Portsmouth, Waterlooville and Gosport legal firms shut down with possessions taken to protect client interests

Former Portsmouth and Waterlooville firm Verisona Law and BPL Solicitors Ltd in Gosport and Waterlooville were among those to receive the dramatic SRA intervention. The firms have been stopped from operating with the SRA taking possession of all documents and papers.

The SRA will also take possession of all money held by the firms including clients' money. The SRA is not responsible for employees or trade creditors of firms that it has intervened in.

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The four firms that saw an intervention last week were MLL Ltd – under which Verisona Law traded – BPL Solicitors Ltd, Beaumont ABS Ltd and Atray Ltd. Knowles Benning LLP and Knight Polson Ltd have also been closed down this week. All the firms are owned by Metamorph Group Ltd.

A statement from the SRA said: ‘As with the previous interventions, these have been necessary to protect the interests of clients and former clients of those firms. The SRA has appointed an agent to deal with all matters currently held by these firms. The agent will assess all ongoing matters and deal with those of greatest need first. The SRA's archive team will take control of all documents held by the firm.

‘The SRA will now investigate further the issues raised that have led to this intervention to see if any additional action is necessary. At this stage of the SRA's work, no further details can be disclosed.

‘It is only if further action becomes necessary that any information is released into the public domain. There is no timescale for how long this work will take.’

Further action against solicitors could either be a sanction carried out by the SRA including the possibility the SRA will prosecute the matter at the independent Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT). The SDT can levy unlimited fines and prevent solicitors from working either by suspending them or removing them from the profession altogether.

It comes as auditors for Metamorph Group Limited had resigned over disclosure and management issues. According to a Companies House update, Crowe UK LLP formally resigned last month as auditor. The accountancy firm also resigned as auditor for MLL Ltd and Beaumont ABS Ltd at the same time.

In its resignation letter, Crowe, according to Law Gazette, said its audit had ‘not been completed despite repeated requests’ before adding: ‘The company failed to provide information and explanations sufficient to address our concerns. In addition, we have concerns around management’s behaviour in terms of their approach to compliance with law and regulations.

‘The failure of management to provide the requested information coupled with our concerns around management behaviour means the relationship between the company and ourselves as auditors has broken down, and given the significance of these matters we have concluded that we cannot continue as auditors.’

Clients of the firms do not need to contact either the agent or the SRA. If anyone does have a query, however, they can contact the agent, which is still John Owen of Gordons LLP, by calling 0113 227 2117 or emailing [email protected].