Cooper: Baseless allegations
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) has dismissed allegations of misconduct against two high-profile solicitors over their handling of volume financial mis-selling claims.
It also ordered the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) to pay £30,000 in costs, even though costs do not follow the event before the tribunal.
The allegations were made against Craig Cooper, managing director of Manchester firm Barings Law, which is very active in high-volume consumer and commercial claims, and his one-time fellow director Erich Kurtz, who is now a senior associate at Hugh James and heavily involved in acting for former clients of SSB Law.
The reasons for the SDT’s decision, which came on the fourth day of a scheduled seven-day hearing, will be published in a few weeks’ time.
The pair were alleged to have made misleading statement to clients/potential clients over making claims relating to mis-sold personal loans by payday lenders for six months in 2018.
They were also accused of not properly assessing the cases and then failing to obtain clients’ informed consent to submit their complaints and/or claims.
Mr Cooper was further charged with received payment of £230,500 into the firm’s client account in 2018 without having carried out adequate client due diligence.
Mr Cooper said: “The allegations against myself have not only been baseless but represent an egregious waste of time and resources
“Furthermore, the tribunal’s decision to award costs in our favour underscores the absence of merit in the SRA’s accusations and reflects a serious lapse in regulatory focus and accountability.
“While we understand the SRA’s challenging role and have always worked cooperatively, we believe more resources should be allocated to vetting accusations before they reach the SDT.”
Mr Cooper added that Barings Law “continue to demonstrate what is needed to efficiently manage high-volume claims. We also maintain regular communication with the SRA to keep them informed about our latest innovations”.
The tribunal does not necessarily award costs even if prosecutions are unsuccessful on the basis that the SRA regulates in the public interest.
But here it awarded the SRA to pay Mr Cooper £20,000 and Mr Kurtz £10,000.
We have approached Mr Kurtz for comment.
The SRA said it would not comment until receiving the full ruling.
Yesterday, SRA chief executive Paul Philip wrote on Legal Futures about its concerns over the conduct of volume litigation.
In 2020, Barings Law acted for the 12 claimants in a High Court test case against Elevate Credit International (t/a Sunny), which held that Sunny breached the requirements of the Consumer Credit Sourcebook by granting loans without adequate assessment of their borrowers’ circumstances.
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