Richard Barnett is a former Law Society Council member and senior partner at collapsed Southport conveyancing firm Barnetts. His name was struck from the role last July after the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found that he had misused £4.8m worth of litigation funds from the now defunct Axiom Legal Financing Fund to help clear the firm’s overdraft with RBS and fund its overheads. Mr Barnett had appealed the decision on the grounds that the SDT had approached its verdict with a ‘closed mind’ and with ‘insufficient evidence to justify its conclusions.’ However, the High Court has now thrown out Mr Barnett’s appeal, finding ‘no flaw whatsoever’ in the SDT decision and no evidence of bias against Mr Barnett.

Source: Legal Futures; Law Society Gazette