National Panel Appointment For Foot Anstey
Leading South West law firm Foot Anstey has won a competitive tender to gain a place on the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) panel of firms who intervene in other solicitors’ practices where there is a serious risk to clients.
Foot Anstey is one of only twenty four firms across the UK to make it on to the SRA Intervention Agents approved panel. The contract award sees Foot Anstey re-appointed by the SRA after winning the previous tender and undertaking some significant work in recent years.
Intervention into a solicitors’ practice is designed to protect clients’ interests and money and has the effect of immediately closing the practice. The new three year appointment means that Foot Anstey will be appointed, when required, to act on behalf of the SRA on Interventions in removing and scheduling client papers and distributing them in accordance with clients’ instructions, as well as dealing with urgent client matters, such as completing property purchases and injunctions. Agents, such as Foot Anstey, are appointed to examine, rectify and verify the accounting records of the intervened firm and attempt to distribute the client account monies on the basis of those records where it is possible to do so.
Angus McNicol, Financial and Commercial Disputes Partner at Foot Anstey said: “This new appointment recognises our sound track record in carrying out this vital and very specialist area of work and we look forward to continuing working with the SRA in their ongoing process of ensuring that clients are fully protected when solicitors’ practices have to be closed down for any reason.”
SRA Chief Executive Antony Townsend said: "We actively encouraged applications from all parts of the legal community and we were very pleased with the number and quality of responses. We have an excellent panel in place to help us with interventions, which are a key means of protecting the public.”
Published 02/07/2009
