SOLICITORS who exploited sick miners by charging them extra fees for handling compensation claims are facing a fresh crackdown this week by their professional body.

In all, the Law Society of England and Wales has received about 1,000 complaints from miners about solicitors who pocketed extra fees while handling their claims for chronic chest diseases; and it is investigating 35 law firms over possible misconduct.

So far, law firms have voluntarily handed back to miners more than £3.6 million in legal fees after letters from the society and this week a fresh batch of letters goes out to 500 senior partners, urging them to return any extra fees charged, in cases where that has not already been done.

Firms are being warned that they if fail to act, they will face a finding of “inadequate professional service” and can be ordered to pay compensation, unless the miner whose claim they handled was given full information from the start and made aware that most law firms did not make extra charges in such cases.

The move is the latest by the society to obtain redress for miners wronged in the scandal exposed by The Times last year in which 30 or 40 law firms grew rich by reaping £1.6 billion in fees for handling the Government’s £7.5 billion miners’ compensation scheme.

The law firms took their fees — even though the full legal costs of every succesful claim was being met by the Department of Trade and Industry.

The exposure led to an an independent inquiry ordered by the Government into the DTI’s handling of the scheme and an investigation by the Law Society.

More than a dozen firms were paid more than £10 million by the DTI for settling claims and six earned more than £30 million. The top three earned more than £50 million.

The Law Society — itself under the spotlight as to how it is tackling the biggest scandal to hit the profession in decades — is stepping up the pressure. It insists, though, that it has no power to order law firms to pay back their fees.

Professor Shamit Saggar, who chairs the society’s new consumer complaints board, the body handling complaints about solicitors, says: “Contrary to the assertion of some MPs, the agreements covering the handling of miners’ compensation claims were not between the DTI and the legal profession as a whole, but between the DTI and law firms.

“And many of the deductions arise from agreements made by the miners with claims-handling companies over which the society has no control.”

But the society has power to impose certain sanctions on the 30 or 40 “overcharging” firms of the 550 total number involved with the claims scheme. It can also take special steps to ensure redress for victims.

It is advertising its complaints service in key mining areas, and dispensing with the usual six-month time bar on the bringing of complaints. A specialist team of a dozen caseworkers is handling the complaints and so far 550 have been resolved through swift and informal conciliation. A total of £150,000 compensation has been agreed, an average of several hundred pounds per miner.

Professor Saggar says: “We decide whether the miner received poor service from the solicitor and, if so, the miner is likely to be awarded compensation, which could be greater or less than the deduction made by the solicitor from his compensation. Because of the unique circumstances of each claim, each case has to be assessed on its own merits. No decision is a precedent for others.”

The key issue, he adds, is whether the miners were told about the charge and whether it was reasonable.

“It appears likely that for most firms, the additional charges turned out to be unnecessary, in the sense that the level of costs in successful cases enabled the work to be carried out profitably, notwithstanding that no costs were recovered in unsuccessful cases.”

But the society admits that some firms remain resistant to persuasion or conciliation. In such cases, it makes a formal adjudication, ordering compensation — and those that fail to pay will be referred to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

The scandal has, however, involved more serious allegations. Peter Williamson, who chairs the society’s new regulation board, says: “The regulatory work arising out of miners’compensation cases is the largest and most complex series of interconnected investigations the Law Society has ever had to deal with.”

He declines to discuss details, because of the risk of prejudicing “sensitive” work. But he says: “If there is evidence of serious misconduct, the solicitors will be referred to the tribunal.”

Six firms involving 30 partners have been so referred and others are expected to follow. The charges, which — if upheld — can lead to striking-off or suspension, range from refusal to comply with a compensation order to suspected serious wrongdoing. The first hearings will be this year.

Williamson says: “We will work determinedly to ensure that any solicitors who have been guilty of misconduct are brought to account.”

The society has no choice. Any measures cannot remove the shadow cast over the profession as a whole by the damaging actions of those firms on a “gravy train”. But their efficacy will be a test of the society’s ability to police its own, at a time when its regulatory role is under scrutiny.

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