Society has paid £3.3m to clients of solicitor

THE Law Society has already paid out £3.3 million to 35 former clients of Mr Jonathan Philip Toppin Brooks, a solicitor who committed suicide in 1992.

It estimates that a further £2.7 million will be paid on claims which are still being processed or are the subject of litigation. A total of more than £11 million had been claimed against Mr Brooks's estate, the High Court heard on Monday.

But the Law Society director, Mr Ken Murphy, stressed yesterday that the society's compensation fund was more than adequate to meet the full liability. "All the claims that the society is satisfied are likely to be proved have been provided for," he said. After full payment was made, he added, the fund would still have net assets to the value of £3.5 million.

The compensation fund is provided by annual subscriptions from, the society's 4,800 practising solicitors. Of the present £1,230 subscription, the fund accounts for £600. This has increased substantially since 1992, as a result of the Brooks case and that of the former solicitors to the Irish Press, Elio Malocco and Conor Killeen. The society is partially protected against major claims by insurance.

A total of 71 clients made claims against Mr Brooks, over deals ranging from "very low to very high finance," according to Mr Murphy. "There were some very complex trails, which is why it's taking so long to process them and which has led to litigation in some cases."

Mr Murphy added that since the early 1990s, the record of claims against the fund were "very much better. There's been nothing of that magnitude since those high-profile cases. In fact, we recently went a period of two years without any claim against the fund."