue being a case of theft of public funds via expenses although of course it cannot be discounted, there may be conflicts of interests in terms of a judge’s investments, relationships, meetings etc which must be disclosed in the public interest otherwise you will end up with a situation where a judge has a vested interest in a case before him and says nothing. I’m sure its happened before given the numbers of cases in the courts.

It has been pointed out to Diary of Injustice some members of Scotland’s judiciary have relationships & links with law firms which secretly wined & dined the Scottish Government & its officials. The same law firms then went onto win contracts worth tens of millions of pounds with the Scottish Government, investigated by Diary of Injustice & reported in an earlier article here : HOSPITALITY WINS : Law firms who won £20 Million legal contract wined, dined & lobbied Scottish Government’s Legal Directorate for three years

A senior solicitor speaking to Diary of Injustice yesterday agreed there is a need for full disclosure in the judiciary and indicated the issue was under advanced discussion in other countries. He said : “The subject of a judicial register of interests is being discussed in other jurisdictions such as New Zealand, and I feel we should move with the times in Scotland to require the judiciary to do the same.”

In New Zealand, there is Member’s Bill in the New Zealand Parliament, introduced in late 2010 by Dr Kennedy Graham of the Green Party to introduce a Pecuniary Register of Interests for all judges, after a scandal involving the resignation of Justice Bill Wilson rocked the New Zealand legal establishment and brought into question the interests & relationships between judges & others.

Justice Wilson was forced to resign after it was reported he had failed to step down in a case or disclose his business and financial relationships with Auckland QC Alan Galbraith when sitting as a member of the Court of Appeal in an appeal in which Mr Galbraith successfully represented the Wool Board Disestablishment Company in their appeal against superfine wool producers Saxmere over wool board levies. There were allegations that Justice Wilson owed Mr Galbraith $242,804, which was not disclosed to the Court of Appeal hearing. The debt was denied by Justice Wilson. More on the scandal can be read HERE, HERE & HERE.

There are concerns similar relationships between members of the judiciary and law firms, lawyers & advocates may well exist in Scotland and may have had an effect particularly on some cases where members of the legal profession and even the Law Society of Scotland itself has faced legal action in the courts.

The full details of which can be viewed online here Register of Pecuniary Interests of Judges Bill. Dr Graham’s bill states :

It is a time-honoured principle of Western democracy that public servants of every kind must be beyond reproach, and suspicion thereof. Public confidence in the standard of behaviour and conduct observed by leading servants of the people is a cornerstone of social harmony and political stability. A threshold of confidence to that end should ideally be enshrined in constitutional and legislative form. Little scope should be available for individual discretion or subjective perception.

The principle of transparency in this respect pertains in particular to issues of financial (pecuniary) interest. Nothing undermines public confidence in a nation’s institutions and procedures more than suspicion that a public servant may have, and especially proof that one has, suffered a conflict of interest arising from a pecuniary interest in a particular dealing in which he or she was professionally involved.

The correct balance in this respect appears to have been achieved over the years–the public interest in such annual statements is significant without appearing prurient, and few complaints have been voiced by those on whom the obligations are placed. There seems to be a general acceptance that such exercises are in the public interest and are neither unduly onerous nor revealing.

No such practice, however, has been observed in the case of the judiciary. Recent developments within New Zealand’s judicial conduct processes suggest that application of the same practice observed by the other two branches of government might assist in the protection of the judiciary in future.

Being obliged under law to declare pecuniary interests that might be relevant to the conduct of a future case in which one is involved would relieve a judge from a repetitive weight of responsibility to make discretionary judgements about his or her personal affairs as each case arises. Having declared one’s pecuniary interests once, in a generic manner independent of any particular trial, a judge may freely proceed in the knowledge that, if he or she is appointed to adjudicate, public confidence for participation has already been met. Yet care is to be exercised to ensure that the final decision is left to the individual judge whether to accept a case. There should be no intention of external interference into the self-regulation of the judiciary by the judiciary.

This is the reasoning behind this draft legislation–the Register of Pecuniary Interests of Judges Bill. The purpose of the Bill, as stated, is to promote the due administration of justice by requiring judges to make returns of pecuniary interests to provide greater transparency within the judicial system, and to avoid any conflict of interest in the judicial role.

Additionally, in the New Zealand lawyer online, it was reported New Zealand’s Law Commission discussed the possibility the planned register of interests should be expanded to include all judicial officials who could affect a case, saying in Chapter 8.25 of their discussion paper. The Law Commission stated : “If there is to be legislation, should it apply to all judges, or only to judges of some levels, or to all judicial employees and officials such as prosecutors and registrars? An argument can be made that if there is to be financial disclosure it should be required of all officials whose positions give them sufficient potential to influence the outcome of a case, whether as a result of a bribe or other improper influence.” The New Zealand Law Commission’s discussion paper on a register of judicial interests can be downloaded here : NZLC IP21 - Towards a New Courts Act: A Register of Judges' pecuniary interests? (pdf)

In Scotland, the situation is the exact opposite of moves in New Zealand to clean up its judiciary by requiring a register of interests. Lord Hamilton, speaking on ‘corruption in the judiciary’ claimed such issues “are virtually unknown in this jurisdiction”.

Lord Hamilton judicialLord Hamilton, Scotland’s Lord President. Lord President Lord Hamilton said in his statement : “While attempts to corrupt the judiciary are virtually unknown in this jurisdiction, a judge should be circumspect in the acceptance of any gift, hospitality, or favour from any private source. Where the benefit sought to be conferred upon the judge is not commensurate with an existing family or social relationship between him or her and the donor, or host, it should normally be declined. However, it is recognised that a judge may, from time to time, legitimately be entertained by legal, professional or public organisations or office-holders, in furtherance of good relations between them and the judiciary as a whole, or representatives of it. Furthermore, nothing said here should be understood as inhibiting judges from accepting invitations to give lectures, addresses, or speeches of a non-legal nature at dinners, or other occasions, or, in such an event, from accepting commensurate hospitality, tokens of appreciation for their efforts, or appropriate expenses of travel or accommodation.”

Lord Hamilton's statement continues : “It is considered appropriate that a judge may write, lecture, teach and participate in activities concerning the law, the legal system, the administration of justice and related matters. However, to obviate the perception that judicial office is being exploited for personal gain, a judge holding a full-time appointment should not generally receive any remuneration for such activities, with the traditional exception of fees and royalties as an author or editor, although the acceptance of a modest gift in recognition of a service given would be unexceptionable. Where a judge is offered a substantial fee for the activities described, such fee should go directly to charity. There is, of course, no objection to a judge accepting reasonable reimbursement of the cost of any necessary travel or accommodation required in attending lectures, seminars, etc. In the event of a judge engaging in literary, or other creative or artistic activities, there can be no objection to that judge receiving the normal royalties, fees, or other payments in respect of the results of those activities.”

Sheriff Lothian scan 2Lacking the fear of being caught : Senior members of the judiciary & Crown Office knew of hooker sheriff sauna scandal for some time yet chose not to act. Rumours are another is around the corner. However, in spite of Lord Hamilton has said, it appears some members of Scotland’s judiciary are not very interested in excusing themselves from cases where their personal relationships, hospitality received, or professional gain may affect the outcomes of cases, nor are some members too bothered about who they associate with in private, where unpublished meetings include dates with dodgy businessmen, crime gang members, prostitutes from massage parlours & saunas (a scandal with forced one sheriff to resign, pictured), dodgy lawyers accused of fraud (who happen to escape prosecution), convicted sex offenders, and associations & meetings with lawyers who are known to act for tax dodgers in the Cayman Islands & other offshore tax havens. There are even cases of some members of Scotland’s judiciary using relationships with Police Officers to further their own professional interests outside of their judicial role, and also in some cases, members of the judiciary have used Police Officers to harass opponents of their private law firm’s high profile clients anxious their double lives are kept from the media & public’s prying eyes.

Clearly just as with solicitors escaping investigation into legal aid payments and fraud prosecutions courtesy of Mr MacAskill, there are also problems in Scotland’s judiciary where it appears regulation, or the fear of being caught out, is not strong enough to prevent some of its members abusing their positions either inside the court or outside. While the integrity of many of Scotland’s judges is not in question, a register of interests and more effective regulation must be applied, if Scots are to have any confidence in, or chance of a fair hearing where vested professional & personal interests may regularly collide with the public’s right of access to justice and a fair hearing in the Scottish courts.

However, it may come as no surprise to readers to learn Scotland’s judiciary are not alone in failing to keep a register of interests. The same is true for the judiciary of England & Wales, right up to judges at the UK’s Supreme Court, who maintain they do not require to keep a register of interests, yet as members of the House of Lords prior to the setting up of the Supreme Court, Law Lords did provide details in the House of Lords register of interests.

The UK Supreme Court’s stance on a register of interests is broadly the same as Scotland in that one is not required because the judges themselves have decided they need not declare their interests. The Supreme Court’s statement on a register of interests appears in an online document stating :

Prior to the creation of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the highest court in the UK was the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords. The members of the Committee were Lords of Appeal in Ordinary appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876. Although those appointments gave them full voting and other rights in the House of Lords, the Law Lords had for some years voluntarily excluded themselves from participating in the legislative work of the House. Notwithstanding that, they were bound by the rules of the House and provided entries for the House of Lords Register of Interests.

On the creation of the Supreme Court the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary became Justices of the Supreme Court. They retain their titles as Peers of the Realm, but are excluded by statute from sitting or voting in the House, for so long as they remain in office as Justices of the Supreme Court. As such, they are treated as Peers on leave of absence; and do not have entries in the House of Lords Register of Interests. Historical information remains accessible via the House of Lords website.

Other judges in the UK, such as the judges of the Court of Appeal and the High Court in England and Wales, and in Northern Ireland, and the Court of Session in Scotland, do not have a Register of Interests. Instead they are under a duty to declare any interest where a case comes before them where this is or might be thought to be the case.

Against this background the Justices have decided that it would not be appropriate or indeed feasible for them to have a comprehensive Register of Interests, as it would be impossible for them to identify all the interests, which might conceivably arise, in any future case that came before them. To draw up a Register of Interests, which people believed to be complete, could potentially be misleading. Instead the Justices of the Supreme Court have agreed a formal Code of Conduct by which they will all be bound, and which is now publicly available on the UKSC website.

In addition all the Justices have taken the Judicial Oath – and they all took it again on 1 October 2009 – which obliges them to “do right to all manner of people after the law and usages of this Realm without fear or favour, affection or ill will”; and, as is already the practice with all other members of the judiciary, they will continue to declare any interest which arises in the context of a particular case and, if necessary, recuse themselves from sitting in that case – whether a substantive hearing, or an application for permission to appeal.

It is in the public interest and the interests of justice that our judges be required by law to join all others in public office, paid for by the public purse, to register their interests and any hospitality received. This is clearly in the interests of transparency, accountability and can only serve to reassure court users that they can expect fair & equal treatment - something we should all be entitled to as of right.