Lawyers banned from criminal legal aid work after £221,000 is paid back

Published on Sunday 18 July 2010 16:48

Two solicitors from a Scottish law firm which repaid more than £200,000 to the Legal Aid Fund have been banned from providing taxpayer-funded advice.

A third solicitor from a different practice has also been deregistered.

The two solicitors from a Paisley law firm have been forced to pay back 221,847 to the Legal Aid Fund after it was discovered they had been overcharging for travel to various prisons.

The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) announced that Iain Robertson, director of the Paisley law firm Robertson and Ross, had been removed from the register of solicitors who provide criminal legal assistance.

Alistair Gibb, a former associate of the firm, has also been deregistered.

Following an investigation by SLAB, which manages legal aid in Scotland, the pair can no longer provide criminal legal aid or criminal advice or assistance.

The investigation revealed non-compliance with SLAB's code of practice for criminal legal assistance, including overcharging the board for travel to various prisons.

The pair will not face prosecution as the Crown Office, which investigated the case, said it would not be pursuing the case and the Law Society of Scotland has said that, because there has been no criminal conviction and no member of the public or organisation has complained to the society about the solicitors' actions, it will not become involved.

A SLAB spokesman said: "As a result of non-compliance with the board's code of practice, the firm Robertson and Ross Limited has repaid to the Legal Aid Fund, the sum of 221,847."

A key part of SLAB's work is investigating and minimising abuse of legal aid, and the board also announced it had deregistered a third solicitor, Steven Anderson, and the firm where he works, Andersons Solicitors in Springburn, Glasgow.

Non-compliance included holding unnecessary meetings with clients and making inappropriate, multiple and repetitive grants of advice and assistance. SLAB is currently resolving outstanding claims made by Mr Anderson.

The decision comes after the government announced plans to cut "substantial amounts" from the budget for legal aid.

One solicitor, who did not want to be named, said he thought the problem of legal aid claims was more widespread than many people thought - but not at such a high level.

"I would assess that there is a lot of low-level instances where people are hiking the true extent of their legal aid work - but only on the margins."Solicitors would generally be a bit more sensible about this - there is lots of marginal stuff going on."

MSP Richard Baker, Labour's justice spokesman, said: "If these funds have been misused then a message needs to be sent out that this will not be tolerated.

Tory MSP Bill Aitken said: "There is no excuse for lawyers exaggerating claims. The Law Society and Legal Aid must take stringent action when this happens."

A spokeswoman for the Law Society said: "The Law Society would take action against a member in the case of either a criminal conviction or if we received a complaint from a member of public or an organisation."