Barrister puts SRA in dock

ATTACK: Treverton-Jones claims time taken to conduct investigations is 'a scandal'



The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) came under fire this week for taking too long to conduct investigations into solicitors, instigating inappropriate investigations, and referring lawyers to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) unnecessarily.



Greg Treverton-Jones QC, barrister at 39 Essex Street, said the amount of time the SRA takes to conduct investigations is ‘a scandal’.



Speaking at a joint LawCare, Solicitors Assistance Scheme and Solicitors Benevolent Association conference in London last week, he cited one case where it took the SRA three years to decide whether to refer a solicitor to the SDT.



Treverton-Jones, who represents solicitors facing disciplinary or regulatory actions, said he initially feared he ‘would be representing a fair number of crooks’. But he added: ‘My fears were groundless. Almost without exception, they are honest and decent men and women caught up in situations that worry them... I long for a mechanism by which if a solicitor and the regulator disagree, the matter can be arbitrated without the solicitor being hauled up before the tribunal.’



SRA chief executive Antony Townsend agreed that some disciplinary proceedings take too long, ‘which can add to stress and costs’. However, he said the regulator will soon be able to deal directly with less serious cases that do not involve dishonesty, which will be a ‘speedier, less expensive and more proportionate process’.



Townsend added: ‘In its last reporting year the tribunal struck off 67 solicitors, suspended 33, fined 86 and reprimanded 20. The number of cases where there was no order or only costs were ordered, or the case was dismissed, was six. That is hardly evidence of us pursuing trivial issues.’



Meanwhile, Andrew Hopper QC alleged that the Legal Complaints Service (LCS) ‘appears to do rough-and-ready justice’, with ‘limited remedies’. He said: ‘There can be decisions which can be shocking. There can be complete misunderstanding by caseworkers who aren’t legally qualified.’



Hopper, who is a solicitor, cautioned that his experience of the LCS might not be typical because he acts for aggrieved parties, but claimed problems with decision-making were ‘endemic in my experience’.



The LCS declined to comment.



Anita Rice