Authorities are currently investigating the abrupt downfall of a long-established Scottish law firm following grievances relayed by their former clients.
McClure Solicitors maintained branches throughout Scotland and the northern region of England until a sudden halt in operations in April 2021.
All case handling that the firm was responsible for was transitioned at the time to solicitors based in Glasgow, known as Jones Whyte.
A group of advocates, known as Victims of McClure Solicitors, has warned that clients are now facing challenging circumstances after being encouraged to transfer their properties into family protection trusts.
The advocacy group approximates that nearly 100,000 people throughout the UK established trusts through McClure over a time spam of 20 years, costing roughly £120 million.
Consequently, a number of these individuals were left to grapple with hefty bills as they attempted to manage the aftermath of their legal issues.
Clients initially paid a one-time fee to set up the trusts but are now burdened with additional costs to resolve their entanglement in them.
Mike Pilbeam, one of the co-founders of the advocacy group, revealed that trying to sell the family homes proved to be an impossible task as they were held in trust.
Police Scotland is currently evaluating a compilation of evidence submitted by a legal representative of the action group recently.
Pilbeam expressed, “Our group spans the entire United Kingdom, from the top of Scotland to the southern region of England.
“All of them are ordinary individuals who have worked throughout their lives, and reached a stage when they sought to secure their limited assets for the well-being of their children and grandchildren.”
“They solicited advice from McClure in complete faith – whether it was to create family protection trusts, draft wills, lasting power of attorney, or other legal matters.”
“Some no longer live while many others who are uninformed probably wouldn’t know of this ordeal unless they are adequately informed by those who should’ve alerted them from the beginning.”
“McClure pledged to carry out all such operations based on a one-off fee to set up the wills, trusts and handle the continual management related to the work they were under contract for.”
Greenock and Inverclyde MSP Stuart McMillan addressed the issue of McClure Solicitors at two public briefings earlier this year.
“They’ve already invested thousands of pounds in some cases, on faulty documentation and are now asked to spend more money to set matters right,” he said.
The SNP MSP is seeking a formal inquiry into the downfall of the firm in the long run but emphasized that aiding individual victims should be the first priority.
In a public statement, the previous managing director, Andrew Robertson, vehemently denied any allegations of fraud or criminal activities and attributed the downfall of McClure to the global pandemic.
“We reject any allegations of illegal activities or fraudulent behavior and have reached out to Police Scotland to request more details in reference to the meeting with the action group,” he stated.
“We maintain our stance that the firm operated legally, in good faith, and in compliance with all professional guidelines and norms.”
Quoting a spokesperson from Police Scotland, “Officers attended a meeting with representatives of the action group on February 9. An assessment of the correspondence and the gathered information is currently underway.”
