South-west firm Burges Salmon will not face the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal following allegations that it gave inappropriate legal advice to farmers, a long-running investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority has decided.

The SRA, which for two years considered allegations about advice given by Burges Salmon to farmers on agricultural mortgages and breach of conflict rules, said today that there was ‘no viable prospect’ of successful disciplinary proceedings against the firm.

The SRA said that it has closed the investigation, which it began in September 2008, and that there will be no further action.

SRA chief executive Antony Townsend said: ‘This has been an exceptionally complex investigation, raising unusual issues. We appreciate that the former clients will be very disappointed, but we have reached our conclusion after exhaustive consideration of the issues, and having taken expert external legal advice. The conclusion was that there was no viable prospect of successful disciplinary proceedings.

‘We regret that the investigation took as long as it did. There was a very large quantity of documents to review. We have reviewed its handling and identified aspects where there was scope for speedier progress. We are applying these lessons in the management of future complex investigations.’

Burges Salmon said today in a statement: ‘We have co-operated fully with the SRA throughout this long-running investigation, which we are pleased has been closed by the SRA without any findings of breach of the professional conduct rules by Burges Salmon or any of the firm’s solicitors.

‘We are pleased that the SRA has confirmed in relation to the allegations of conflict of interest and failure to act in clients’ best interests, that it could not conclude that we should have acted differently, or that we failed to act in the best interests of our agricultural/farming clients. We remain committed to maintaining the highest standards of professional conduct.’