References: Unreported, 17 March 1994
Coram: Latham J
The court considered the management of the statutory Solicitors Compensation Fund: ‘Given, however, what I have already said about the statutory purpose of the compensation fund, it seems to me that it is appropriate to say that the clearest case in which a grant will be made, pursuant to an application for compensation, will be where the solicitor himself has been dishonest and obtained money himself from the applicant which the applicant has thereby lost. That being the general rule, it seems to me that the Law Society is entitled to say that the further the application departs from that particular set of circumstances, the more cautious the Law Society should be in making a grant. It follows that any circumstance which takes the facts behind an application outside that general rule will be a relevant consideration for the Law Society to take into account. ‘
Statutes: Solicitors Act 1974 36
This case is cited by:
- Cited – Regina -v- Law Society ex parte Birkett Admn (Bailii, [1999] EWHC Admin 770)
Some twenty years after the events, the claimant still sought compensation following the alleged negligence of his former solicitor. He now sought it from the Law Society’s compensation fund. The Law Society said the nature of his claim was outside . .