Solicitors who are members of local authorities have been warned about acting in a professional capacity before their authority, after a Preston-based solicitor and councillor was suspended from Wyre Borough Council for six months.

The Adjudication Panel for England - the independent tribunal that hears allegations of misconduct by local authority members - ruled last month that Alan Vincent, partner at Vincents and leader of the council, had breached the council's code of conduct by representing an applicant for a taxi licence before its licensing committee.


The case arose when a committee member made a complaint to the Standards Board for England, saying that they felt intimidated.


The adjudication panel held that Mr Vincent had failed to withdraw from a meeting in which he had a prejudicial interest and that he had thereby brought his office or the authority into disrepute.


The panel found that at no stage did he act with any improper motive and that he believed he could draw a distinction between his capacity as a councillor and that of a solicitor in private practice. There was also no intention to exert influence over the members of the licensing committee.



Chapter 15 of the Guide to the Professional Conduct of Solicitors states that a solicitor who is also a local authority councillor must carefully consider whether he or his firm can properly act for the council or for other clients in matters concerning it.



Mr Vincent, a Conservative partycouncillor, told the Gazette that the ruling would put solicitors off from becoming councillors and that would not be in the public interest.



'A blanket ban on solicitors acting in all circumstances is a step too far,' he said, arguing also that the law was 'a grey area' at the time he appeared before the licensing committee.


'Having now realised it is a breach of the rules, then obviously I would not do it again,' he added. He has not yet decided whether to appeal.


A Law Society spokesman said the Society would not be taking any action following the ruling.