Halliwells buyers could be liable for £500k shortfall

THE three firms which bought the various parts of the Halliwells business last year have been informed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority they could be held liable a shortfall of £500,000 in the collapsed law firm’s client account.

According to legal newspapers The Lawyer and Legal Week, the firm owed £305,000 not directly to clients but as disbursements to barristers’ chambers who had worked for the practice.

This has subsequently racked up £272,0000 worth of unpaid interest.

The SRA’s own lawyers, Bevan Britton, have written to the three firms which picked up parts of the Halliwells business – Barlow Lyde & Gilbert, Gateley and Hill Dickinson – warning them they should cover the shortfall or face investigation.

It has also written to lawyers acting for the firm’s administrators, BDO, arguing that the shortfall in cash “raises issues in the public interest as to whether the firm was properly managed and whether the trust the public places in the legal profession has been diminished” as a result of the firm’s collapse.

Halliwells was broken up in August last year in an 11th hour deal just before the firm was placed into administration.

Administrators’ documents filed since then have showed that the firm’s debts topped £200m, although £176.5m is an unsecured creditors’ claim from the landlords of its 3 Hardman Square headquarters for the remaining 17 years on its lease.