Intervention dispute

The former director of the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS) last week warned that the Law Society could be breaching the Human Rights Act 1998 when intervening in solicitors' practices.

However, an OSS spokesman refuted the allegation, saying that there was no risk.

Peter Ross, who resigned as director in August 1999, said the OSS could be in breach of article six of the European Convention on Human rights - which entitles people to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time - because solicitors were denied the right to make representations before interventions occurred.

He also expressed concern that there could be a breach because the OSS dealt with cases too too slowly.

Writing in this month's issue of the Solicitors' Defence Agency newsletter, Mr Ross warned that no period of time 'which permits the destruction of the practice' or prevented solicitors from working when their practice certificate had been suspended pending the outcome of the intervention, could be regarded as reasonable.

He also queried whether interventions would fail the necessary convention test of 'proportionality'.

This requires any action taken to have a legitimate aim and be proportionate to the situation faced.

A spokesman for the OSS said: 'The advice the OSS has received is that the composition of its case working committees and other adjudication arrangements, together with the availability of judicial review, mean that there is no difficulty in fulfilling the requirements of article six.'

Sue Allen