A CONTROVERSIAL solicitor has been banned from working as a lawyer for engaging in a "serious" and "reprehensible" abuse of the legal aid fund.
Steven Anderson, 55, has been struck off by the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal for submitting dozens of questionable legal aid claims over a seven-year period.
The lawyer, who was based in Springburn, Glasgow, once made £560,330 of public cash in one year.
But investigators found Anderson had made multiple applications to the Scottish Legal Aid Board (Slab) for work that he had already done.
They also discovered he had billed the organisation for work not required to be done and he had held meetings with clients which had inflated fees.
On one occasion in March 2004, he submitted a claim for giving advice to a client who believed pop groups Pink Floyd and Take That were breaking the Data Protection Act. The man believed the acts were making money by using his face on video tapes and tis breached his human rights. The man was later detained by the authorities under mental health legislation. Mr Anderson received £78.50 from the Scottish Legal Aid Board for this work.
But now watchdogs at the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal have ruled he can no longer work as a lawyer.
In a written judgment issued by the SSDT, chairman Alistair Cockburn wrote: "Having regard to all of the above, the tribunal held the respondent's conduct fell well below the standard to be expected of a competent and reputable solicitor, and that it was serious and reprehensible.
"The persistent abuse of the legal aid fund and the repeated failure to respond appropriately to his professional body could be seriously damaging to the public trust in the profession."
In 2010, an inquiry found Anderson's firm had made "inappropriate, multiple and repetitive" claims. Anderson was banned from undertaking legal aid work and was only allowed to take on cases from private clients. In 2008/09, Anderson's firm earned £560,330 from legal aid.
Anderson was previously cleared of a legal aid fiddle along with his ex-partner James McIntyre. The pair - along with a third partner - appeared before the Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal in 1999 following a Slab raid on their office.
At the time, McIntyre was serving three years in prison for storing guns at his home in Linlithgow, West Lothian, for the Springburn based McGovern crime family. He was later struck off.
Anderson re-appeared before the disciplinary tribunal earlier this year in connection with a seven-year-long course of misconduct that took place last decade. According to the written judgment, Mr Anderson claimed money for giving advice in March 2004 to a client who wanted to sue Microsoft and Take That for defaming him.
In June 2004, the client - referred to Mr D - was detained under Mental Health Legislation. Mr Anderson spoke to him then and claimed £75.45 for the meeting.
Investigators found that Anderson had made dozens of more dodgy claims to the Scottish Legal Aid Board.
A hearing was held by the tribunal into Mr Anderson's conduct earlier this year. The tribunal found that the only appropriate way to deal with him was to issue an order banning him from working as a legal professional.
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