Tomorrow (Tuesday 31st May 2011 at 10am) will see the start of a seven-day hearing before the Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal in London. The solicitors concerned are Davenport Lyons partner David Gore and former partner Brian Miller.
Davenport Lyons were the firm that pioneered the 'speculative invoicing' scheme, later adopted by ACS:Law among others, that purported to be a business model designed to reduce unlawful copyright infringment via peer-to-peer filesharing but was viewed by many as an unethical practice in which innocent persons were wrongly targeted for cash 'settlements' in respect of alleged infringments of which they had no involvement or knowledge.
The heavy handed approach of firms using this model has been widely condemned by many including consumer rights groups, the House of Lords and the senior judiciary.
The hearing is expected to last until Wednesday 8th June. The hearing will be open to the public and the Tribunal's court rooms:
3rd Floor, Gate House
1 Farringdon Street
London EC4M 7LG
This hearing is a substantive hearing.
There is a slight overlap with a hearing for Andrew Crossley (of ACS:Law) concerned with broadly similar issues. A directions hearing will take place at 9.30am on Friday 3rd June at the same address. If a substantive hearing is required (which is widely anticipated) this will take place at some future time.
Links:
SDT site: http://www.solicitorstribunal.org.uk/
Cause list: Davenport Lyons substantive hearing: http://www.solicitorstribunal.org.uk/31_05-08_06_11.pdf
Cause list: Andrew Crossley (ACS:Law) directions hearing: http://www.solicitorstribunal.org.uk/31_05-08_06_11.pdf
Relevant story on the Solicitor's Journal: http://www.solicitorsjournal.com/story.asp?sectioncode=2&storycode=18333&c=3&eclipse_action=getsession
Further information #1: http://www.slyck.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=44092
Further information #2: http://beingthreatened.com/
Further information #3: http://acsbore.wordpress.com/
Further information #4: http://torrentfreak.com/search/davenport+lyons
Further information #5: http://torrentfreak.com/search/acs
