Friday 1 February 2008, EVENING HERALD, page 12

'Public urged Lynn probe for over a year' by Caroline Crawford

Members of the public had been writing about disgraced solicitor Michael Lynn for more than a year before he came to the attention of the Law Society it has emerged.

Clients who had been burned by the rogue solicitor had warned others to avoid him on the popular website www.rate-your-solicitor.com. Members of the public even drew attention to Lynn's shady property deals.

One client urged others to avoid lodging money with Lynn, insisting that he funded deals with money from his client account funds.

However, despite a number of warnings and alerts that the Law Society should investigate him, no action was taken.

Even a number of colleagues of Mr. Lynn voiced their concerns about the solicitor and urged the Law Society to take action as soon as possible.

The warnings date back to September 2006, a year before Lynn came to the attention of the Law Society.

On September 5, 2006 one user wrote: "As for his fingers in many pies it would not hurt the Law Society to ensure that there was no conflict of interest arising from his property dealings. It's amazing the horror stories I have heard but yet that a solicitor like him is allowed to practice freely and without being accountable for his actions, it is a disgrace."

One comment in February of 2007 from a solicitor read: "Absolute disgrace, never replies to correspondence or returns phone calls. Law Society where are you?"

Yet another solicitor voiced concern in May of 2007 warning: "Law Society should investigate. Michael Lynn should not be in practice. Never ever replies to letters or calls."

Despite the warnings and a subsequent investigation by the Law Society, Lynn managed to abscond from the country last year owing up to E80m.