Wednesday 27 February 2008, EVENING HERALD, page 38

'Nothing's changed' over rogue solicitors by Caroline Crawford

A website set up to highlight rogue solicitors operating in the country has warned that nothing has changed since the high profile cases of disgraced solicitors Michael Lynn and Thomas Byrne.

The Rate Your Solicitor site has been inundated with complaints about numerous other solicitors and has warned that there were now "too many to list".

And it added that despite recent high profile cases certain solicitors were continuing to operate with impunity.

"With regard to solicitors' professional behaviour, not much has changed, they can still break their own rules and get away with it," said a spokesperson for the site.

"Now that the banks are aware of the multiple-mortgaging scam, this will probably not happen again. Solicitors dipping into their clients' account, however, is still ongoing and all too common," he added.

He added that while the Law Society was "acutely aware" of the website it continued to dismiss it and the concerns of the public.

"Ken Murphy (the former director) was interviewed on Prime Time and said that bad comments about solicitors were nothing more than "writing on the back of the toilet door".

However, he added that in the wake of the Lynn and Byrne affairs, concerns about solicitors were now taken much more seriously.

"People who complained about solicitors were often dismissed as 'cranks' before, but are now finally getting some respect," he said.

The spokesperson went on to call for the immediate setting up of the promised Legal Ombudsman.

REFORM

"We are all looking forward to the Legal Ombudsman that was promised by the Taoiseach, but we're not holding our breath," he said, adding: "There were many excellent recommendations for legal reform in the Competition Authority's Competition in Legal Services Report of 2005 which have not yet been implemented."

Michael Lynn went on the run last year after an investigation by the Law Society found he had used his practice's client account for personal dealings and there had been a flow of money between his practice and property business.

Last week the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal recommended that Thomas Byrne, who is believed to owe almost E50m to financial institutions and is being investigated by the Garda Fraud Squad, be banned from practising law.