The decision to strike off two solicitors found guilty of mishandling miners’ compensation claims has been upheld by the High Court.
James Beresford and Douglas Smith, formerly of Beresfords Solicitors in Doncaster, were found guilty by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal in December last year of eight charges of misconduct relating to personal-injury claims brought under the Coal Health Compensation scheme (click here to read our original report).
The lawyers had denied a total of 11 allegations against them, arguing that there was “nothing wrong” with benefiting from millions of pounds in fees gleaned from entering into conditional-fee and contingency-fee arrangements with their clients — miners suffering from vibration white finger (VWF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Beresford and Smith appealed the decision but High-Court judges Sir Anthony May, Mr Justice Silber and Mr Justice Clarke ruled this morning (2 December) that the Tribunal was right to make “a cumulative series of findings of very serious misconduct on a huge scale in relation to thousands of vulnerable clients”. The appeals failed on all grounds.
Speaking to the BBC after the ruling, Simon McMillan, a partner at Beresfords Solicitors — which claims to act for more clients under the Coal Health Compensation Scheme than any other practice in the UK — said: “This is a matter that concerns two former partners who left the business over 12 months ago. They will no doubt be carefully considering their options as to what steps to clear their names.”
In 2006, the Law Society — the professional body for solicitors — was heavily criticised by the ombudsman for its handling of complaints from miners concerned about solicitors taking a percentage of their compensation. Since then, the Solicitors Regulation Authority — the regulatory arm of the Law Society, established in 2007 — has taken action in 14 cases, and another nine are pending.
In February this year, another South Yorkshire law firm, Raleys Solicitors, of Barnsley, saw three of its lawyers suspended from practice for periods of between six months and four years, and a further three fined £10,000 each for failing to act in the best interest of their clients, and for operating under a conflict of interest by maintaining a relationship with the National Union of Mineworkers.
Commenting specifically on today’s judgement, SRA chief executive Antony Townsend said: “The SRA has vigorously pursued the solicitors who betrayed the trust placed in them by their clients in this case and other miners’ compensation cases.
”This has sent a clear message to firms and, with the work of the Legal Complaints Service, has contributed to millions of pounds being paid back to miners by solicitors — where possible, voluntarily, or by agreement. This is a good result for consumers, and should serve as a reminder to solicitors of the importance of acting with integrity in the best interests of each client, and of promptly putting things right for clients where errors are discovered.”
