SRA slammed for conduct failures

An all-party parliamentary group has today criticised the Solicitors Regulation Authority for their failures in examining the conduct of a magic circle firm.

The firm is accused of being part of a cashback guarantee scheme which the group allege was mis-sold to consumers. The group, chaired by Conservative MP Andrew Percy, claims that Freshfields had worked with ScottishPower, the energy firm, to “foster misinformation” about ScottishPower’s cashback scheme which collapsed back in 2003.

In their reports, the MPs criticize the SRA for dismissing the concerns of Alan Campbell, who was the founder of the protest group “ScottishPower Broken Promises.”

An SRA spokesperson said that they are currently examining the detail of the report. They were quoted as saying: “We have not been asked to meet with the group, or contribute to their enquiry; but we are always happy to provide information on how we work.”

The report stated that: “This group is shocked that a major utility and prominent law firm could act in such a way when money belonging to 625,000 defenceless customers was at stake.”

Hitting back immediately, a spokesperson at Freshfields made the point that: “The SRA concluded after careful consideration of the evidence that there was no misconduct on the part of Freshfields, and decided they will not be taking any further action.”

And, furthermore, a ScottishPower spokesman described the allegations against the company as “both factually and legally flawed”, adding that the findings of the working group were “demonstrably wrong”.

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