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PeterCherbi · Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 116 Location: Edinburgh

As some of you will have read on my blog, or in the newspapers, the Chief Executive of the Law Society of Scotland is leaving his post.

The link to my report :
http://petercherbi.blogspot.com/2...aking-news-law-society-chief.html

Despite the forthcoming spin the legal profession itself will put on the Chief Executive's decision to step down, a major factor in these recent events, is the publication of video footage depicting the Chief Executive Douglas Mill misleading a Justice Committee at the Scottish Parliament, and the now Cabinet Secretary for Finance, John Swinney MSP.

I urge all of those who feel they have been mistreated by the Law Society of Scotland as a result of any complaints they were forced to make regarding the services of their legal representatives, to now join the call for an independent investigation into the involvement & activities of the Law Society of Scotland with regard to client complaints & claims made against the legal profession, and the way the Law Society and its senior officials have operated a deliberate policy of intervention and intimidation against any member of the public who took issue with the quality of their legal service.

I am making my request directly to the First Minister, Alex Salmond and would urge anyone who feels similarly mistreated or who has experienced poor levels of legal service, made even worse by a poor or prejudiced investigation into events carried out by the Law Society of Scotland - in many cases simply to whitewash the legal agents concerned, to come forward and support this call.

Now is the time to do this and make the call for such an investigation.

A senior member of the SNP Government, John Swinney is directly involved in these matters, being the one senior politician who has taken the time & trouble to expose a considerable degree of corruption in the regulatory practices of the legal profession in Scotland.

You can watch John Swinney's conflict with the Law Society Chief Executive, which has now in all probability led to Douglas Mills' resignation, here :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBKwGzeKtEE

Mr Swinney's input into such an inquiry on the terrible corruption within the Law Society and the way clients who take issue with legal services ar treated, which he has discovered in the course of his service to constituents and the wider country at large, would be invaluable, and incontrovertible.

It is time for the Government to take the front seat and lead those people who have been victimised by the Law Society of Scotland, out of their misery & suffering, when so many administrations in the past have sat by and done nothing.

It is now in the best interests of the public these matters be cleared up, with a fully independent investigation into these events, having the power to compel witnesses to attend & give evidence, and to resolve the many cases of injustice of the past, where the legal profession has taken it upon itself to hound people, almost literally to death, using any means at its disposal.

Prospective candidates of my own choice who might chair such an inquiry, would be either the former Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman Linda Costelloe Baker, or the present holder of this office - Jane Irvine.

Both these individuals have come to realise the legal profession has never regulated itself properly, and given their experience in this field, coupled with their work, I believe them to be possible candidates for an inquiry head. I would not however, be for the appointment of someone who has or is actually a member of the Law Society of Scotland - as in my view, as we have seen many times before, the issue of conflict of interest, and thought of preserving one's colleagues may be too overwhelming to lead to a substantive or transparent inquiry.

Of course, the easiest thing to do, given the Scottish Government has been receving thousands of representations from members of the public & their politicians every year, is to simply acknowledge the problem exists, and put this accumulated material to good use in either an independent inquiry, or a 'truth & reconciliation' commission, designed to investigate & repair the damage a few at the top of the legal profession has caused to the solicitor client relationship over the last few decades.

It is now up to Alex Salmond as First Minister, responsible for all of us, the Government, and the country, to do for Scotland what no one has done before - give the public peace of mind and a measure of trust in the legal profession, and heal the sins of the past.

At the root of many of our problems here in this forum, lies these common threads of denial of access to justice, interference with our legal representation and poor legal services ...

I am convinced this is now the right time to call for this inquiry and see we get it.

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My blog on issues of injustice in Scotland A Diary of Injustice in Scotland by Peter Cherbi

Injustice Scotland Campaign website : Injustice Scotland

Big Wullie · Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 456 Location: Glasgow

Peter

Would it not be best to start a petition for all you say above?
This way we can present this to the First Minister maybe he could even read it as it progresses online.
This i feel would be the first step only, when i say first step i am talking through experience.
Experience tells me there will still be heavy objections to such enquiries.

The mere fact Mill is to resign does not mean another who takes his place will not continue in his shoes and do what has been done for decades as you kindly point out "Opression" and "Corruption" by the Law Society.

As someone who has complained to the Law Society before i could not advise anyone to go down this road.
What i would suggest though would be to simply Sue the Lawyer from the off.
Do not waste years fighting with Law Society Committees and Ombudsmen who have no power in the first place to really pursue your claim, Their insurance stops them from going against each other by the fact they are all insured by the same company under their master policy by the same brokers Marsh.
Paper chasers i like to refer to them as.
But paper chasers that will keep you wrapped up until you legally run out of time to sue.
So sue from the off and dont be fooled.

PeterCherbi · Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 116 Location: Edinburgh

Hi Wullie

Well, the problem with petitions is that my own Petition PE1033 to the Scottish Parliament was killed off by intervention from the Law Society itself and despite trying to get the current Justice Secretary to raise the ideas of Petition PE1033 on his own as either amendments to existing legislation or form the independent committee or inquiry team as I asked for in PE1033, all I get is either stalling or uncooperative replies from the Justice Secretary via the Justice Department.

There are and always will be heavy objections to such inquiries - just look at the problems and time it is taking for the McKie inquiry to be announced - this surely only happening because some have too much to lose if the remit covers things they dont want aired.

I think, in this instance, we have John Swinney, a Cabinet Minister, who stood up and brought home one of the main points on camera, that people just cannot sue a lawyer or recover any damages because the Law Society - in that particular case, the Chief Executive himself, intervened in a series of cases which have been going on for nearly 20 years, and are still not resolved despite Mr Swinney's revelations at the J2 hearings, and the actual client's testimony before the J2 Committee himself.

I think it is important to remember that every case which was raised at the Justice 2 Committee hearing or had evidence submitted by a member of the public as to the trouble and prejudice they had suffered at the hands of the Law Society of Scotland, have to this day, still not been settled - not one case settled by the Law Society, one and a half years later and counting .... and thats on top of all the years those people had suffered after trying to complain against their lawyer - because the likes of Douglas Mill's policies prevent complaints being heard fairly, and adequate compensation being paid out.

There comes a point when someone must take a stand, and John Swinney took that stand. Now there is a chance, a requirement to clear these problems out of Scots law, with either an investigation, or a strong effort on the part of the Government to resolve all these cases and see that ruined lives are turned into normal lives.

It is therefore up to Mr Salmond as to whether he supports the policies of Douglas Mill's Law Society - to hound, prejudice, prevaricate, intimidate and deny clients access to justice, or to open a new chapter and simply resolve these cases of injustice.

The power is with Mr Salmond to do this.

The requirement is to involve Mr Swinney, given his participation in the significant revelations at the J2 hearings, and the expectation of everyone who uses legal services - and that is all of us, is that when we use a lawyer, we can trust in that service, without fear or thought of loss of livelihoods, health or otherwise. If however, things go wrong, people must be able to recover what was lost, without going through the use a lawyer to sue a lawyer scheme - which Mr Swinney himself revealed, is corrupt, and a joke.
_________________
My blog on issues of injustice in Scotland A Diary of Injustice in Scotland by Peter Cherbi

Injustice Scotland Campaign website : Injustice Scotland

Big Wullie · Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 456 Location: Glasgow

Peter

Having watched the video and watched the video i feel Mr Swinney was still hindered and did not fully push the boat out infact at one stage it was as if Mills was telling him to shut up.
We all know he was limited as to what questions he could ask, this is what we should be challenging.
MSPs should be allowed to ask any questions which raises concerns within their constituency.

Lockerbie and McKie would be a great start Mr Swinney start asking only this time push until the matters are resolved

PeterCherbi · Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 116 Location: Edinburgh

Hi Big Wullie

I agree with your assessment of the video. It does look as if Douglas Mill was intimidating Mr Swinney to stop his line of questioning.

As can be seen from the later Parliamentary debate on the LPLA Bill, Mr Swinney went further to highlight problems with the Law Society, indeed, Douglas Mill's attitude towards regulation and how the legal profession deals with cases against it - as Ian Fraser covered very well on his website.

I think at the end of the day John Swinney has to take a stand on this issue again. He did an excellent job to the extent he could at the J2 Committee, but I feel that now, particularly given his position as Cabinet Secretary for Finance, and that of a well respected, balanced, & intelligent individual that he indeed is, it is time to have his call, support, and input into a serious inquiry into why the legal profession has been allowed to do as it wanted with regard to regulation, and why there is such a lengthy trail of victims of regulatory failure.

Mr Swinney should now surely stand up and say something like - yes, we need this inquiry, or yes, we need to resolve these cases so that the public interest and interests of the legal profession are both served.

Mr Swinney is a practical man, and an intelligent one at that who thinks before talking, unlike some politicians I could name. I am sure he realises himself, the profitability, not only in monetary terms of resolving the sins of the past, and allowing all of us, and the legal profession itself, to get on with our lives and providing the dependable, transparent, accountable and trustworthy legal services which Scots need and have the right to expect.

Its the right decision, and it's the right time to make that decision.
_________________
My blog on issues of injustice in Scotland A Diary of Injustice in Scotland by Peter Cherbi

Injustice Scotland Campaign website : Injustice Scotland