A couple of bad boys of the legal world appear to have hit the headlines this week. The case involving Beresfords and its claims for miners has attracted most of the publicity.

Less publicised is Jonathan Krestin, managing partner of West End law firm, Butcher Burns, who has been convicted of laundering €14,000 at Isleworth Crown Court. He was convicted of one count of money laundering but acquitted of a further three counts and fined £5,000.

Krestin used the client Euro account at Butcher Burns to launder €14,000, which was part of the proceeds of a €35 million carousel fraud masterminded by Frenchman Michel Namer. Krestin transferred the €14,000, which the court found he suspected was criminal property, from Namer’s account at his firm to an account held by Namer’s mistress, Dzinder Jeles. Mr Krestin is appealing against his conviction.

Whilst one could at least sympathise with Krestin’s actions being in his client’s best interests (although illegal obviously) the same cannot be said for the two Beresfords solicitors, Jim Beresford and Douglas Smith, who were struck off yesterday. Jim Beresford is well known as being Britain’s highest paid solicitor during 2005-2006. The money he has made in the last few years apparently bought him a £1.8 million private jet, Aston Martins, a Ferrari and extensive improvements to his home near Wetherby, West Yorkshire.  which probably explains why this case has received quite so much publicity… You think?

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal upheld all but three of the 11 allegations of professional misconduct against the Beresfords duo in relation to their handling of the claims of sick miners. Their alleged conduct related primarily to a £300 referral fee paid to claims farmer Vendiside – a firm owned by the Union of Democratic Mineworkers (UDM) – for cases [referred] ahem…passed on under the understanding that this fee would be used as a “marketing/administration/investigative fee”. The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s claimed that was in reality a referral fee and that by attempting to dress it up as a marketing fee, Beresford and Smith had breached the referral fee code (1990). Beresfords will be appealing the findings in the High Court.

The struck off couple are likely to attract a even more negative publicity following the Tribunal’s decision. Obviously one cannot pass judgement until after the appeal but a couple of solicitors getting very very rich off the back of sick miners is never going to win you tabloid popularity.

One does wonder to some extent whether they would be faced with quite tthe same situation if they hadn’t made sooo much money though???