The Gang’s All Here : Crooked lawyers new jobs exposed by newspaper leaves Law Society of Scotland’s ‘ultimate consumer protection’ in the bin

Daily Record expose of get-rich-quick scheme : Not content with one rogue lawyer, someone had to hire three. SCOTS CONSUMERS should be on the look out for too-good-to-be-true finance deals presented to them by familiar faces from the world of bankrupts & crooked lawyers after an investigation by Scotland’s Daily Record newspaper into Cost Reduction Services operated by “banned twice-bankrupt Stewart Kennedy” revealed some of Scotland’s more notorious ‘crooked lawyers’, John G O'Donnell, Catriona Macfarlane & Andrew Miller were linked to the "shady get-rich-quick scheme" based near Glasgow Airport.

The alarming ease of which rogue lawyers who have regularly been identified by the media in scandals involving ripping off multiple clients again raises questions over the effectiveness of the self regulation of lawyers in Scotland by the Law Society of Scotland and its ‘front company’, the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC).

The Law Society of Scotland has unconvincingly claimed for over two decades it offers consumers & clients “ultimate protection” against Scotland’s notoriously corrupt legal services market yet the Society has binned tens of thousands of complaints over the years and allowed most rogue lawyers to escape any punishment for their crimes against clients. Recently it was even revealed the Law Society had also intervened to prevent proceedings against solicitors who stole or exaggerated their claims for taxpayer funded legal aid.

The notoriously anti-client Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, nicknamed a “Front Company for the Law Society” by some msps, equally professes its resolve to ‘independently’ investigate complaints against Scottish solicitors, yet in January it was revealed the SLCC has only managed to uphold one single complaint against an unidentified solicitor in three years, while passing most cases it receives back to the unbelievably prejudiced Law Society of Scotland for yet more slaps on the wrist.

However, while the legal profession’s self regulators spend more time counting their cash or slipping complaints under the carpet, certain parts of the media such as the Daily Record & Sunday Mail have again proved themselves a much more effective regulator & beacon of consumer protection by exposing the new bases & con-tricks of some of those solicitors & ex solicitors who the public should be on the look out to avoid.

Here follows the Daily Record’s investigation into “Cost Reduction Services”, its owner & those rogue lawyers we now know so well. If consumers have suspicions about their lawyers or these get rich quick schemes, the message is clear, you would do a lot more good reporting your concerns to the media before attempting to communicate with the self regulators who control the legal profession.

INVESTIGATION: Record rumbles rogue lawyers' and chancer's get-rich-quick scheme

By Chris Musson Daily Record April 12 2011

THREE rogue lawyers are linked to a firm behind a shady get-rich-quick scheme, a Record investigation has revealed.

Cost Reduction Services - run by an ex-bankrupt who was accused of fraud use fake photos of "satisfied customers "and promises of £4600-a-month earnings to lure debt-hit Scots. But former staff members say the venture is a classic Ponzi scheme - in which new investors' cash is paid out to older ones with no real income being generated.

The outfit is headed by self-styled finance expert Stewart Kennedy, 46, who walked away with £100,000 of his former clients' cash. Banned Twice-bankrupt Kennedy has assembled a list of suspect characters to work for the company, which is based in a part-empty office block by the M8 near Glasgow Airport.

They include dodgy lawyers found guilty of professional misconduct by the Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal (SSDT), and several other former bankrupts. One boss at the firm is dodgy solicitor Catriona McFarlane, 50, who is banned from practising law unsupervised. Crooked lawyer Andrew Miller, 49, who was struck off and branded dishonest by the SSDT, was taken on as a salesman for the business. And John O'Donnell, 60, a third solicitor rapped by SSDT - is being styled by Kennedy as the firm's "court lawyer", sources say.

Kennedy's business targets debt-ridden homeowners and small businesses, by cold-calling them and offering to reduce their monthly outgoings. Their "solution" involves remortgaging clients' homes or properties to free up cash for clearing other debts such as loans and credit card balances. Customers are charged £3500 in fees then offered the chance of buying £15,000 "franchises" in the business - which CRS say will involve no work but bring in £4600 a month. But insiders claim nobody could have received the promised returns.

Yesterday, an expert in the franchise market said the scheme was "very suspicious" and should be avoided.

Cost Reduction Services - full name Cost Reduction Services (2010) Ltd - were registered at Companies House in April 2010, contradicting claims on their website that they have been in business for 10 years. The business has no link to Surrey firm Cost Reduction Services Ltd.

And suspicions have been raised further by our findings that the firm is using an online slideshow with phoney photos to flog the £15,000 franchises. They are marketing the deal by using glowing testimonials from people they claim are happy customers. But the satisfied "franchise holders" who are shown during the 43-minute sales presentation are actually faces from random snaps found on the internet.

Our investigators traced one of the individuals - who the firm claim is called Mandy - and found she is actually a Spanish woman from Madrid called Marta Balius. A second so-called customer, named as Andrew, is an American model posing as a businessman for promotional shots.

The slideshow is voiced by Cost Reduction Services "franchise manager" Graham Scott, 56, from Avonbridge, near Falkirk. Like Kennedy and at least one other member of staff at the firm who claim to be able to help customers with their financial problems, Scott is a former bankrupt. In the presentation, he talks up the company's EasyEarn Franchise and promises punters a return of £4600 a month for no work. When we confronted Scott with the evidence yesterday, he eventually admitted the pictures were fake. He said: "They're just, erm, erm, stock pictures." Scott refused to answer any further questions about the featured customer testimonials. He referred all further questions to managing director Kennedy, who was discharged from bankruptcy on April 1 last year, just days before he registered his company.

Former mortgage advisor Kennedy , from Quarriers Village, Renfrewshire, appeared in court charged with fraud in 2007 after walking away almost £100,000 of his clients' cash, though prosecutors later dropped the case.

Sources with knowledge of how the company works say they cold-call people from the phone book or businesses from the Yellow Pages website. Staff who were doing the cold-calling say they were working from £10 pay-as-you-go mobiles after the office phones were disconnected. And several staff have complained they were left unpaid then sacked. One former employee came back to confront Kennedy, and the doors at the office overlooking the M8 near Glasgow Airport are now kept locked.

One former staff member said: "The scheme targets homeowners who have at least 30 to 40 per cent equity. "The idea is to convince them to remortgage their home to free up some cash, which is used to pay off debts. "If we convince them to remortgage a bit higher and hand over £15,000 for a franchise, then all the better. "The remortgage is done in such a way that your payments do reduce to start with. But when interest rates go up or the fixed term ends, the payments will too."

Another source said: "The company hasn't got enough work to pay dozens of franchisees thousands of pounds a month. The only way it can pay out money to franchisees is by getting lots more people to buy franchises. Then they use the money from the new franchise owners to pay the first group, and so on. "That's called a Ponzi scheme. It might work for a while, but will eventually fall in on itself. People should be wary given Kennedy's history."

Marian Owen, of consumer website Business Opportunity Watch, said: "The franchise looks very suspicious to me because the profits they promise are so high they sound too good to be true. With a standard franchise, you may make good profits but you have to work hard for it."

She also pointed out that the franchise offer sounds more like an investment scheme. Anyone operating an investment scheme must be registered by the FSA. Cost Reduction Services are not.

Mrs Owen added: "It seems to me that this is deposit-taking activity, which is in breach of the Financial Services and Markets Act unless you have the appropriate authorisation, such as a banking licence - of which there is no sign."

Kennedy did not respond to requests for comment. Staff said he was out of the country. Scott said while he was "not privy" to details of the company's earnings, it was his "understanding" from Kennedy that Cost Reduction Services had enough work to pay franchise holders from business earnings.

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STEWART KENNEDY

SELF-STYLED finance expert Kennedy left a string of clients almost £100,000 out of pocket with his dodgy mortgage business six years ago. When Kennedy, left, went bankrupt in 2005, creditors were unable to pursue him because all his assets were in his wife's name.

He was later charged with fraud but to the dismay of victims, prosecutors dropped charges against him because of "an insufficiency of evidence". Kennedy lives in exclusive Quarriers Village, near Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire, in a £375,000 house - which is in his wife's name.

JOHN O'DONNELL

SOLICITOR O'Donnell's Glasgow office was raided seven years ago during a gangland money laundering probe. He has been found guilty of misconduct twice and was banned from practising unsupervised for five years from 2009.

O'Donnell, 60, right, made his name conducting property transactions but later faced 21 claims for negligence. He was made bankrupt last year. He is being styled by Kennedy as CRS's "court lawyer", sources say. O'Donnell says he has nothing to do with the business - but has previously represented Kennedy in court.

ANDREW MILLER

MILLER, 49, has been working as a "consultant" for Cost Reduction Services.

The ex-bankrupt was struck off as a solicitor in 2005 after forging the signature of his former partner in a Dundee law firm on forms to carry out the administration of a will.

Miller, from Strathaven, Lanarkshire, has claimed to be a financial advisor but he is not registered with the Financial Services Authority. Restrictions were placed on him practising unsupervised as a lawyer in 1999 because he had been made bankrupt. The tribunal who struck him off said there there was "no place in the solicitor's profession" for someone like Miller.

CATRIONA MACFARLANE

MACFARLANE, 50, is banned from practising as a lawyer unsupervised until 2012.

She was fined £2500 in 2009 by the SSDT for professional misconduct - covering up for her mortgage adviser husband after he stole her client's £24,000 deposit for a home. Sources say she heads up the legal side of the Cost Reduction Services and is the boss in the office apart from Kennedy.

When confronted at the Cost Reduction Services HQ, MacFarlane, from Newton Mearns, near Glasgow, denied she was the firm's lawyer. She said her job was to write wills for customers. MacFarlane said: "I can't offer legal advice ... I've no practising certificate. I can't practise as a lawyer." She admitted knowing John O'Donnell and said he had been in the office - a claim he denies.

CASE STUDY

ARCHIE and Joyce Miller ended up los ing £20,000 to Cost Reduction Services boss Stewart Kennedy seven years ago. The couple from East Kilbride, both 72, were forced to work past retirement age to make up the cash they lost. They were cold-called by one of Kennedy's former firms in 2004 and met Kennedy face to face.

Like many other families at the time, they were facing a shortfall on endowment policies - savings intended to pay off a mortgage at the end of its term. Kennedy told them they should cash in their policies early, sign them over to him, and he would remove the shortfalls by rearranging their mortgage. They did so - and never saw a penny of their money again.

The Millers' loss formed part of a fraud case against Kennedy in 2007. The Crown Office was challenged by their local MSP, then finance minister Andy Kerr, on why the action was later dropped. In a letter to Mr Kerr, solicitor general Frank Mulholland said there was an "insufficiency of evidence".

The legal chief went on to say that for a charge of fraud to stick, the Crown had to prove the accused had the "intention to deceive" or the "intention to permanently deprive the victim of the property in question".

Yesterday, Archie and Joyce said Kennedy should be avoided at all costs. Archie said: "Given our experience, I would advise people to steer well clear of this man or anything he is involved with. It's frightening to hear he's in business again, especially the detaills about the people who are working with him."

Justice for all ? Scotland’s Crown Office refuse to prosecute ‘crooked lawyers’ who 'wrongly' claimed £221K in Legal Aid funds

Scotland’s Crown Office appears to operate a policy of not prosecuting ‘crooked lawyers’. WHILE CLAIMANTS OF LEGAL AID in Scotland who lie on their Legal Aid applications may expect to be prosecuted by the Crown Office, given that defrauding the Scottish Legal Aid Board is a criminal offence, the Crown Office’s application of the law in this regard seems to be somewhat uneven, as the SUNDAY MAIL newspaper revealed this weekend in the case of solicitors IAIN ROBERTSON & ALASTAIR GIBB, who, despite being accused of submitting £223,000 worth of false claims for taxpayers' cash from the Scottish Legal Aid Board over an 18-month period, are not to be prosecuted.

The Scottish Legal Aid Board reported both solicitors to the Crown Office for prosecution. The latest failure of the Crown Office to prosecute ‘crooked lawyers’ comes after a string of cases reported in the media where solicitors have swindled Legal Aid, or acted against clients in a way where ordinary members of the public may well have been expected to be charged and prosecuted to the full letter of the Law. In the case of Iain Robertson & Alistair Gibb, the Scottish Legal Aid Board reported both solicitors to the Crown Office for prosecution, yet as revealed in the media, there will be no criminal prosecution against either solicitor – yet a member of the public who may have falsely claimed much smaller amounts of legal aid can certainly expect to be prosecuted to the fullest extent.

The Scottish Legal Aid Board issued a Press Release today (pdf), announcing that it had removed from the list of solicitors registered to provide criminal legal assistance:·

The solicitor, Steven A Anderson of Andersons Solicitors, 2 Hillkirk Street Lane, Springburn Glasgow, G21 1TE and the firm of Andersons Solicitors.
The solicitor, Iain Robertson, director of Roberston and Ross Limited, 7 Causeyside Street, Paisley, PA1 1UW and the solicitor, Alistair Gibb, a former associate of the firm, Robertson and Ross Limited.

This means that these solicitors cannot now provide criminal legal aid or criminal advice and assistance. The removal follows investigations by the Board in relation to non‐compliance with the Board’s Code of Practice for Criminal Legal Assistance.

For Andersons Solicitors this non‐compliance included: holding unnecessary meetings with clients, and making inappropriate, multiple and repetitive grants of advice and assistance. For Iain Robertson and Alistair Gibb, the non‐compliance included overcharging the Board for travel to various prisons. As a result of non‐compliance with the Board’s Code of Practice, the firm Robertson and Ross Limited has re‐paid to the Legal Aid Fund, the sum of £221,847.

The Board has a substantial programme of monitoring and investigating legal aid expenditure involving both legal aid applicants and the legal profession. Under its powers, it can stop solicitors doing criminal legal aid work. Only the Law Society of Scotland has responsibility for stopping solicitors from doing civil legal aid work.

Where the Board has concerns about lawyers it can make formal complaints to the appropriate regulatory body (for example, the Law Society of Scotland or the Faculty of Advocates) and may also forward cases for consideration to the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service. In 2009‐2010, the Board’s compliance and investigations work resulted in savings and recoveries of nearly £2 million, and a number of cases involving solicitors, applicants and legally‐aided assisted persons were reported to the Crown Office.

The Scottish Legal Aid Board were asked for comment on the failure of the Crown Office to prosecute. A spokesperson replied saying : “The Board cannot comment on decisions made by the Crown.”

Solicitor Catriona MacFarlane covered up her mortgage broker husband’s theft of £24K from a client. In a recent scandal involving solicitor Catriona MacFarlane, who covered up her mortgage broker husband’s theft of £24K from a client, later repaid after difficult & prolonged negotiations saw the Crown Office even refuse to acknowledge reports of the MacFarlanes to its highest ranking officials. During my own investigation of the MacFarlane case, it transpired the Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal FAILED to inform both Strathclyde Police and the Crown Office that criminal activity had been detected during their investigation of the complaints made against Catriona MacFarlane. You can read my earlier report revealing the failures to inform the authorities, here : Law Society ‘routinely fails to report crime' as Crown Office admits it never received report on Glasgow lawyer theft cover-up investigation

Crown Office bizarrely admitted a solicitor had committed ‘a crime’ yet refused to prosecute. In one particular instance, where a solicitor had been reported by a number of individuals to authorities, the Crown Office contacted one of the victims, bizarrely admitting a crime had been committed, yet refused to prosecute the solicitor concerned. The Crown Office letter read : “A decision has been taken by the Crown Office to take no further proceedings in this case : this decision was not taken lightly as we realise the seriousness of this crime. I hope the decision has not caused you any distress, as this was not our intention.”

Crown Office admit they don't gather statistics on how many crooked lawyers are prosecuted. In response to Freedom of Information queries to the Crown Office on the disclosure of statistics engathered relating to charges or prosecutions against members of the legal profession in Scotland, which includes paralegals, solicitors, and anyone working in a solicitor's office, it was disclosed that "The COPFS database has no information routinely recorded indentifying the present (or previous) occupation of accused persons reported for prosecution. We do not extract any information regarding cases in which the accused person is (or was) a solicitor, so do not hold any statistical information which would answer your question." The terms of the response leave little doubt an attitude exists where prosecuting the legal profession itself is not to be encouraged, or recorded …

Clearly the Crown Office is unwilling to prosecute ‘crooked lawyers’ and the evidence is mounting this is a policy, rather than decisions taken on a case by case basis …. after all, if 20 solicitors are reported to the Crown Office, and 20 decisions are taken not to prosecute … then something is very wrong with those who are charged to uphold the law and these constant decisions not to prosecute solicitors becomes more of a policy not to prosecute solicitors in the eyes of the public …

The Sunday Mail reports :

LIAR AID : Fury as shamed lawyer stays out of court despite admitting £221k of bogus claims

Jul 18 2010 Exclusive by Derek Alexander, Sunday Mail

A LAWYER has escaped the dock - after handing back more than £200,000 of bogus legal aid claims.

A criminal probe into Iain Robertson has been dropped after he returned £221,847 to the Scottish Legal Aid Board. Amazingly, Robertson is even allowed to continue claiming legal aid for civil cases while waiting to discover if he will be struck off.

The scandal centred on the 57-year-old shamed solicitor and his firm Robertson & Ross in Paisley. Another lawyer - Aberdeen-based Alastair Gibb - was also investigated.

Scots Lib Dem justice spokesman Robert Brown demanded to know why Robertson is not being taken to court. He said: "It seems that the Crown Office have some questions to answer as to why they didn't prosecute what appears to be a straightforward fraud involving a significant amount of money."

Labour justice spokesman Richard Baker added: "This is a very serious issue and we should have clarity on why the Crown Office decided not to proceed. "The sum of cash is huge and I'll be interested to know why the lawyers involved haven't faced criminal charges."

Robertson was accused of submitting £223,000 worth of false claims for taxpayers' cash from SLAB over an 18-month period. The claims were based on Gibb travelling thousands of miles from Paisley to see clients in Aberdeen and Peterhead prisons. In reality, Gibb was living in Kingswells, near Aberdeen.

Earlier this month, Robertson agreed to pay have back £221,847 to SLAB and was banned from claiming criminal legal aid cash in the future. But he's still allowed to claim legal aid for any civil cases he undertakes. Gibb, 60, did not renew his certificate to practise as a solicitor with the Law Society of Scotland after SLAB called in police two years ago.

Fraud squad detectives submitted a detailed report about the case to Crown prosecutors in April, 2008. But officials marked the case "no proceedings" and stubbornly refuse to explain their decision.

Last year Robertson & Ross received £367,600 in legal aid compared to £832,000 between 2007 and 2008. Legal aid exists to pay fees for those who can't afford to hire a solicitor.

Gibb claimed he was sacked by Robertson & Ross but was awarded a cash settlement by the firm before an unfair dismissal tribunal. He said: "What went on between SLAB and Robertson & Ross is totally outwith my knowledge, other than that I assisted SLAB once. I'm now 60 and don't have a hope in hell of getting a job now. I've been wiped out."

In December, 2008, Robertson was censured by the Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal for ripping off a client for £21,308. He took cash payments from the woman while claiming legal aid for the work. He was fined £5000 and found guilty of professional misconduct.

A SLAB spokesman said: "Iain Robertson and Alastair Gibb have been investigated. The sum of £221,847 has been paid back."

Robertson said: "It was accepted that payments had been wrongly claimed and as the supervising partner I had to accept responsibility. "We dealt with the matter and agreed the figures. I'm disappointed that SLAB have taken the decision they have."

A Crown Office spokeswoman said: "We received a report in relation to two men aged, 60 and 57, in relation to an alleged incident in Paisley in 2008. After full and careful consideration of the facts and circumstances, Crown Counsel instructed there should be no proceedings in relation to this matter."

Glasgow lawyer who covered up husband’s £24K mortgage scam makes it to Scottish Legal Consumer Complaints register

The Law Society of Scotland continues to allow dishonest lawyers to work, unknown to potential clients. GLASGOW SOLICITOR CATRIONA MACFARLANE, made famous earlier this year for covering up her mortgage broker husband’s theft of £24,000 of funds from clients she also represented, is the subject of this week’s feature on the new Scottish Legal Consumer Complaints website, well worth a read for Scots consumers of legal & financial services – especially in this case, mortgages, house purchases & sales.

Notably, even though Ms McFarlane was found guilty by the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal, censored, and fined the magnificent sum of £2,500, she is still working as a solicitor – a testament to the ‘ultimate in client protection’ offered by the Law Society of Scotland and hapless Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, ensuring once again that consumers are not safe while lawyers continue to regulate themselves.

Scottish Legal Consumer Complaints - A community based register of those to avoid in the legal profession :

I have previously reported on the Catriona MacFarlane case here : Glasgow lawyer who covered up husband's £24k client theft gets slap on the wrist by Law Society tribunal, continues working & here : Law Society ‘routinely fails to report crime' as Crown Office admits it never received report on Glasgow lawyer theft cover-up investigation

Curiously, the Crown Office refused to prosecute Ms MacFarlane even though the matter was reported to the Lord Advocate herself, as I reported here : Crown Office brought in over mortgage broker’s £24k client theft after Law Society failed to report Glasgow lawyer who 'covered up' for husband

Perhaps Mortgage Fraud, especially when it involves lawyers, is not much of a crime to the Crown Office .. or could it be more to do with the Crown Office being rather reluctant to prosecute lawyers for any offence at all, as I reported here : Justice Secretary 'hush hush' on criminal records of lawyers as Crown Office claims its too costly to keep details on legal profession's crooks

A fine example where the community must step in to protect & ensure all consumers are alerted to the dishonest elements of Scotland’s legal profession. Please visit Scottish Legal Consumer Complaints for more details on elements of Scotland’s legal profession you as consumers & existing or potential clients of solicitors may very well wish to avoid …

Crown Office brought in over mortgage broker’s £24k client theft after Law Society failed to report Glasgow lawyer who 'covered up' for husband

Crown Office received report of Mortgage broker theft. SCOTLAND’s CROWN OFFICE have today received a report of the theft of a client’s £24,000 mortgage deposit by ex-mortgage broker NIGEL MACFARLANE (formerly of mortgage brokers, Ideal Mortgages), details of which were discovered during hearings at the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal after the Law Society of Scotland investigated complaints against Mr MacFarlane’s wife, solicitor Catriona MacFarlane who had represented the same client and covered up her husband’s theft.

The Crown Office were informed of matters concerning the case, and were drawn to the attention of weekend media coverage in the Sunday Mail newspaper, reporting further on the MacFarlane case and spectacularly breaking the secrecy of the SSDT report which had suspiciously failed to publicly identify Mr Wilson, the client whose funds had been stolen by solicitor Catriona MacFarlane’s husband. The Sunday Mail's report gave the victim a chance to speak publicly about his nightmare at the hands of the MacFarlanes.

Today's report to the Crown Office, which was accompanied by copies of the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal hearings, stated : “It is in the public interest, and vital for the protection of all consumers that the Crown Office investigate the case for possible prosecution as a deterrent to a further reoccurrence of this incident to consumers, and proceed accordingly.”

You can read my earlier report on the Catriona MacFarlane case, here : Glasgow lawyer who covered up husband's £24k client theft gets slap on the wrist by Law Society tribunal, continues working

Law Society of Scotland failed to report crimes it detected. During my own investigation of the MacFarlane case, it transpired the Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal FAILED to inform both Strathclyde Police and the Crown Office that criminal activity had been detected during their investigation of the complaints made against Catriona MacFarlane. You can read my earlier report revealing the failures to inform the authorities, here : Law Society ‘routinely fails to report crime' as Crown Office admits it never received report on Glasgow lawyer theft cover-up investigation

A legal insider today commented that Law Society complaints reports and SSDT findings are routinely screened to prevent identities of clients being made known to the wider public & media, for fear that newspapers would approach those whose complaints had ended up at the Tribunal for possible ‘striking off’ solicitors.

He said : “Its a bit off that in 2010 people cant find out who is making a complaint about a solicitor just because the Law Society and the SSDT don't want journalists knocking on victims doors. People have a right to know which solicitors have done what to clients. I personally do not have a problem with that.”

Solicitors Tribunal revealed solicitor covered up theft but no report was made to Police or the Crown Office. A spokesman for a consumer organisation also commented on the apparent lack of detail in the solicitors tribunal findings, saying : “I feel its about time the Law Society ensured the full details of any criminal activity they come across while conducting an investigation should be handed over to the proper authorities to ensure consumers are fully protected against professionals who the general public are forced to place their trust in to handle their legal & financial affairs.

He continued : "The Law Society frequently inform complainers they cannot investigate criminal allegations but rarely if at all pass on to the Police, the details of those allegations to the proper authorities. Clearly this matter, which amounts to the legal profession turning a blind eye to criminality within its ranks, must be immediately addressed.”

The SSDT could not be contacted for a statement on the actual reasons for their rules of secrecy and the Law Society were today, said to be “angered” & “very concerned” the identity of Catriona MacFarlane’s client had been revealed, which led to the renewed publicity on the case and today’s report to the Crown Office, asking the full weight of the law be applied in this case to protect consumers and act as a deterrent against similar instances.

So, the lesson here is, if you have made a complaint to the Law Society of Scotland, or the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, or you have a case before the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal, make sure you contact someone or a journalist like myself who can publish it, because it is very clear the legal profession don't want the public to know what their solicitor has done to other clients. Time to change all that, and ensure the public do get to know who they are trusting as their legal representatives.

MORTGAGE MAN STOLE MY £24K

Lawyer wife covered up scam

By Russell Findlay Sunday Mail 07 Feb 2010

A STUNNED home-buyer's £24,000 deposit was swiped by a mortgage broker whose lawyer wife then covered it up. Jim Wilson gave the money to Nigel MacFarlane, of Ideal Mortgages, but the adviser stole it and spent it. It then took 19 days for Jim's solicitor Catriona MacFarlane, 49 to tell him that the thief was actually her husband. Despite the deception, MacFarlane was not struck off by the Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal. Instead she was fined £2,500 for professional misconduct.

Jim, from East Kilbride, said : "She had her knuckles rapped. Yet for almost three weeks, she hid the fact her husband had taken our money."

MacFarlane referred to her husband as "the broker” during the property purchase.

The SSDT found that MacFarlane's delay in revealing the truth deprived her client of independent legal advice.They also ruled that MacFarlane, a solicitor for 27 years, had acted "very irresponsibly" and that her actions were "contrary to the standards of conduct expected".

Suspicious Jim found out the truth when he confronted MacFarlane at her then employers, Glasgow firm Hasties. Jim said : "She put her head in her hands and admitted it. I had to take out an emergency loan."

Nigel MacFarlane visited Jim at his home and vowed to repay the cash, which he did.

Law Society ‘routinely fails to report crime' as Crown Office admits it never received report on Glasgow lawyer theft cover-up investigation

Law Society of Scotland failed to tell Crown Office of theft evidence. CROWN OFFICE OFFICIALS have admitted the Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal failed to inform them, and the Police, of alleged criminal activity after solicitor Catriona Macfarlane, based at Glasgow law firm Hasties, was found guilty by the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal (SSDT) in early November 2009 of covering up a £24,000 client theft by her own husband, a mortgage broker.

Solicitors Tribunal found solicitor guilty of covering up a theft, but didn’t tell Police or Crown Office. To-date, no criminal charges have been brought in this case, and many are now questioning why there has been no Police investigation over the highly detailed findings published by the Law Society and the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal (SSDT), which stated that Catriona Macfarlane’s actions had left her client in a vulnerable position and left them exposed to an unacceptable risk after it had been revealed she covered up her own husband's theft of £24,150 from a client who had approached Mrs Macfarlane to act for him in a house purchase deal.

You can read my earlier report on this case, here : Glasgow lawyer who covered up husband's £24k client theft gets slap on the wrist by Law Society tribunal, continues working and the SSDT’s verdict availabe for download in pdf, here: Law Society v Catriona Margaret Macfarlane

Crown Office were reluctant to release statement on lack of prosecution. Initially the Crown Office delayed responding to media enquiries, and then put off giving any statement on the affair after Crown Office officials delayed media reaction by re-categorising any enquiries as Freedom of Information requests, which can take up to 20 days or more to generate a reply. The Crown Office only issued a statement on the affair after Scotland’s FOI Commissioner Kevin Dunion had been informed of the misuse of FOI legislation to delay a COPFS statement on a potential criminal investigation.

A spokesman for the Crown Office was eventually forced to admit : “I can confirm that we have not received a criminal report in connection with either Nigel MacFarlane or Catriona MacFarlane in relation to the incident.”

Law Complaints Chief Philip Yelland did not report investigation’s theft details to Police. This stark admission by the Crown Office that it had not been alerted to the case has raised growing questions over why the Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal did not contact the Police & Crown Office over the events which had been revealed in their own investigation, and has left many questioning why the Law Society’s Director of Regulation, Mr Philip Yelland, notorious for being involved in many ‘controversial’ Law Society complaints investigations also did nothing, despite his own public claims that solicitors engaging in such activity have been struck off in the past … although not always reported to the Police as they should have been …

Law Society’s Director of Regulation Philip Yelland claimed lawyers are struck off for bad conduct but evidence shows otherwise.

A senior legal insider today alleged the Crown Office was reluctant to prosecute members of the legal profession for criminal activity, and went onto accuse the Law Society of Scotland of routinely covering up criminal activity of its members it had detected in the course of investigating complaints against solicitors.

He said : “The Law Society of Scotland have to look at nearly 5000 complaints a year against solicitors and a good percentage of those relate to theft of a client’s funds, misappropriation of titles, fraud, and other activities which fall into the realms of criminal law. Not once however, do the Law Society turn over any details of criminal activity they uncover during the course of their investigations to the Police or the Crown Office, or even the Scottish Legal Aid Board, so effectively we have the body responsible for regulating solicitors in Scotland failing to pass on evidence of criminal actions to the proper authorities for a criminal investigation.”

He continued : “I would also have to question whether the new Scottish Legal Complaints Commission has, after one year of operation, passed on the details of any possible criminal activity on the part of solicitors it has detected, to the Police or Crown Office ?”

After enquiries made today, a source close to the SLCC confirmed that no cases had been passed by the SLCC onto the Police as of yet – which is odd, considering some of the kinds of allegations and evidence I have been reading in complaints cases presented to the SLCC for investigations.

A spokeswoman for one of Scotland’s consumer organisations today called on the Police & Crown Office to be more pro-active in detecting criminal activity carried out by members of Scotland’s legal profession.

She said : “It is worthwhile noting in the case of solicitor Catriona Macfarlane the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal were fairly exact in their findings and the level of detail, but it appears the Police and the Crown Office, who must have been aware of what had been reported by the Law Society and the SSDT, and the reports in the media, still did nothing.”

She continued : “Just as much as the Law Society of Scotland and the SSDT have a duty to protect consumers from solicitors who damage their clients, there is a duty on the Crown to detect and prosecute any criminal activity on the part of a solicitor to protect the general public. Why therefore has no action been taken by the Crown Office on this case where, according to the SSDT’s findings it seems a theft had been committed and covered up by a solicitor who is still able to practice.”

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill – tight lipped & soft on crimes committed by solicitors. From cases reported to me in the past involving criminal actions reported to or detected by the Law Society during the course of their investigations, it is clear to me the Law Society has a policy of not reporting criminal activity by solicitors to the Police or the Crown Office, and there is ample evidence to suggest the Crown Office itself has no wish to prosecute lawyers for criminal actions in Scotland, as I revealed in an earlier article I wrote here : Justice Secretary 'hush hush' on criminal records of lawyers as Crown Office claims its too costly to keep details on legal profession's crooks

Just to back that up once again, a client I know who reported his own solicitor to the Law Society of Scotland over fee irregularities and the misuse of his property titles claimed he had also tried to report the matter to the Police in his area but was told they did not want to become involved as the PF would probably do nothing.

He said : “I complained to the Law Society about my solicitor sending me demands for work he had not done and also refusing to hand over my title deeds until I paid his bill. The Law Society looked at the complaint and my solicitor then claimed the bill was an error but we then found out he had used my house titles to get himself a loan at the bank.”

He continued : “I called the Police in and they said it was a civil matter and wanted the Law Society to clear it up but the Law Society did nothing other than wipe the false bill, the lawyer got away with what he did at the bank and it took me nearly a year to get my title deeds back. He should have been charged and sent to jail along with all those at the Law Society who covered it up.”

The Crown Office were challenged today on the Macfarlane case, and asked if they have any intention of directing the Police to conduct enquiries with a view to bringing charges against the individuals concerned. So far, no comment has been received from the Crown Office.

Glasgow lawyer who covered up husband's £24k client theft gets slap on the wrist by Law Society tribunal, continues working

Law Society of Scotland investigation found McFarlane covered up £24,000 client theft by her own husband. In yet another case which demonstrates the lack of effective regulation of Scotland's legal services market and poor consumer protection, solicitor CATRIONA MACFARLANE, 49, of Hasties Solicitors, Glasgow, has been found guilty by the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal of professional misconduct but allowed to continue working as a solicitor.

The findings reported by the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal (SSDT), said that Catriona Macfarlane’s actions had left her client in a vulnerable position and left them exposed to an unacceptable risk after it had been revealed she covered up her own husband's theft of £24,150 from a client who had approached Mrs Macfarlane to act for him in a house purchase deal.

SSDT heard lawyer covered up husband’s massive theft from client after cash was handed over for mortgage. In August 2006, Mr. A approached a mortgage broker, identified as Ideal Mortgages, to arrange a mortgage, giving Mr Nigel Macfarlane £24,150 to be used as a deposit on a property, and approached Catriona Macfarlane of Glasgow Law Firm Messrs Hasties to act for him in the purchase. The client, Mr A, was not aware at this time, that Catriona Macfarlane was married to his mortgage broker, Mr Nigel Macfarlane, nor did Macfarlane disclose this relationship to her client. Problems with the mortgage caused the house purchase to be delayed, which prompted the client to call his solicitor, Mrs Macfarlane, informing her he had handed £24,150 to the mortgage broker, who Mrs Macfarlane had still not disclosed was her husband. The SSDT judgement reported that Mrs Macfarlane's only reply to her client's telephone call was "She said only that she would call him back".

The Tribunal decision further reported : "She (Mrs Macfarlane) called back a short time later. She said that, having spoken to the broker, she was able to confirm that Mr A's money was safe and could be returned to him at any time. By this stage, she was aware that her husband had misappropriated Mr A's money. On 19 February, Mr Macfarlane came to Mr A's house and confessed … that he had spent his money. He promised to 'sort things out'."

“Mr. A and his wife were by this time suspicious. Although Mr. MacFarlane and the Respondent referred to each other respectively as “the broker” and “the solicitor” they shared the same surname. Mr. A and his wife confronted the Respondent on 19 February 2007. She confirmed that she and Mr. Macfarlane were married. She said that she “would sort things out”.

“On 26th February 2007 the Respondent advised Mr. A that she could no longer act for him and that he should seek separate representation. Mr. A was thereafter represented by new Solicitors. The transaction was completed in April 2007. All additional costs including penalty interest due to the sellers of the property were recovered from Nigel Macfarlane. The sums misappropriated by him were repaid in full."

The SSDT’s verdict : availabe for download in pdf, here: Law Society v Catriona Margaret Macfarlane

Solicitor Catriona Macfarlane, of Loganswell, Newton Mearns, Glasgow, and employed by Glasgow Law Firm Messrs Hasties Solicitors of Lynedoch Crescent, Glasgow, who was enrolled as a solicitor on 4 October 1982 was found guilty by the SSDT of Professional Misconduct in respect of her failure to disclose to her client the extent of her knowledge of her husband’s actings and her failure to timeously advise her client to seek separate independent advice and her failure to withdraw from acting for her client, all in breach of the Code of Conduct for Scottish Solicitors 2002.

The Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal issued punishment, censuring Mrs MacFarlane, and issued a fine of £2500 to be forfeit to Her Majesty and Direct in terms of Section 53 (5) of the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980.

Further, Mrs Macfarlane was informed that for a period of 3 years, her practising certificate shall be subject to such restriction as will limit her to acting as a qualified assistant to and to being supervised by such employer as may be approved by the Council or the Practising Certificate Committee of the Council of the Law Society of Scotland. Mrs Macfarlane was also found liable in the expenses of the Complainers and of the Tribunal.

A representative of one of Scotland's consumer organisations condemned the decision to allow Mrs Macfarlane to continue as a solicitor, also branding the fine & practising certificate reduction as "weak".

She said : "This case shows us nothing has changed. Weak punishments like this are no deterrent for rogue solicitors who have the ability to rip off their clients without fear of losing their jobs & livelihood. Cases like this show that the Law Society of Scotland and SSDT are not serious about consumer protection from rogue solicitors.”

“How can the public have any confidence in the legal profession if all solicitors get is a slap on the wrist and fine when they are caught in major wrongdoing such as this case where, according to the SSDT findings, the solicitor covered up for her own husband's theft of clients money."

She continued : "I'm sure the public expected a lot more after the LPLA Act (2007) came into force but as we can see, the legal profession are still looking after their own, with the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission making not one bit of difference to the rising levels of fraud against consumers by their legal representatives."

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill accused of being a soft touch on poor regulation of crooked lawyers. A member of the public who is experiencing huge problems with the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission and the Law Society of Scotland over his complaint branded the whole system of regulation of lawyers in Scotland as ‘a con against the public, and also condemned the Scottish Government for being soft on crooked lawyers.

He said : “Where is the long arm of the Justice Secretary when all these crooked lawyers are stealing to order from their clients ? I cant get a fair hearing with this useless SLCC or the Law Society, and writing to the Scottish Government has also done no good. Any lawyer who covers up a theft or steals from theri clients should be jailed because if I had done it, I would go to jail. Why the special dispensation for lawyers to steal as they like ?”

Crown Office silent on criminal charges against lawyers. The Crown Office were asked today if Catriona Macfarlane and her husband, Nigel Macfarlane, would face criminal charges for the cover up and theft of their client’s funds, which albeit were repaid, still rank as theft (which in most people’s book is still a criminal offence). So far, no response from the Crown Office, who are well known to have a soft touch against criminals in the legal profession itself, often apparently refusing to prosecute solicitors of even very serious crimes.

You can read an earlier article I wrote on how the Crown Office mishandle prosecutions against solicitors, here : Justice Secretary 'hush hush' on criminal records of lawyers as Crown Office claims its too costly to keep details on legal profession's crooks

A source at the Law Society of Scotland today alleged it had not passed on any details of any criminal activity detected during their investigation to the Crown Office, which is no big surprise, as the Law Society of Scotland usually cover up any details of criminal activity they discover during the course of their 'investigations' into crooked lawyers and I doubt the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, had they been involved, would have done any different (another non-surprise).

‘Anti-client’ Scottish Legal Complaints Commission would have done no differently, issuing just another slap on the wrist. Trust in the Scottish legal profession will never be established until fully independent regulation (not the half-baked, half-house Scottish Legal Complaints Commission slap handed version) is enacted to protect consumers from thousands of cases of serious fraud, negligence and the poor handling of clients legal affairs which occur each year in Scotland.

Please support the implementation of fully independent regulation for legal services in Scotland.