Clients of McClure Solicitors seeking redress attend MSP’s second event

Constituents affected by the law firm going out of business in 2021, gathered at the Beacon Art Centre to put questions to the Greenock and Inverclyde MSP and Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) chief executive, Neil Stevenson.

Speaking after the event, Mr McMillan said: “In my near 17 years as an MSP, no other single issue has monopolised my office’s time like the McClure’s situation has. This is understandable given the firm was based in Greenock – meaning a good proportion of their former clients, reported to be around 100,000 UK-wide, will hail from Inverclyde.

“That is why I have been keen to work with the SLCC to provide information to my constituents who may be affected, including about potential redress if they discover any legal work carried out by McClure was substandard or undertaken without their express knowledge.

“Unfortunately, this has been the case on many occasions – and I know the SLCC have already paid out compensation to local people affected by McClure’s collapse. That is why I wanted to make sure as many local people as possible had the chance to hear directly from the SLCC.

“Having now hosted two events, 150 tickets selling out on both occasions, I hope I have been able to raise the profile of this issue locally and many more people will now contact Jones Whyte regarding their documents and consider making a complaint to the SLCC about McClure, if appropriate. The SLCC can award compensation if they uphold your complaint, which can help cover some or all of the cost of any work undertaken to rectify any mistakes McClure made.

“Like everyone in attendance at these events, it angers me that so many people have been affected by one company’s actions – and no one has seemingly been held to account. I will continue dialogue with interested parties about how we progress the matter and as I have previously stated, I will be seeking an enquiry into the full circumstances of the collapse. Before we get to that stage though, all efforts must go towards supporting people to obtain their documents and then getting any errors rectified.”

A spokesperson for McClure Solicitors said: “The former directors strongly dispute claims being made against McClure of substandard work or work undertaken without the clients express knowledge, and are calling for an end to this campaign that is spreading misinformation and unnecessarily worrying former clients.

“Representatives of the former firm are seeking engagement with interested parties in order address both the incorrect and imbalance of information. The trust was and remains a good service, it had many benefits and the fact that McClure no longer exists does not affect the legal validity of the trust.

“We further dispute the claim that clients were misled to pay for a trust. It was our responsibility to advise clients but it was left to them to decide whether or not they wished to have a trust. From 2019, each meeting with one of our consultants was recorded with the client’s consent so that management could monitor that no undue pressure was being brought to bear.”