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Anyone who is using a barrister should see how the Bar Standards Board identify negligence by their regulated barristers and the actions they take when barristers have broken the Bar Standards Board Code of Conduct. This is an email I sent to the Head of the Bar Standards Board and the reply I received.
Dr Vanessa Davies
Director General
Bar Standards Board
Dear Madam,
I would like to bring to your attention an episode where I believe members of your assessment team namely (assessor) and (head assessor) took steps to cover up serious negligence, misconduct and fraud perpetrated by legal professionals most notably, a barrister instructed as my defence counsel, namely (barrister).
A brief explanation of the claim made against me was that a business in which I had invested a huge sum took me to court on allegations which were totally, utterly and completely fabricated. They then manufactured fake evidence, witnesses colluded together to concoct falsified witness statements and they claimed for a loss which they did not incur. It was further admitted that the motivation for the litigation was to pressurise me to transfer to the claimant company’s director my shareholding in the company without him having to pay for it.
I decided to fight the allegations based on evidence however my own legal team headed by (name removed) appeared to be complicit with the fraudulent claim. They obtained from me fees in excess of £39,000 on the false pretence of presenting my defence to the court.
(barrister) discarded my instructions without carrying them out, he wrongly told me that legal avenues to fight the false accusations were not available, he withheld from the court evidence crucial to my defence and used every available opportunity to dupe the judge and the court into believing the claimant had a legitimate claim and that I did not have a credible defence.
At a court hearing, (barrister) entered into a private meeting with the judge and successfully duped the judge into believing the claimant had a legitimate claim and that I was culpable when he knew that this was the polar opposite of the truth. He then duped me into believing I would lose the case based on a point of law which he said had been introduced by the trial judge and as a result of this I conceded and transferred valuable shares to the claimant company’s director.
I have since discovered that the point of law which (barrister) invoked to force me to concede not only does not exist but at the time he told me, he knew that it did not.
The only explanation I can find for (barrister)‘s handling of my defence was that he betrayed his position of trust and played the pivotal role in a massive fraud perpetrated against me.
The case was investigated by the Bar Standards Board firstly by (assessor). Her explanation was “I am satisfied there are no issues of misconduct” however she did not make any attempt to justify her findings. I then tried to contact (assessor) to ask how she came to her conclusions only to find she no longer worked there.
I then asked (head assessor) to explain. I gave him a list of scenarios and asked him to determine which of the examples could be regarded as negligence or misconduct and which could not. (head assessor) described the process of doing this as “simply not possible”.
It is clear that if (head assessor) is not able to identify negligence by a barrister, he is either in the wrong profession or his brief is to turn a blind eye.
If there is anyone in the Bar Standards Board who will take my complaint seriously or if anyone can find a reasonable explanation for (barrister)'s actions, I would be pleased to discuss it further.
Yours faithfully,
Thank you for your email.
You have raised concerns that (Assessor) and (Head Assessor) took steps to cover up serious negligence, misconduct and fraud perpetrated by a barrister who acted for you, (barrister).
(Assessor) and (Head Assessor) no longer work for the Bar Standards Board. However, your file has been reviewed I am afraid that there is no evidence that (Assessor) or (Head Assessor) took any steps to cover up serious negligence, misconduct or fraud on the part of (name removed).
You originally contacted the Bar Standards Board around October 2014. This was to complain about (barrister). The BSB complaints regulations hold that the BSB can only consider complaints made by clients of barristers, if the Legal Ombudsman has referred the complaint to us. In your case, I can see that the Legal Ombudsman did not refer the complaint back to us. However, after you contacted us, we requested the file from the Ombudsman to see if yours was a complaint that should have been referred to the BSB. Firstly, (Assessor), and then, (Head Assessor) reviewed the file. Both concluded that your complaint was not one that should have been referred to the BSB.
With regards to (Head Assessor)’s refusal to take you through scenarios that could amount to misconduct or negligence, the Assessment Team is not able to advise on or give an indication of what amounts to misconduct or negligence. The Assessment Team’s role is to assess complaints and information that is provided to the BSB, they cannot offer advice on specific scenarios.
While I appreciate that you feel strongly about your complaint, I am afraid that there is not any further action we can take.
Yours sincerely
Vanessa Davies
The way the BSB handle complaints about barristers is that they will not advise you as to what is negligence or misconduct and what is not. If you then ask specifically if something is negligence or misconduct , the answer is "it's simply not possible" to tell. They then decide that whatever the barrister did, even if it is in absolute breach of the BSB code of conduct, no action will be taken.
It is important to let people know that if they have reason to complain about a barrister and you believe the Bar Standards Board are there to protect you from corrupt barristers, you are wrong.
Dr Vanessa Davies
Director General
Bar Standards Board
Dear Madam,
I would like to bring to your attention an episode where I believe members of your assessment team namely (assessor) and (head assessor) took steps to cover up serious negligence, misconduct and fraud perpetrated by legal professionals most notably, a barrister instructed as my defence counsel, namely (barrister).
A brief explanation of the claim made against me was that a business in which I had invested a huge sum took me to court on allegations which were totally, utterly and completely fabricated. They then manufactured fake evidence, witnesses colluded together to concoct falsified witness statements and they claimed for a loss which they did not incur. It was further admitted that the motivation for the litigation was to pressurise me to transfer to the claimant company’s director my shareholding in the company without him having to pay for it.
I decided to fight the allegations based on evidence however my own legal team headed by (name removed) appeared to be complicit with the fraudulent claim. They obtained from me fees in excess of £39,000 on the false pretence of presenting my defence to the court.
(barrister) discarded my instructions without carrying them out, he wrongly told me that legal avenues to fight the false accusations were not available, he withheld from the court evidence crucial to my defence and used every available opportunity to dupe the judge and the court into believing the claimant had a legitimate claim and that I did not have a credible defence.
At a court hearing, (barrister) entered into a private meeting with the judge and successfully duped the judge into believing the claimant had a legitimate claim and that I was culpable when he knew that this was the polar opposite of the truth. He then duped me into believing I would lose the case based on a point of law which he said had been introduced by the trial judge and as a result of this I conceded and transferred valuable shares to the claimant company’s director.
I have since discovered that the point of law which (barrister) invoked to force me to concede not only does not exist but at the time he told me, he knew that it did not.
The only explanation I can find for (barrister)‘s handling of my defence was that he betrayed his position of trust and played the pivotal role in a massive fraud perpetrated against me.
The case was investigated by the Bar Standards Board firstly by (assessor). Her explanation was “I am satisfied there are no issues of misconduct” however she did not make any attempt to justify her findings. I then tried to contact (assessor) to ask how she came to her conclusions only to find she no longer worked there.
I then asked (head assessor) to explain. I gave him a list of scenarios and asked him to determine which of the examples could be regarded as negligence or misconduct and which could not. (head assessor) described the process of doing this as “simply not possible”.
It is clear that if (head assessor) is not able to identify negligence by a barrister, he is either in the wrong profession or his brief is to turn a blind eye.
If there is anyone in the Bar Standards Board who will take my complaint seriously or if anyone can find a reasonable explanation for (barrister)'s actions, I would be pleased to discuss it further.
Yours faithfully,
Thank you for your email.
You have raised concerns that (Assessor) and (Head Assessor) took steps to cover up serious negligence, misconduct and fraud perpetrated by a barrister who acted for you, (barrister).
(Assessor) and (Head Assessor) no longer work for the Bar Standards Board. However, your file has been reviewed I am afraid that there is no evidence that (Assessor) or (Head Assessor) took any steps to cover up serious negligence, misconduct or fraud on the part of (name removed).
You originally contacted the Bar Standards Board around October 2014. This was to complain about (barrister). The BSB complaints regulations hold that the BSB can only consider complaints made by clients of barristers, if the Legal Ombudsman has referred the complaint to us. In your case, I can see that the Legal Ombudsman did not refer the complaint back to us. However, after you contacted us, we requested the file from the Ombudsman to see if yours was a complaint that should have been referred to the BSB. Firstly, (Assessor), and then, (Head Assessor) reviewed the file. Both concluded that your complaint was not one that should have been referred to the BSB.
With regards to (Head Assessor)’s refusal to take you through scenarios that could amount to misconduct or negligence, the Assessment Team is not able to advise on or give an indication of what amounts to misconduct or negligence. The Assessment Team’s role is to assess complaints and information that is provided to the BSB, they cannot offer advice on specific scenarios.
While I appreciate that you feel strongly about your complaint, I am afraid that there is not any further action we can take.
Yours sincerely
Vanessa Davies
The way the BSB handle complaints about barristers is that they will not advise you as to what is negligence or misconduct and what is not. If you then ask specifically if something is negligence or misconduct , the answer is "it's simply not possible" to tell. They then decide that whatever the barrister did, even if it is in absolute breach of the BSB code of conduct, no action will be taken.
It is important to let people know that if they have reason to complain about a barrister and you believe the Bar Standards Board are there to protect you from corrupt barristers, you are wrong.
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