Authors:LAG
Created:2017-07-01
Last updated:2023-09-18
Leigh Day solicitors cleared by SDT
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Administrator
Three solicitors at human rights firm Leigh Day, and the firm itself, have been cleared of misconduct charges by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.
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Description: jul2017-p04-01
Co-founder Martyn Day (pictured), partner Sapna Malik and solicitor Anna Crowther had been facing 47 charges of misconduct arising out of their handling of cases involving British soldiers and allegations that the soldiers had tortured and murdered Iraqi detainees in the aftermath of the Battle of Danny Boy in 2004 (see June 2017 Legal Action 4). Day told Legal Action that he was ‘very pleased that the tribunal has cleared us of all the misconduct charges and am delighted to be able to get back to doing my normal work’.
Day said they were ‘fortunate in being able to appoint the excellent Patricia Robertson QC to head the legal team in our case and just as fortunate we had the insurance cover to pay for that team’. The proceedings had taken over a year and racked up costs of £7.5m for the firm. Leigh Day, in addition to professional negligence insurance, had a policy to cover the directors of the firm. As Day explained to Legal Action: ‘Perhaps the single most important message for other solicitors from this process is get out your insurance policies and make sure you have cover just in case the regulator knocks on your door.’
Phil Shiner, who founded the firm Public Interest Lawyers (PIL) in 1999, had also been accused of misconduct arising out of the same claims against the British army that had led to the al-Sweady inquiry. The inquiry ground to a halt in 2014 after finding that the allegations of murder against the troops were ‘wholly without foundation’. Shiner admitted most of the allegations against him and was struck off the solicitor roll in February this year (see March 2017 Legal Action 5). PIL was forced to close in August 2016 after the Legal Aid Agency withdrew its contracts having received information from the Solicitors Regulation Authority.