UK Anti-P2P Lawyers Finally Face Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal

[DaBees-Knees]

http://www.zeropaid.com/news/91336/uk-anti-p2p-lawyers-finally-face-solicitors-disciplinary-tribunal/

UK consumer group Which?’s complaints about the law firm’s “bullying” and “excessive” conduct scheduled to finally be heard after two years of delay.
After nearly two years of delay, David Gore and Brian Miller, an existing and former partner at law firm Davenport Lyons will finally face the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) on May 31st, 2011.

It was Which?, the largest consumer body in the UK with over 650,000 members, that complained to the solicitors’ watchdog that the London law firm had sent ‘bullying’ letters to hundreds of innocent consumers.

For a while Davenport Lyons targeted suspected file-sharers in massive sweeps accusing them of illegally downloading everything from video games to porn. The alleged file-sharers received letters from the law firm demanding payment of £500 ($773 USD) compensation for copyright infringement, but many, most notably a non-gaming elderly couple, were. wrongly accused.

Which? called the efforts “bullying” and “excessive,” and told the SRA about how the letters Davenport Lyons sent to suspected file-sharers made incorrect assertions about the nature of copyright infringement, ignored the evidence presented in defense, and increased the level of compensation claimed over the period of correspondence.

“In addition, the letters threaten, incorrectly, that failing to properly secure an internet connection is grounds for legal action,” it said.

Last May Davenport Lyons decided to quit the anti-file-sharing legal business, claiming that the “agreed work for a number of its clients in the sphere of illegal file-sharing has reached its conclusion,” but that hasn’t stopped the complaint process from moving forward.

“Equity partner Mr Gore and former intellectual property partner Mr Miller will face the tribunal over a number of allegations, including that they acted in a way that was ‘likely to diminish the trust the public place in them or in the legal profession’,” says Which?.

“And that they ‘used their position as solicitors to take or attempt to take unfair advantage of other persons being recipients of letters of claim either for their own benefit or for the benefit of their clients’.”

It’s nice to know consumers will finally get to have their complaints heard, but as Which? points out, it’s a shame the process has taken this long with as of yet no real end is in sight.

Davenport Lyons will join ACS: Law, another anti-P2P firm that sprang up after Davenport Lyons departure from the field, in facing the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) for “bullying” letters.

It seems there's a breed of get rich quick solicitors that have no scruples in ripping off anyone.