“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
from the Inner Temple Library
“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
“A group of former miners who suffered industrial injuries are claiming they received inadequate compensation from a government scheme.”
BBC News, 18th August 2010
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“The first known court actions against law firms for alleged undersettlement of sick coal miners’ government compensation claims will begin preliminary hearings in mid-August, the Gazette has learned. A number of defendant firms have already settled out of court.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 29th July 2010
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“Legal action has been launched against the UK for allegedly failing to refer firms trading in ‘conflict minerals’ from DR Congo for UN sanctions.”
BBC News, 26th July 2010
Source: www.bbc.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
“The government has been overloaded with freedom of information (FoI) requests made by solicitors acting for former coal miners ahead of the first coordinated negligence action for alleged under-settlement of government compensation claims.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 18th February 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
“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
“Solicitors have handed back more than £1.5m to injured former miners under a new voluntary repayment scheme after wrongly deducting fees from miners’ government compensation awards – and this figure could rise further as the project rolls on, the Gazette can reveal.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 10th September 2009
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“Injured miners who successfully sued their former solicitors for under-settling coal health compensation claims have won tens of thousands of pounds in settlements, it has emerged.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 6th August 2009
Source: www.lawgazette.co.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
“Arthur Scargill’s trade union was paid more than £6 million by a firm of solicitors that deducted the money from compensation awarded to sick miners for industrial disease, a tribunal was told.”
The Times, 7th January 2009
Source: www.timesonline.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
“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
“Two solicitors who won personal injury claims for thousands of miners have appeared before a tribunal accused of taking cuts from compensation pay-outs.”
BBC News, 17th November 2008
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Jim Beresford gained the dubious distinction of being the ‘highest-earning solicitor in Britain’ through the profits generated by his firm’s handling of miners’ compensation claims.”
The Times, 14th November 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“The legal profession faces a radical overhaul of a multimillion-pound trade in which thousands of solicitors fork out confidential payments or commission to obtain work.”
The Times, 14th November 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“Legal fees for firms advising on the ongoing compensation claims for sick coal miners have hit more than £700m.”
Legal Week, 12th June 2008
Source: www.legalweek.com
“A solicitor who specialises in claiming compensation for sick coalminers has banked a personal profit of more than £30 million from the government-funded scheme.”
The Times, 9th June 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“Whitehall ‘seriously mismanaged’ a £4bn compensation scheme for former miners suffering from lung disease and physical injuries, a report by a committee of MPs said yesterday.”
The Guardian, 4th March 2008
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Law firms that grew rich by exploiting sick miners are to be forced to repay tens of millions of pounds that they wrongly sliced from their clients’ compensation.”
The Times, 8th February 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“The Legal Complaints Service (LCS) has branded a report claiming it has short-changed some sick miners seeking repayment of fees as ‘unduly harsh’ and ‘negative’.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 17th January 2008
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“Sick miners and their families are losing out on compensation they are entitled to because of administrative failures, according to a critical report by Legal Services Complaints Commissioner Zahida Manzoor.”
The Lawyer, 15th January 2008
Source: www.thelawyer.com
“Beresfords, a tiny firm of solicitors in Doncaster, has received £123m from the taxpayer by winning compensation claims on behalf of coal miners for work-related diseases, new government figures show.”
The Guardian, 12th October 2007
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The Department of Trade and Industry has been criticised by a government watchdog for unjustifiable spying on former coalminers claiming compensation for industrial injuries. The department used investigators in clandestine surveillance operations to verify claims from miners who say they have suffered illnesses from working down the pits.”
The Guardian, 18th August 2007
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The under-fire law firms representing sick miners in the British Coal compensation fiasco have accused the Government of hypocrisy after its costs topped £2bn.”
The Lawyer, 15th May 2007
Source: www.thelawyer.com
“The Legal Complaints Service (LCS) is to canvas thousands of former miners directly to determine whether solicitors wrongly deducted fees from their compensation claims.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 3rd May 2007
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“A scheme for sick miners has been exploited by a few unscrupulous solicitors, a report has claimed.”
BBC News, 25th April 2007
Source: www.bbc.co.uk