“Solicitors who handled sick coal miners’ government compensation claims are set to appear before courts across the country, as the first known court actions for alleged undersettlement of such claims begin to emerge.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 4th March 2010
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“The government has been overloaded with freedom of information (FoI) requests made by solicitors acting for former coal miners ahead of the first coordinated negligence action for alleged under-settlement of government compensation claims.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 18th February 2010
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“Solicitors who took millions of pounds from compensation payouts given to sick miners have lost their appeal against being struck off for misconduct.”
BBC New, 2nd December 2009
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“About 150,000 sick miners and their families are still owed £100m by solicitors who wrongly charged them for compensation claims, an MP says.”
BBC News, 13th September 2009
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Solicitors have handed back more than £1.5m to injured former miners under a new voluntary repayment scheme after wrongly deducting fees from miners’ government compensation awards – and this figure could rise further as the project rolls on, the Gazette can reveal.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 10th September 2009
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“Injured miners who successfully sued their former solicitors for under-settling coal health compensation claims have won tens of thousands of pounds in settlements, it has emerged.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 6th August 2009
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“The work that solicitors have done under the mineworkers’ compensation scheme has attracted the attention of press, parliament and the public ever since details of wrongdoing began to emerge earlier this decade. But the debate has focused on two controversies: the millions of pounds that solicitors have earned, and the deductions that some solicitors made from miners’ compensation.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 30th July 2009
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“A former television presenter who became one of Britain’s highest-earning solicitors has been struck off for ‘disgraceful’ misconduct in his handling of sick miners’ compensation claims.”
The Times, 1st May 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“Three solicitors whose deal with Arthur Scargill led their firm to slice £7.7 million from compensation awards to sick coalminers were suspended yesterday for professional misconduct.”
The Times, 18th February 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“Solicitors in South Yorkshire deliberately breached a code of conduct to collect £32m in fees from miners’ compensation claims, a tribunal ruled.”
BBC News, 17th February 2009
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“The government is spending millions of pounds in legal fees fighting the claims of sick miners in a move that lawyers say will recreate the mistakes of the past.”
The Guardian, 12th January 2009
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Arthur Scargill’s trade union was paid more than £6 million by a firm of solicitors that deducted the money from compensation awarded to sick miners for industrial disease, a tribunal was told.”
The Times, 7th January 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“Solicitors across Britain are bracing themselves for further sanctions over the coalminers’ compensation scandal that led to two lawyers being struck off for dishonesty.”
The Times, 13th December 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“A solicitor who became Britain’s richest lawyer was yesterday struck off after being found guilty of creaming millions of pounds from compensation paid to sick miners. Jim Beresford, 58, and his partner Douglas Smith, 52, were also ordered to pay substantial costs for serious professional misconduct over the handling of personal injury claims made under a compensation scheme for miners suffering coal dust-related diseases and other injuries.”
The Independent, 12th December 2008
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“A law firm that earned £141 million from a government industrial disease compensation scheme denied yesterday that it had exploited sick miners and their families.”
The Times, 20th November 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) was accused of ignoring ‘false information’ and holding a ‘biased’ investigation, as the disciplinary tribunal against the coalminers lawyer Jim Beresford continued today.”
The Lawyer, 18th November 2008
Source: www.thelawyer.com
“Britain’s highest-earning solicitor acted dishonestly and with ‘conscious impropriety’ in dealings with a mining union that led to his firm handling thousands of industrial disease compensation claims, a tribunal heard yesterday.”
The Times, 18th November 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“Two solicitors who won personal injury claims for thousands of miners have appeared before a tribunal accused of taking cuts from compensation pay-outs.”
BBC News, 17th November 2008
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Jim Beresford gained the dubious distinction of being the ‘highest-earning solicitor in Britain’ through the profits generated by his firm’s handling of miners’ compensation claims.”
The Times, 14th November 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“The legal profession faces a radical overhaul of a multimillion-pound trade in which thousands of solicitors fork out confidential payments or commission to obtain work.”
The Times, 14th November 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
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