A firm named by the Solicitors Regulation Authority as a subsidiary of a practice closed last week has said it is confident of reopening in the new year.
Towers Legal, based in Harrogate, was shut after the SRA intervened to close Legal Development Partners Limited (LDP).
The regulator said it had found reasons to suspect dishonesty on the part of two directors at LDP.
In a statement today, the managers of Towers Legal said they were ‘shocked and concerned’ to read about the allegations.
The statement said Towers Legal’s relationship with LDP involved it paying a fee in return for professional indemnity insurance, an SRA number and administrative resources including office space.
But the firm said it was managed and run as a ‘separate, independent entity’ dealing with commercial law only.
Towers Legal’s founder, James Martin, said that he became concerned there was a problem only when the SRA arrived on 13 November to carry out an investigation.
He said: ‘Towers Legal staff were not told what the investigation involved, but we took immediate steps to begin separating Towers Legal from LDP.
‘Our primary concern is for our clients and we are doing all we can to ensure that Towers Legal can get up and running again quickly. We have been liaising with the SRA, who have confirmed that the solicitors working with Towers Legal are not in any way implicated in the wrongdoing which has led to the closure of LDP.
‘A regulation authority representative has also confirmed that Towers’ application for sole accreditation will be fast-tracked, so we are confident that we can resume business as usual in the new year.'
The trading name Beck Solicitors, which was operated by Legal Development Partners Limited, is separate to the firm Beck Legal which is also based in Harrogate and which trades as Beck Solicitors. Beck Legal (SRA ID 596890) is in no way implicated in the intervention into Legal Development Partners.
