Posted: 14th Jul, 2011 By: MarkJ

The UK
Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) has finally published the full details of its
Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) charges against
Andrew Crossley (
150435), the boss of a now notoriously defunct law firm ( ACS:Law ) that sent "
bullying" letters to those accused of having abused their broadband ISP connections for "
illegal"
internet copyright infringement (piracy).
The SRA charges, which were originally brought on 18th August 2010 but have only now been published, claim that Crossley "
acted without integrity" while attempting to
extort money from those it threatened in order to "
take unfair advantage". ACS:Law is known to have
sent thousands of letters, many of which
demanded big settlement payments of several hundred pounds (e.g. £500) and often used unreliable IP address based evidence.
The SRA Charges vs Andrew Crossley (ACS:Law)This notification relates to a Decision to prosecute before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. This is an independent Tribunal which will reach its own decision after considering all the evidence, including any evidence put forward by the Solicitor. The Tribunal has certified that there is a case to answer in respect of allegations which are or include that he :-
1) Allowed his independence to be compromised
2) Acted contrary to the best interests of his clients
3) Acted in a way that was likely to diminish the trust the public places in him or in the legal profession
4) Entered into arrangements to receive contingency fees for work done in prosecuting or defending contentious proceedings before the Courts of England and Wales except as permitted by statute or the common law
5) Acted where there was a conflict of interest in circumstances not permitted, in particular because there was a conflict with those of his clients
6) Used his position as a Solicitor to take or attempt to take unfair advantage of other persons being recipients of letters of claim either for his own benefit or for the benefit of his clients.
7) Acted without integrity in that he provided false information in statements made to the Court.
The allegations are subject to a Hearing before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal and are as yet unproven.
An
SDT hearing is now set to take place in open court, save for in the most exceptional of circumstances, during October 2011. The judgement will then be published on the SDT website. Meanwhile we're still awaiting the outcome of
Ralli's £90,000 Wasted Costs claim against ACS:Law, which followed Crossley's spectacularly
failed attempt to sue 27 individuals earlier this year (
here).
The situation has since been made more complicated because Crossley was officially
declared bankrupt by the
London High Court on 20th May 2011 (
here), which has already allowed him to escape payment of a meagre data security fine from the governments
Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). At least he still manages to live in a mansion. Credits to PC Pro for spotting the SRA charges first.