“Despite delivering £4bn for sick miners and their families, exploitation by some solicitors cast a shadow over the profession.”
The Guardian, 8th March 2011
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Firms that offer cash incentives to attract people to make compensation claims through them – including for personal injuries – will be stopped under new proposals.”
Ministry of Justice, 6th January 2011
Source: www.justice.gov.uk
“Claims management companies will be prevented from offering clients cash incentives to bring damages claims if a Ministry of Justice (MoJ) proposal to tighten up the rules comes into effect.”
OUT-LAW.com, 6th January 2011
Source: www.out-law.com
“A no win, no fee website set up to farm former coal miners’ undersettlement claims is being investigated by the government claims regulator, the Gazette has learned.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 11th November 2010
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“Solicitors who handled sick coal miners’ government compensation claims are set to appear before courts across the country, as the first known court actions for alleged undersettlement of such claims begin to emerge.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 4th March 2010
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“Solicitors who took millions of pounds from compensation payouts given to sick miners have lost their appeal against being struck off for misconduct.”
BBC New, 2nd December 2009
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“A consultation aimed at people authorised to provide regulated claims management services in England and Wales under the Compensation Act 2006.”
Ministry of Justice, 3rd November 2009
Source: www.justice.gov.uk
“About 150,000 sick miners and their families are still owed £100m by solicitors who wrongly charged them for compensation claims, an MP says.”
BBC News, 13th September 2009
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Misleading claims that debt can be written off as unenforceable, high pressure selling and cold calling in person will not be tolerated – tough message from Ministry of Justice Claims Management Regulator as 100th company cancelled.”
Ministry of Justice, 9th August 2009
Source: www.justice.gov.uk
“The work that solicitors have done under the mineworkers’ compensation scheme has attracted the attention of press, parliament and the public ever since details of wrongdoing began to emerge earlier this decade. But the debate has focused on two controversies: the millions of pounds that solicitors have earned, and the deductions that some solicitors made from miners’ compensation.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 30th July 2009
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“A former television presenter who became one of Britain’s highest-earning solicitors has been struck off for ‘disgraceful’ misconduct in his handling of sick miners’ compensation claims.”
The Times, 1st May 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“Three solicitors whose deal with Arthur Scargill led their firm to slice £7.7 million from compensation awards to sick coalminers were suspended yesterday for professional misconduct.”
The Times, 18th February 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“Solicitors in South Yorkshire deliberately breached a code of conduct to collect £32m in fees from miners’ compensation claims, a tribunal ruled.”
BBC News, 17th February 2009
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“The government is spending millions of pounds in legal fees fighting the claims of sick miners in a move that lawyers say will recreate the mistakes of the past.”
The Guardian, 12th January 2009
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Solicitors across Britain are bracing themselves for further sanctions over the coalminers’ compensation scandal that led to two lawyers being struck off for dishonesty.”
The Times, 13th December 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“Jim Beresford aims to bounce back from yesterday’s public humiliation with a multimillion-pound marketing campaign to set up Britain’s first ‘legal services supermarket’.”
The Times, 12th December 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“A solicitor who became Britain’s richest lawyer was yesterday struck off after being found guilty of creaming millions of pounds from compensation paid to sick miners. Jim Beresford, 58, and his partner Douglas Smith, 52, were also ordered to pay substantial costs for serious professional misconduct over the handling of personal injury claims made under a compensation scheme for miners suffering coal dust-related diseases and other injuries.”
The Independent, 12th December 2008
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“A law firm that earned £141 million from a government industrial disease compensation scheme denied yesterday that it had exploited sick miners and their families.”
The Times, 20th November 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) was accused of ignoring ‘false information’ and holding a ‘biased’ investigation, as the disciplinary tribunal against the coalminers lawyer Jim Beresford continued today.”
The Lawyer, 18th November 2008
Source: www.thelawyer.com
“Britain’s highest-earning solicitor acted dishonestly and with ‘conscious impropriety’ in dealings with a mining union that led to his firm handling thousands of industrial disease compensation claims, a tribunal heard yesterday.”
The Times, 18th November 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
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