The High Court has dismissed an attempt by the Legal Services Commission to recover more than £100,000 of payments on account (PoA) to a barrister, ruling that the LSC’s delay of almost 20 years in starting the action was an abuse of process.

The LSC had sought to recoup £109,064 that it said had been overpaid to Aisha Henthorn in relation to 15 cases between 1987 and 2000.

It issued proceedings to recover the alleged overpayments against the now 72-year-old, voluntarily disbarred barrister in February 2006.

Criticising the ‘culture of delay’ that had developed at the LSC, Judge Thornton (pictured) dismissed the LSC’s claims and said that their ‘stale nature’ had ‘severely disadvantaged’ the defendant.

Thornton ruled that the claims should have been made within six years of the date that each case concluded, which is when the cause of action arose in each instance.

The judge said that the ‘leisurely regime’ operating at the LSC during the relevant years meant it did not undertake ‘any significant’ amount of checking, monitoring or verification of sums being claimed under the payments on account scheme. He said this ‘complacency’ was sanctioned by the court assessment officers, who appear to have invariably allowed detailed assessment of fees to take place out of time.

Thornton said: ‘It is undeniable that the payment on account applications submitted on behalf of [Henthorn] contained an unacceptably large number of claims where the sum being claimed was unacceptably excessive.’

But he added: ‘The evidence suggested that there was no deliberate or conscious attempt to defraud the LSC.’

The judge said the sums claimed by Henthorn were high because of the inexperience of her fees clerk, and because Henthorn herself was ‘slow and meticulous’ in her work.

An LSC spokesman said the agency was appealing the decision and therefore could not comment at this time.

Paul Ridge, a partner at London firm Bindmans who is advising a number of solicitors being pursued by the LSC for the recoupment of payments on account, said: ‘Although technical, the judgment is very welcome and well-reasoned. The LSC’s late attempts to recoup payments on account have blighted many firms and chambers. The LSC has been robustly criticised, and rightly so.’

In 2008, the Law Society submitted a maladministration complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsman in relation to late claims made by the LSC for the recoupment of payments on account. This is still being pursued by the ombudsman.

Law Society president Linda Lee said the Society is considering leave to intervene if an LSC appeal goes ahead. She said the LSC should be considering ‘suspension’ of its current enforcement policy.