Douglas Mill takes a hike
January 25th, 2008
Douglas Mill ultimately found it impossible to move with the times. The chief executive of the Law Society of Scotland has this morning announced his resignation from the body he has lead for the past 11 years. He intends to finally demit office in October, and some lawyers and most aggrieved customers of Scottish lawyers are breathing a massive sigh of relief
I’ve only interviewed Mill once face-to-face. He is a pugnacious individual, famous for swearing on his “granny’s grave” that the Law Society of Scotland does not interfere with claims made against its so-called Master Policy (despite evidence to the contrary revealed by John Swinney, now Scotland’s finance minister but then in opposition to the Justice 2 committee).
When I interviewed Mr Mill in Drumsheugh Gardens in Edinburgh in October 2006 he was, among other things, determined to pick a fight with Scotland’s politicians and civil servants over the way in which they were handling the construction of the new independent legal complaints commission, the SLCC. At that time, he delivered a blistering attack on the Scottish government and its civil servants, even threatening to take it court. Here are two choice paragraphs from the article. (Holyrood in solicitors’ sights, published October 30th, 2006).
“The civil servants seem incapable of distinguishing between the master policy (which is negotiated annually on behalf of all solicitors with insurers by the insurance brokers Marsh) and the wholly separate guarantee fund.”
“They want to look at claims (against the master policy) and how these are handled. But they cannot do that. If they do try to do this, I believe the insurers and the Financial Services Authority will tell the Scottish Parliament to take a hike.”
Interestingly these remarks have since made their way onto YouTube.
In this excerpt, Johnn Swinney, then in opposition but now finance minister of the Scottish government, mocks Mill for his anti-consumer stance. Swinney suggests that Mill’s use of the phrase take a hike “illustrates the cultural shift that is required” at the Law Society – and everything that was wrong with the latter’s self-defensive attitude in a more consumer-driven age.
Now, 15 months on from the publication of that extraordinary Herald interview, it is Mill who is having to take a hike – not the parliament – and we may never find out exactly why. I personally suspect his departure it is related to the Law Society of Scotland’s consultation on alternative business structures, which is due to be published any day now. Maybe this consultation has discovered that solicitors are not so opposed to reform of their profession as Mr Mill would have us believe?
Here’s hoping that whoever takes over as the Law Society’s next chief executive takes a more mature approach towards customers who have been let down by their lawyers.
By the way, the FSA later said that it would not dream of telling the Scottish government to “take a hike”. See ‘FSA denies it will block independent complaints body’ article.
To read a an assessment of Douglas Mill’s tenure as Law Society of Scotland chief executive written by the Borders-based campaigner Peter Cherbi, click here.
Short URL: https://www.ianfraser.org/?p=413
Posted by Ian Fraser
on Jan 25 2008. Filed under Blog.
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Good article Ian.
Given the attitude of Mr Mill towards the changes which the legal profession must undergo in a modern age, I doubt there was any room for him to remain as a credible leader, particularly after the [several] confrontations with John Swinney over everything from regulation to dubious explanations over memos …
I hope now the legal profession decides on a different policy towards the client in general, and places importance & priority in repairing the damage done by the failure of the Law Society’s self regulatory regime under Douglas Mill’s leadership.
After all, the public want a trustworthy legal services market, and the legal services market needs clients to survive … so if the right attitude exists in the profession itself, it shouldn’t be too difficult to have the two sides meet each other in the spirit of truth & reconciliation …
Members of our group made both written and oral evidence to the consultation that brought about the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission. We also gave evidence that Douglas Mill and his sidekick Phillip Yelland have headed persecution campaigns against anyone who makes official complaints to the Law Society of Scotland.
Mill is implicated in undermining complainers to the extent that some have lost not only their homes but also their lives. Many of these persecutions should by rights have been investigated by the police. However the police have a memorandum of understanding that excuses them from having to investigate a corrupt lawyer – unless Mill or Yelland give the say so.
Here we have the ridiculous scenario where the godfathers heading a crime wave are effectively deciding on whether the police should or should not investigate fraud and corruption at the highest levels. Mill is behind much of this, and I believe his aim is to protect the master policy from claims at almost any cost. A master policy brokered by Marsh, who’s chief executive Jeffrey Greenberg resigned after it was accused by New York State attorney general Eliot Spitzer of taking bribes for steering clients to favoured insurers.
Mill seems to think that he can run away from this crime wave. But we will continue to expose him and take whatever actions are required to have him charged with the criminal conduct that has led to the destruction of thousands of lives, victims of his tyrannical hold over the Law Society’s day-to-day operations.
LJPR LEGAL JUDICIAL POLITICAL REFORMERS