Background & Experience
With so many people offering ‘expert help’ for problems with savings, pensions or investments, it’s not always easy to know who you can trust.
Thirty-five years of experience
I am an experienced litigation solicitor who has practiced exclusively in dispute resolution for over 35 years. For the past 10 years I have been a specialist in financial services, pensions and investments.I qualified as a solicitor in 1971, and after a brief career in the public service, I joined my present firm, Bristol-based Clarke Willmott, in 1977 handling legal issues on behalf of a wide variety of private individuals and corporate clients.
My interest in financial services law began in 1992 when a mid-tier building society, disappointed with their London solicitors, asked me to undertake their mortgage fraud claims. Then in 1999 I moved from mortgage fraud into private client financial services litigation and pensions.
Unique legal and financial advice
Today my team and I specialise exclusively in financial services, pensions and investments. Each of us has passed - or is studying for - exactly the same financial services examinations as professional financial advisors. This puts us in the unique position of being able to offer a specialist combination of legal and financial expertise to our clients.Hundreds of successful cases
To date, we have successfully handled hundreds of cases on behalf of private individuals and pension schemes. Our biggest case was the ‘Trapped Annuitants’ group action by over 400 clients against Equitable Life which settled on confidential terms in 2008.My Approach
Savings and pensions are important. Disenchantment with insurance companies and fund managers has meant that all of us are having to pay more attention to our savings, investments and pensions. Often this can mean having to sort out other people’s mistakes.
Although the financial services industry is heavily regulated by law, standards can be surprisingly low. When losses occur, it may well be because someone simply hasn’t done the job they are required to do by law.
As a professional lawyer, I see law as an essential ingredient of civilised life. I also believe strongly that law should be accessible to the individual citizen rather than simply to government agencies and large corporations.
Of course no-one likes confrontation, especially with ‘experts’ who profess to know best. But when you think about it, no-one is better placed than the citizen to impose the standards required by law.
The most successful way to do this is to appeal to the judges who are there for this purpose. In my experience, appeals to members of parliament, the FSA or the press rarely work.
My business is to help those who have suffered financial losses through malpractice in the financial services field. I seek to make the law accessible to the individual citizen and ensure it works in the way it was meant to.
I can usually advise quickly if you have a viable case and then guide you through what may seem like a daunting process to get the result you and your dependants deserve.
Importantly, I can usually get a satisfactory result without a courtroom confrontation.
