Solicitors' trade body attacks government for 'lawyer-bashing'
Solicitors’ trade body is accused of ‘shooting the messenger’ as it attacks the government for ‘lawyer-bashing’ over its attempt to root out crooked advocates
- Law Society hit out following taskforce to crack down on corrupt legal advisers
- It comes after Mail investigation around solicitors fees for illegal immigrants
The Solicitors’ trade body was last night accused of ‘shooting the messenger’ after it attacked the Government for ‘lawyer-bashing’ in its attempt to root out crooked advocates.
The Law Society, which represents solicitors in England and Wales, hit out after ministers this week unveiled a new taskforce to crack down on corrupt legal advisers following an investigation by the Daily Mail.
The investigation, which found solicitors charging up to £10,000 a time to create fake back-stories for illegal immigrants, has sparked a bitter war of words between ministers and lawyers.
The Law Society’s public affairs director David McNeill told BBC Breakfast yesterday: ‘This announcement today is something of a red herring. This task force which they tout with such aggressive language has been in existence for months now so really from our perspective it just looks like a bit of lawyer-bashing as a distraction from really bad news for the Government on the number of asylum seekers now accommodated in hotels – 50,000.’
He added: ‘It’s not in our interest to have any solicitor acting improperly or crookedly.’
(Stock Photo) The Law Society, which represents solicitors in England and Wales, hit out after ministers this week unveiled a new taskforce to crack down on corrupt legal advisers
READ MORE: Shut down: Solicitors’ watchdog dramatically closes three legal firms caught offering to submit false asylum claims for thousands of pounds following Mail exposé
But Tom Hunt, Tory MP for Ipswich, accused the Law Society of misrepresenting the real issues. He said: ‘I don’t think it’s lawyer-bashing at all, because this announcement by ministers is an attempt to protect the integrity of the law. A small minority of lawyers are damaging the reputation of our legal establishment. The Law Society should wind its neck in.’ Natalie Elphicke, Conservative MP for Dover, said: ‘It’s extraordinary for the Law Society to shoot the messenger instead of putting their own house in order.
‘They should be supporting Government action to root out any serious corruption and criminality.’ And Simon Fell, a Tory member of the Commons’ home affairs select committee, said: ‘The Law Society needs to think very carefully about who they are going to go out and defend.
‘This initiative by the Government is not scare-mongering; there are evidenced cases of lawyers abusing the system and making false representations. The Law Society needs to reflect on whether it is on the right side of the story.’
Yesterday Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said the new taskforce will aim to ensure advocates who are found responsible for submitting fraudulent asylum claims are ‘convicted, punished and disgraced’.
While he acknowledged that the number of lawyers offending were a ‘tiny minority’, he added they were doing ‘terrible damage’, not just by keeping people in Britain who ‘ought not to remain’ but also by damaging the reputation of the legal profession. He added: ‘Where there is this illegality it’s absolutely right that we ramp up our ability within Government to identify fraud. People who are making stuff up deserve, frankly, the full force of the law, the law should come down like a ton of bricks.’
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has vowed corrupt lawyers will face prison, and praised the Mail’s investigation. Crooked lawyers who coach migrants on how to fraudulently remain in Britain can be prosecuted for ‘assisting unlawful immigration to the UK’ under the Immigration Act 1971.
The crime carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The Mail’s investigation last month led to watchdog, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, suspending three legal firms caught offering to lodge bogus asylum applications.
In one case, a legal adviser told an undercover reporter posing as an economic migrant that he could invent claims of sexual torture, beatings and slave labour.
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