ACS: Law solicitor Andrew Crossley suspended by SRA

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ACS:LAWs Andrew Crossley has been suspended for Two years and fined had costs awarded against him of over £70,000.

The lead ringmaster of a Copyright Trolls/Speculative Invoicing campaign he admitted to Six Charges levelled at him by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. (Here is a Brief History of Speculative Invoicing)

Crossley ADMITTED the following charges: (1 ,2 ,3, 4, 5, and 6, no#7 was dropped)

1) Allowed his independence to be compromised

2) Acted contrary to the best interests of his clients

3) Acted in a way that was likely to diminish the trust the public places in him or in the legal profession

4) Entered into arrangements to receive contingency fees for work done in prosecuting or defending contentious proceedings before the Courts of England and Wales except as permitted by statute or the common law

5) Acted where there was a conflict of interest in circumstances not permitted, in particular because there was a conflict with those of his clients

6) Used his position as a Solicitor to take or attempt to take unfair advantage of other persons being recipients of letters of claim either for his own benefit or for the benefit of his clients.

7) Acted without integrity in that he provided false information in statements made to the Court.

Crossley gave the Court Testimonials, like Character references from people who knew him… these included

Andrew Hopper QC

(And by Crossleys own admission,

the man who wrote the SRA Rules

)

Alistair Logan OBE

– His ex partners father!

Raymond Murphy – senior solicitor at Merriman White

(Himself subject of a SDT Tribunal)

Mark West – a barrister and recorder

Edward Parladorio

– (Terence Tsangs new employer)

David Fisher – Birchwood –

( Part of the GCB debacle)

Mark Beresford

Nicolas Underwood – “Ray Santilli – Orbital Media

Clive Windsor

Oh and Lee Bowden of Piri Ltd…

Also Crossley stated the he had been offered FIVE different positions recently but he could not take FOUR them as the firms could not get insurance, the other firm withdrew when the circumstances surrounding these issue were known.

One other snippet is that Crossley has NOT paid his £800 fine from the ICO. The Fine was £1000, but was reduced by 20% for a prompt payment, this it seems did not happen, and so he would still owe a £1000 (Maybe part of the bankruptcy)

This was Andrew Crossleys THIRD appearance before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, (First one here) (Second one here) one wonders what it would take to protect the public from a bag legal situation. The Law Society put “Solicitors from Hell” website offline, saying they would deal with bad legal situations, I have to say personally, for the now nearly THREE years I and many others have been involved fighting this corner this punishment does NOT fit the bill…..

UPDATE 1: According to “The Lawyer” Crossley claimed that his internet service provider (ISP) had been negligent, adding that he intended to sue the provider when he had more money. Good luck with that one!

UPDATE 2: Mike Wallace (Darker Enterprises) in writing at the hearing. “ACS Law has helped us significantly in the last few months, we have also seen a small increase in DVD sales. In looking through various internet forums, we’ve seen them having an effect on filesharers.” Hmmmm, treated with contempt it deserves I think is the word here!

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How wonderful that the whiter-than-white Mr Crossley should think something called Darker Enterprises is an appropriate source of endorsement at a disciplinary hearing. And yes, of course, Darker Enterprises has seen sales of its DVDs soar in major retailers and supermarkets all across the UK -- oh, wait, sorry: Darker Enterprises doesn't have access to such outlets. So one has only Darker Enterprises' word for this trading boost.

 

Well done, Andrew! You're doing as wonderful a job on rehabilitating your professional reputation as you were before you somehow, in some way, managed to lose that reputation. . .

 

* Does anyone have any information on what our illustrious ICO is doing about the absolutely massive, er, uh, £800 fine it slapped on Crossley should that fine currently be unpaid?

 

It was £800 if paid promptly but that never happend.

Probably paying it off at £5 a month as he has no assets LOL