Legal 'nightmare' after law firm McClure goes bust

Former clients of a law firm that went bust say they have been left out of pocket, frustrated and disappointed.

McClure solicitors, founded in Greenock in 1853, had tens of thousands of clients across Britain and specialised in work such as wills and trusts.

Its collapse meant some struggled to sell their late parents' homes while others faced new legal bills.

McClure's former director said clients should not fear that money had been wasted.

The Law Society of Scotland, which regulates solicitors, said it was monitoring the situation.

Years before she died in 2020, Ann Benson put her house in a trust with McClure solicitors.

But in 2021 her daughter Lynn discovered McClure had gone bust. She says that was the start of her "nightmare".

Trusts are used by thousands of people as a way of managing assets like property or money.

Some people set them up in the hope it will protect their home from being sold to pay for care home fees.

After putting a home into a trust, it is the trustees who own it but they have to follow the purpose for which it was set up.

When her mother died, Lynn, from Glasgow, needed the trustees to sign paperwork before she could sell her mum's home.

The trustees were two former McClure's solicitors.

She had to find a new solicitor to deal with this and told the BBC that her mum's first house sale fell through as a result. She finally sold her mum's home just before Christmas more than a year after the first attempt.

Lynn said if her mum had still been alive she would have been horrified.

She said: "Having to deal with this after the death of my mother has been extremely difficult. To even deal with my own grieving process and dealing with matters with regard to the trust that I knew nothing about, for me it's been an emotional rollercoaster ride."

Lynn said there needs to be an awareness of what has happened to McClure and "how they've left many people in a very difficult situation".

A Facebook page called Victims of McClure has more than 600 members from across Britain. A number have contacted the BBC to share their experiences.

When McClure went into administration another law firm called Jones Whyte took on its files.

Jones Whyte has written to a number of former McClure clients saying there are "some systematic issues affecting many of these trusts".

The letter states it is "incredibly important that we review your file" and the cost is £300+VAT per trust.

Retired firefighter Joe Wylie said he spent more than £5,000 setting up wills, powers of attorney and trusts with McClure about three months before the firm entered administration.

He did not want his family to have to deal with extra stress after his death.

Joe found out McClure had gone bust when he received a letter from Jones Whyte in November 2021 offering to carry out a review of his family's two trusts for £720.

He said he was "shocked" because he thought everything was done and dusted.

He did not pay for the review and through his own research discovered his trust had not been set up properly.

Joe is now going to find a new lawyer and start again. He said he was relieved his house was still in his name but gutted to have wasted money.

"I can't really afford to throw away £5,000," Joe said. "I'll just have to write it off as a bad joke. You think you're doing the right thing and it backfires."

"I'd love to be able to get some compensation but that's not going to happen."

He said he wanted to make other people aware of what was going on.

The BBC asked former McClure director Andrew Robertson for an interview. He declined but sent a written response to our questions.

Mr Robertson said it is "not correct that many trusts had issues" and that clients "should not fear that money has been wasted".

He said the trust "was and remains a good service" and the fact McClure no longer exists "does not affect the trust".

On the subject of people struggling to sell their parents' homes he said that, on occasion, the reason was that "the agents dealing with the sale have failed to contact the trustees at the outset".

He said it should not be difficult to contact the trustees, adding "we are not in hiding".

Jones Whyte said it was "prudent" to carry out reviews and there "was no situation in which a law firm could carry out this work free of charge".

The company said from the work it had undertaken so far "the vast, vast majority of trusts are competent and valid".

Rachel Wood, executive director of regulation at the Law Society of Scotland, said McClure had many thousands of clients and Jones Whyte was expected to inform all clients that their documents and funds were now safely held by them.

She said: "While we cannot comment on specific commercial arrangements, anyone who doesn't want to become or remain a client of the acquiring firm is entitled to instruct another solicitor to act on their behalf or ask for the return of the documents and any funds.

"Any client who has suffered loss because of the demise of WW & J McClure and wishes to raise a claim, or to make a complaint, can do so.

"We are monitoring the situation and will take any appropriate regulatory action required."

The law society said former clients of McClures can contact its Master Policy brokers for them to consider the claim. There is more information on this and the contact email address on its website, external.