Axiom Ince – Were You Affected by the Collapse?

The collapse of Axiom Ince was one of the most serious failures to hit the English legal profession in recent years.

Around £60 million of client money was reported missing, leaving clients, other solicitors and the profession facing the consequences. The cost to the profession through claims on the Solicitors Compensation Fund has been estimated at approximately £39 million. Solicitors have effectively been “taxed” by the SRA – widely considered to have been at fault for failing to anticipate the collapse – to recover this sum.

Behind those very large figures are individual clients and businesses who may have lost money, had transactions disrupted or been left trying to establish exactly what happened to funds entrusted to the firm.

How was this allowed to happen?

That is one of the most troubling aspects of the Axiom Ince affair. Otherwise respectable firms like Wiseman Lee, Ince and Co and Gordon Dadds were purchased by Pragnesh Modhwadia who it is alleged utilised client account moneys from each for his own purposes including purchasing property in his own name.

An independent review commissioned following the collapse identified significant shortcomings in the way the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) dealt with the firm.

There had been opportunities to identify problems earlier. In particular, concerns have been raised about the verification of bank information, the monitoring of Axiom Ince’s rapid and unrealistic expansion through acquisitions and the regulatory response once problems began to emerge.

The consequences ultimately went considerably further than the failure of one solicitors’ practice. The Legal Services Board subsequently took enforcement action concerning the SRA’s regulation and supervision, while the Serious Fraud Office brought criminal proceedings against a number of individuals allegedly connected with the events surrounding Axiom Ince. Those criminal allegations remain matters for the courts to determine.

The feeling among solicitors is that the SRA appear to have prioritised pursuing solicitors generally for minor regulatory matters whilst allowing major fraudsters within the profession to bypass regulation.

Were you a client of Axiom Ince?

If you were a client of Axiom Ince, Ince & Co/Ince Gordon Dadds, Plexus Legal, Wiseman Lee or another practice whose affairs became connected with Axiom Ince, you may still have questions about what happened to your money or your legal matter.

You may have been told that compensation was available, had a claim rejected or only partly met, or simply found yourself passed between different organisations without receiving a satisfactory explanation.

The circumstances of each client can be different. The existence of the Solicitors Compensation Fund does not necessarily mean that every loss or every potential legal remedy begins and ends with a claim upon that Fund.

If you have suffered a financial loss connected with the collapse of Axiom Ince, or remain uncertain about what happened to money held on your behalf, we would be interested to hear from you.

We can consider the history of your particular matter, the payments which were made, what happened to the money and whether there may be any further avenues which warrant investigation.

If you were affected by the collapse of Axiom Ince, please contact us for an initial discussion about what happened in your case.