CLAIMS AMOUNTING to €13.5 million against the Solicitors' Compensation Fund were received by the Law Society in the seven months up to the end of July, most of them relating to the practices of disgraced solicitors Michael Lynn and Thomas Byrne.
However, it is too early to say how much of these will have to be paid out, according to the chairman of the society's regulation of practice committee John O'Connor. The total sum paid from the fund in 2007 was €4.2 million, of which €4 million was paid to clients of Mr Lynn and Mr Byrne.
The figure for claims is published in the current issue of the Law Society Gazette in an article by Mr O'Connor. After provision for all claims, the assets of the fund were valued at €15 million at the end of July; the society also has insurance cover for €30 million.
The fund was set up under statute, and compensates clients who are victims of the dishonesty of solicitors. It is funded by a levy on all practising solicitors who are members of the Law Society.
Mr O'Connor stresses that the fund is not for compensating negligence. Victims of negligence should process their claims through the courts.
There is a statutory limit of €700,000 on payments, though the Regulation of Practice committee has discretion to increase it if "grave hardship" would be caused by not doing so.
Only clients are eligible to make claims, not others, such as banks, who have dealt with the solicitor in another capacity. Anyone seeking to make a claim must do so to the Law Society within three months of discovering their loss.
The high level of claims comes after a year in which the total number doubled. There were 415 claims on the fund in 2007, compared with 216 in 2006, according to the society's annual report.