We had a dilemma on our hands. Had the client’s former solicitor participated in a deliberate, criminal deception?

In my last post I mentioned the Solicitors Regulation Authority known as the SRA, which governs conduct amongst lawyers. The SRA requires lawyers to report any possible breaches of professional standards. Those who do not heed the reporting requirement can in certain circumstances also risk criminal proceedings.

I must confess, the SRA’s stipulations and its determination to ensure that my profession’s standards are upheld have been playing upon my mind. I have recently encountered a professional ethics problem that puzzles me profoundly.

My firm was instructed by a new female client to take over her divorce case. The divorce itself, including financial considerations, was being conducted abroad. The English solicitor previously appointed by the client, and with whom she had become “dissatisfied”, is a partner in a major firm. This lawyer had been coordinating the proceedings abroad and this is not uncommon in jurisdictional cases.

The husband was represented by solicitors in England who were also coordinating the overseas proceedings. Furthermore, both parties retained lawyers in the country in which the divorce was taking place.

When we took instructions from the wife, she instructed us that she was not wealthy at all. She enjoyed a modest income, and modest capital. It was a mystery why she had chosen to issue proceedings abroad, especially as she was having to pay two sets of expensive lawyers. However, the client was very determined. We began work.

However, shortly afterwards a couple of my colleagues were reading the files, which had arrived in pristine condition and very promptly from the previous solicitors. They informed me that we had a dilemma on our hands. This struck me as an understatement, once I had seen the files for myself.

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Legal aid lawyers deserve recognition for their high standards of practice.

In 1998 I became the first Chief Assessor and Examiner of the Law Society’s newly created Family Law Panel. It was not an appointment I had expected: I was female, living in the north of England and definitely not part of what I understood to be the small “Establishment” of mostly London-based solicitors, working for well-known firms.

I was thrilled to accept the role, and was given the task of heading up a new accreditation system for family lawyers, so that standards could be improved nationwide.

However, it was a far from easy start. Opposition to my appointment came from within “Establishment” ranks, which was an unpleasant introduction to life outside my cosy Yorkshire environs! But to their credit, the Law Society backed me. I met a group of very decent and dedicated people working behind the scenes, in the Law Society’s administrative offices in Redditch and London. My “Northern grit” came to the fore and I got stuck into the job with a vengeance! Continue reading »