Solicitor - Major Data Protection Breach

[wkdlass123]

In a court hearing my solicitor was ordered by the court to prepare the bundle for the next hearing. Despite being assured I was eligible for Legal Aid, this was later revoked as I was not pass the financial means (a whole other complaint). 3 days before the court bundle was due to be given to the court the solicitor emailed me saying I must immediately collect the 1 bundle she had prepared and get it copied 4 times and lodge with the court (3000+ pages). This is despite it being ordered as her obligation. I was furious with this however did as I was told. In court there was confusion from the Judges as to how the bundles had come to be as neither of us were represented. When they found out the Solicitor gave me the document, which contained a police disclosure detailing violence, witness statements etc between my ex and his wife, all hell broke lose. I then revealed to them that I had also been sent electronic copies of the police disclosure on 2 occasions via email. The Solicitor emailed it when she got it and I read it believing I must be able to have it. I did later find out my ex was not allowed a copy, however assumed this was in case it caused him to become violent to his ex over her disclosures.I was told by the court usher that the matter was a serious data protection breach and my solicitor was going to lose her job over it. My ex hasn't been allowed access to the disclosure despite requesting it from the Judges. Going forward I do not know what to do. I was told by Judges that I must complain about the whole situation, including that I was never given any fees to prepare me in case Legal Aid was not granted - all I know is the current amount outstanding. They also put me in a highly vulnerable position having that document in my possession. It has been ordered in the court papers that I must return the 1 paper copy of the police disclosure that was handed to me by the solicitor, and delete all material references which were sent to me electronically. The Judges fully acknowledged that I had seen the document through no fault of my own and that when i was emailed it i was told to read it, we discussed some content via email and then she arranged a telephone call for us to go through it in detail. The doc contained highly distressing details for serious accusations and I had to seek counselling for this after as it was almost identical to the abuse I suffered when i was with him. Some advice would be much appreciated!

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I'm not really sure what you are seeking advice on? You don't know what to do about what?

The judge has given very clear directions. Follow them.

I would be concerned there is sufficient detail in this email for it to be identifying.

I would comply with the court orders to destroy the papers, and seek advice from the court who you should complain to.

I am not a lawyer though. It sounds like a nightmare.

I don't think you need to worry about anything?

You haven't done anything wrong. And everyone panics about data protection but in this case I don't think the iCo would take action and I doubt the solicitor will lose their job.

Thanks for your replies. I am concerned that the solicitors placed me in this extremely vulnerable position, having to take it to a printers who may be able to pull the docs off their memory too. They were more concerned about delegating their legal obligations to place them onto me without permission of the court and have now left me in a situation where if I do not comply with returning/deleting the docs then I will be placed in contempt of court. I will of course be doing as I have been told however I shouldn't be in this position in the first place. I was assured a job would be lost as the content of the document was distressing and detailed serious crimes between my ex and his current partner which the court did not give permission to be given to me. Not only this but their incompetence has placed me in a vulnerable financial position by saying I was eligible for legal aid when I wasn't, not advising of any of their fees as they were that confident and now I have to pay £2000. I am sure they must have had to advise on their fees before acting on my behalf

Do as the court has ordered - return the documents and destroy anything you have received electronically. Unless they are specifically mentioned in the court order you don't need to worry about the printers. They are not your concern. But you should complain to a senior partner at the solicitor's firm.

You could ask the printer to be doubly sure material is deleted. I am sure they should not retain it anyway.

You surely can only comply with deleting to the best of your ability.

The other issue seems to be that you do not have reliable and suitable representation now, but are still left with a £2k bill regardless? Did the judge mean complain to the solicitors? Or is there a body which regulates solicitors? In which case there may be some room to ask for the bill to be reduced given what had happened?

Thanks for your reply. Yes I am no longer legally represented and still have a £2k bill. To me their actions on deciding to stop representing me were inexcusable. They refused to wait a few extra days for legal aid to give me an appeal decision. The solicitor emailed me clearly telling me that they do not want to incur the bundle cost so were pulling out and leaving it to me instead. They said I needed to immediately sign an attached doc and email it to the court saying they were no longer representing me. They were cut throat! I'm not sure who the Judge wanted me to complain to. They also failed to apply for a non molestation order leaving myself and son vulnerable. They knew from the start of the proceedings and I trusted it was being dealt with. It hasn't been and I have no non mol. I've now been told that I need to apply for a non molestation order and it isn't granted as part of my exes application for visitation...i was not told this by my solicitor. On top of that I sent my solicitor a statement from another ex of my former partner detailing his abuse to her. She gave permission to use her name and my solicitor informed me that the girl was a daughter of one of her friends.

They weren't going to get paid by Legal Aid as soon as it became known that you were financially ineligible. What did you expect them to do other than stop acting for you?

That’s horrendous.

Complain to the partner, legal ombudsman and SRA.

Could you phone the court, tell them the judge ordered you to complain and ask who it is that you must complain to? Explain it was all a shock and so unexpected that you just weren't thinking clearly and didn't think to clarify at the time.

I would expect them to discuss payment terms and conditions Collaborate, advise the client properly, and not pass on confidential information.

Thanks for your replies. I wasn't ordered to complain- I was advised to complain for the issues I have incurred. The Judges delayed our hearing for 3 hours whilst they made their own complaints to the firm over the data protection breach and for delegating their obligation to file the bundles to me. I understand that they would not want to represent someone who wasn't paying however I did ask on numerous occasions for ideas on fees and to make a payment arrangement but I was told to wait for the appeal decision before they would give this info. They stopped acting for me without the option of making any alternative payment arrangements. I asked a few times how much a barrister would be to represent me at the hearing on Friday and they wouldn't disclose it (my solicitor was on holiday for the last 2 weeks). I also have an email from my Solicitor confirming that there was a debate in-house as to the bundles as some were saying to give the bundle to me and others were contesting that giving me the bundle would be a data protection breach. Saying this all ... I'm starting to wonder if they purposely didn't want me to have a barrister...

@KTara It doesn’t work like that. A client is often taken on under an emergency legal aid certificate, which is limited to a particular initial hearing. Sounds like OP had one of these. Meantime the LSC undertakes the financial assessment. If she passes she’ll get LA and the solicitor can, thereafter, start work again for which they will be paid. Any work done between the initial hearing and the passing of the financial assessment is unpaid. A solicitor is entitled to do no work on a file if they will not be paid.

If the client does not qualify on financial grounds the LA certificate will be revoked. The solicitor will therefore definitely not be paid.

It is highly likely that a client who applies for LA will not be able to pay a solicitor privately. OP does not say whether payment terms were discussed, but I’m not sure what terms you think a solicitor must offer beyond “it will cost £x, and you need to make payment in advance”. So let’s just assume that it was clear to the solicitor that OP couldn’t afford to pay.

I haven’t commented on the question of the disclosure of the police reports, which is clearly a problem for the solicitor.

Cross post with OP , but I’d expect the solicitor to need paying upfront for the cost of the hearing. For a 1 day hearing a junior barrister is going to cost no less than £1,000 plus vat.

Solicitors are regulated by the solicitors regulation authority (SRA). However as part of the regulations solicitors have to have clear complaint processes. Usually these are provided when you first register often in a welcome letter where it’s says who is dealing with your matter etc. Otherwise likely to be on their website. If not complain to the partner responsible. Then if unsatisfied escalate to the SRA. I also expect the SRA website will have guidance on how to complain.

www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems.page

There you go - the SRA link. Follow that and the courts orders.

Why was your solicitor in possession of material you weren't allowed to see? That puts a solicitor in an impossible position.

Also your solicitor will be paid by the LAA for work covered by the certificate ul to revocation. It is up to the LAA to recover those costs from you.

Anything they did outside the terms of the certificate they can whistle for.

@MrsBertBibby When police disclosure is given it is provided by the police on the basis of strict undertakings by the solicitors not to give their client a copy. They may discuss the contents of the report with the client, and show them a copy, but cannot give them a copy.

It seems like OP's solicitor might be in trouble over this, but that doesn't affect how OP has been represented.

I was given a physical copy and sent an electronic copy on 2 occassions. I have an email 2 hours after I got the physical copy from the solicitor saying that colleagues have told her clients should never be given copies. Instead of asking to return it she asked me not to let it out of my site. It was court ordered for her to complete the bundle and the Judge told me this should not have been then delegated to me. I also have an email confirming she was aware of my request for a non mol but an application was not filed...she never instructed these needed a separate application (which I would have been eligible for through legal aid as I had a Marac letter so the financial threshold would have been removed). I thought that saying in my C1A that I wanted a non mol was enough for it then to be part of these proceedings. She confirmed it was an application within the section 8... so I thought it was applied for and would be dealt for. Judge confirmed Friday you can only get a non mol through completion of a specific application... solicitor should have advised this?

The suggestion appeared to be that the police disclosure was not to be shown to one or both parties. Rather than just restricted access to copies.

And since the father was presumably already unrepresented then who would go through the disclosure with him? How could it be in the bundle at all?

@MrsBertBibby I've never come across this situation in practice but I'd imagine that cafcass would go through it with any LiP.

@MrsBertBibby I've never come across this situation in practice but I'd imagine that cafcass would go through it with any LiP.

I should imagine CAFCASS management would pour very cold water over such a suggestion. Not included in their service agreement. And it puts them in a very invidious position. Are they allowed to record and share the LIP's responses? Are they indeed obliged to. Are they at risk of being put in a position to advise?

Unworkable imo.

Don’t CAFCASS now have to apply for police disclosure where both parties are unrepresented? Would be a logical extension of that would it not?