When you solicitor disappears overnight

Tens of thousands of people trusted PM Law Group with their house purchases, their inheritance, their personal injury claims, their life savings.

On 2 February, the firm vanished overnight. Doors locked. IT systems shut down. 750 staff told not to come in. Handwritten signs in office windows.

The SRA is now investigating potential fraud and the misappropriation of client money. Police are involved. The Compensation Fund that every solicitor in England and Wales pays into is about to take another enormous hit.

This is not the first time. Axiom Ince. Metamorph. SSB Law. XYZ Law. The pattern is the same every time: accumulator firms grow unchecked, the regulator reacts too late, and ordinary people pay the price.

I have written a detailed piece looking at what happened, who has been affected, what questions need answering, and which other business models across the legal sector are now at risk, from volume conveyancing firms dependent on client account interest to the consultant fee share model that is growing faster than anyone is supervising it.

The legal profession keeps promising to learn lessons. The public keeps waiting. 

Read the article here:

 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-your-solicitor-vanishes-overnight-david-pett-ygyue