Professional Negligence
Most of our professional negligence work includes an element of fraud. I helped a client to recover £400,000, following a cyber fraud. The defendant law firm had been acting for our client in relation to the purchase of a property. A fraudster hacked into the law firm’s computer system and intercepted emails between the law firm and our client. The fraudster (impersonating the solicitor) persuaded our client to pay the purchase money into a foreign bank account. The money was never recovered.
This was a complex professional negligence case requiring expert IT evidence as to how the fraud had occurred. This expert evidence revealed that the law firm had been on notice of a potential fraudster, since two other clients had also been targeted. Yet, the law firm failed to warn our client to be vigilant or that there was a fraudster at large.
This case was further complicated by the fact that the law firm’s insurers were insolvent and so, in order to be able to advise our client about the prospects of making a recovery, we needed to investigate whether the Financial Services Compensation Scheme would step in. Fortunately it did and the claim settled.
Our client had been faced with the total loss of her savings and the prospect of never being able to purchase a property as a result of this fraud. We were able to recover most of what she had lost which enabled her to put this incredibly stressful situation behind her.
Insurance Policy Disputes
I assisted a client whose legal expenses insurers had declined cover for a claim. Having acted for insurers on policy coverage disputes for many years, I was able to explain their decision in a way that the client understood, and ensured that he did not spend money challenging his insurers when it was a decision that unfortunately for him was sound.
Compliance – Professional Services
I was instructed to assist a professional services firm following disciplinary proceedings being brought by their regulator. One of the allegations was that they were failing to deal properly with customer and ombudsman complaints.
I reviewed their internal policies & procedures and spoke to key employees to understand the complaints process. I also reviewed their regulatory obligations in relation to complaints. This enabled me to identify where the gaps were. I then worked with the firm to design a new procedure and suggest amendments to existing documents/draft new ones as necessary. I also made recommendations in terms of staff training, internal and external communication, the appraisal process, audits and thematic reviews in relation to complaints.
Our report was present to the disciplinary panel, who were satisfied that the changes implemented by the firm would significantly reduce the likelihood of these issues arising again. As a result, the firm received a reprimand and a fine; whereas the consequences for the firm had we not undertaken this work could have been far more serious.
Fraud & Financial Crime Compliance
I helped an Electronic Money Institution with designing a process for their AML analysts to follow where there was a suspicion of criminal property in a customer’s account. This included everything from what they should say to the customer when the account was suspended, to how to decide whether to allow ‘lifestyle payments’, to how to make a report to the National Crime Agency, to how to deal with an indemnity request from an originating bank.
The client had expressed concern that a number of the Defence Against Money Laundering requests it was submitting to the National Crime Agency were being rejected because they lacked sufficient information. I therefore produced a guidance note with sample wording so that the analysts would have a template to use when making a Suspicious Activity Report. This has helped the client, as the DAML requests are not now being rejected for lack of information.
I have also advised Housing Associations on their AML obligations, including carrying out a source of wealth investigation where a Right to Acquire tenant’s deposit was being provided by an unconnected third party; and advising generally on whether internal policies are fit for purpose and the obligations of the Money Laundering Reporting Officer.
Data Protection
I have advised clients on various aspects of the GDPR, including information that must be disclosed in response to Data Subject Access Requests (and exemptions that apply); and whether a data breach had been committed when an organisation shared a client’s telephone number with another organisation.
