Solicitors could be struck off if they persistently defied new legislation on stricter controls of advertising for personal injury claims business, the Law Society said yesterday. The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, has published the Solicitors (Amendment) Bill 1998 which prohibits advertising expressly or by implication referring to claims for damages for personal injury.
Mr O'Donoghue said the Bill was a response to doubts about the effectiveness of existing controls "as is evident in Army hearing loss cases". A spokesman said the legislation was intended to stop people being induced by solicitors to make claims.
The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, has said the bill for Army deafness claims could reach £1.5 billion.
Mr Ken Murphy, director-general of the Law Society, welcomed the Bill. He said the advertising complained of had helped reduce the esteem in which solicitors were held.
It was difficult to argue, Mr Murphy added, that the increase in the volume of personal injuries claims over the past 10 years could not be attributed in part to solicitors' advertising.
Mr Murphy said: "It is also difficult to prove that the introduction of solicitor advertising . . . has contributed more than any other single factor to the undoubted decline in public esteem for solicitors and the rise of the `ambulance chaser' jibe."
It would be "extreme" to strike off solicitors who advertised for personal injury claims business, according to Mr Murphy, but repeated breaches of the new regulations could be grounds for doing so.
The Labour Party spokesman on justice, Dr Pat Upton, welcomed the Bill, although he said Mr O'Donoghue should not involve himself in "solicitor-bashing".
The proposed Bill treats contravention of the advertising provision as misconduct for the purpose of the Solicitors' Act. A solicitor who makes arrangements with non-solicitors in the area of personal injuries claims will also be deemed to be guilty of misconduct. A decision to strike off a solicitor is taken by the High Court, Mr Murphy said.