By James Simons-
The Legal Service Board is under increasing pressure to disclose its involvement with the Solicitors Regulation Authority(SRA) over the Leigh Day case, after rejecting Freedom of Information Requests FOI) from a number of sources, including this publication.
The Eye Of Media.Com asked the LSB in Janauary to disclose its experience with the Solicitors Regulations Authority over the bungled case in which an excessive amount of money was spent in defending and prosecuting the failed case. However, the LSB declined our FOI request stating that the information we requested was already in the public domain and there was no public interest in disclosing it.
In its response, it stated that:
“The information in relation to Leigh Day contained in the Chief Executive’s notes and the SDT user group committee minutes is already in the public domain. It is covered by disclosures already made by the SRA, Ministry of Defence, and Ministry of Justice, as well as the SDT and High Court judgments.”
The LSB said there was no public interest in disclosing the requested information, insisting the information to already be in the public domain. However, a lawyer, whose identity we will not disclose, has since made an elaborate case to the LSB’s internal complaints, requesting the information and stating the reasons the information should be supplied . The LSB is due to consider the review by the 20th of March.
After new information was placed on the Legal Services Board website and tracker yesterday, March 18th, in which board minutes expressing a request by the LSB to the SRA to share any lessons learnt with the LSB, and the public, a fresh Freedom Of Information Request has been sent to the LSB to disclose the contents of those minutes.
The board minutes and action tracker appeared on the LSB’s website yesterday, despite the LSB’s action tracker being dated 21 February, 2019. The board minutes and action tracker reads:
“A short discussion on the SRA and the Leigh Day case took place. It was agreed that, in relation to the LSB’s role as the oversight regulator, the area for potential further exploration with the SRA was its decision to appeal the decision of the independent tribunal. It was noted that the Chief Executive intended to request that the SRA share its lessons learned from this case with the LSB.”
The LSB’s “action tracker” dated 21 February 2019 states:
“CEO to discuss with SRA lessons learned from the Leigh Day case…CLOSED: NB met with SRA CEO on 19 Feb to discuss lessons learned from the recent Leigh Day litigation. NB will provide an oral update at the meeting as part of the CEO update.”
This publication has asked the LSB to disclose:
1. A copy of any minutes, notes or other recors of the meeting between Mr Buckley and Mr Philip on 19 February 2019.
2. A copy of any documents or other material which formed the basis for the discussions which took place at that meeting.
3. A copy of any document which sets out the “lessons learned” from the Leigh Day case
It will look really bad on the credibility of the LSB, if they continue to insist to decline Freedom Of Information Requests by providing inexcusable reasons.