The Law Society is set to launch legal proceedings against the owner of Solicitors from Hell, the website that blacklists law firms and solicitors.

Chancery Lane will seek two injunctions against the site and its owner Rick Kordowski: one on behalf of solicitors and firms named on the site, and a second on behalf of the wider profession.

The Society has also persuaded the Metropolitan Police to review its decision not to bring criminal charges against Kordowski, whose site allows members of the public to post potentially defamatory comments about solicitors.

Until last year, Kordowski charged a £299 fee for the removal of comments.

Chancery Lane has instructed Clerkenwell, London firm Brett Wilson to act on its behalf.

The firm will write to all firms named on the website to see if they want to be involved in the action and support it financially.

Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said Kordowski’s actions must be pursued as a criminal matter. ‘We think there is a strong case. And all his past behaviour indicates that he is not going to stop,’ he said.

Hudson said there is a ‘sufficient corpus of evidence’ to show that the truth or otherwise of assertions made on the site is not relevant to whether comments are removed.

‘It’s a thoroughly scurrilous exercise, that is not about seeking redress.

'It is doing damage to firms and harming the public interest, as people who need guidance from solicitors may be put off from seeking it,’ he said.

Hudson added: ‘It is not a question of stifling free speech or legitimate complaints about solicitors. The public can still go to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Bar Standards Board and the Legal Ombudsman.’

Around 15 libel cases involving Kordowski and Solicitors from Hell have been filed. It is understood that he has lost six and has yet to win a case.

Most recently, granting an interim injunction on behalf of Thames Valley firm Gabbitas Robins and one of its partners, Stephen Robins, Mr Justice Henriques called on the Law Society and Bar Council to ‘consider some effective response’ to the site.

In defending proceedings against him, Kordowski has claimed that his site offers a ‘service to the community’ and that there are ‘a significant number of incompetent and/or dishonest lawyers about whom the public should know’.

He has pointed out that his terms and conditions ‘make clear to those who post that they must not make defamatory and/or [malicious] comments’.

Last year, Kordowski removed the option for solicitors and firms to pay a £299 ‘administration and monitoring’ fee to remove all current and future traces of their name from his site.

Kordowski denied that there was any case for criminal proceedings against him.

He said: ‘There are many ways to have a complaint removed from SFH. The preferred would be for the solicitor to make amends with the author.

'The solicitor can communicate with me and exonerate themselves with evidence.

'The solicitor is offered a mediation service where I add my suggestions or observations to each party. All of these methods are without charge and have resulted [in] many published complaints being removed.’

Hudson said that the Society has previously taken action against the site.

It has made formal complaints to the Metropolitan Police and the Data Protection Commissioner, and provided financial support to firms applying for injunctions.

He said: ‘The problem that confronts us is that we are concerned not to give the oxygen of publicity to the site. So hitherto we have adopted a more private stance.’

But following a meeting on 13 April, the Society’s high-profile litigation group agreed to go forward with the proposal from its in-house legal team to seek two sets of injunctive relief.

Hudson said the Bar Council had been approached to support the actions, but had said it was unable to do so at this stage.

The Law Society said solicitors named on the site who do not receive a letter from Brett Wilson by 20 May should contact sfh@brettwilson.co.uk.