The Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal (SSDT) is a specialist

tribunal A tribunal, generally, is any person or institution with authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title. For example, an advocate who appears before a court with a s ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

with jurisdiction over serious disciplinary issues within the solicitor profession in

History

The Tribunal was established by section 50 of the

Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980 A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

Remit and jurisdiction

Professional misconduct jurisdiction

Complaints regarding solicitors in Scotland are initially made to the

Scottish Legal Complaints Commission The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) ( gd, Coimisean Ghearanan Laghail na h-Alba) is a non-departmental public body responsible dealing with unresolved complaints against legal practitioners operating in Scotland. It was established un ...

. The Commission then sifts those complaints and determines if they are ''service-related'' (in which case the SLCC has jurisdiction) or ''conduct-related''. If complaints are related to the conduct of a solicitor the complaints are referred to the

Law Society of Scotland The Law Society of Scotland is the professional governing body for Scottish solicitors. It promotes excellence among solicitors through the support and regulation of its members. It also promotes the interests of the public in relation to the ...

, whose Council can determine if the complaint relates to unsatisfactory conduct (which the Law Society deals with internally) or

professional misconduct Professional ethics encompass the personal and corporate standards of behavior expected of professionals. The word professionalism originally applied to vows of a religious order. By no later than the year 1675, the term had seen secular applic ...

which is then prosecuted before the Tribunal. Should the Tribunal determine that a case relates to unsatisfactory conduct then the case is referred to the Law Society.

Section 53(1)(b) Complaint

A Section 53(1)(b) complaint is a complaint that a solicitor has been convicted by a court in an act involving dishonesty, fined in amount equivalent to level 4 on the standard scale, or sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 12 months or more.

Appellate jurisdiction

The Tribunal deals with the following appeals: * Applications for restoration to the Roll of Solicitors and Applications for Removal of a Restriction on a practising certificate * Appeals by solicitors / lay complainers against findings / failure to make findings of unsatisfactory professional conduct. In relation to Section 42ZA Appeal, the Tribunal can: # Quash or Confirm the Determination of the Law Society. # Quash the Censure accompanying the Determination. # Quash/Confirm/Vary the Direction being appealed against. # Order retraining of the solicitor. # Impose a Fine not exceeding £2,000. # Order compensation to be paid to the lay complainer not exceeding £5,000.

Penalties

In relation to professional misconduct complaints, the Tribunal can: # Censure. # Impose a Fine of up to £10,000. # Impose a Restriction on a Solicitor’s practising certificate. # Suspend the Solicitor for a period of time. # Strike the Solicitor’s name from the Roll of Solicitors in Scotland. # If the Tribunal considers that the Secondary Complainer has been directly affected by the misconduct, the Tribunal has power to direct the solicitor to pay compensation of such amount not exceeding £5,000 as the Tribunal may specify for any loss, inconvenience or distress resulting from the misconduct.

Rules

The Tribunal operates under a set of rules which must be approved by the

Lord President of the Court of Session The Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General is the most senior judge in Scotland, the head of the judiciary, and the presiding judge of the College of Justice, the Court of Session, and the High Court of Justiciary. T ...

. As of May 2018, the Tribunal operated under the Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal Rules 2008, which came into effect on 1 October 2008.

Tribunal

The Tribunal consists of two solicitors (who cannot be members of the governing body of the Law Society of Scotland, the Council of the Law Society of Scotland) and two lay members who are drawn from all walks of life. All members are appointed by the Lord President of the Court of Session.

Solicitor Members

The present Solicitor members of the Tribunal are: * Colin Bell (Chair) * Catherine Hart (Vice Chair) * Beverley Atkinson (Vice Chair) * Benjamin Kemp (Vice Chair) * Kenneth Paterson (Vice Chair) * Chris Mackay * David Dickson * Tom Hempleman * Sally Swinney * Deborah Lovell * Vincent McGovern * Mark Hastings

Lay Members

The present lay members of the Tribunal are: * Professor Kay Hampton * Martin Saville * Julius Erolin * Paul Hindley * Dr Kenneth Mitchell * Ian Shearer * Edward Egan * John Duffy * Christine Pacitti * Paula Charlesworth * Dozie Azubike * Douglas Cochrane

References

{{CourtsScotland2 Legal organisations based in Scotland 1980 establishments in Scotland Courts and tribunals established in 1980