1. Your details
1.1. Applicants are expected to complete, sign and return this form to us. It is the applicant’s details which should be recorded in this section.
2. Eligibility
2.1. Under the Regulations traders, business partnerships, corporate bodies, unincorporated associations, mutual associations, charities and trusts are only eligible to apply to the Fund subject to having a turnover and assets, (in the case of a charity net income and in the case of a trust assets) of less than £2million .
3. Name of Solicitor Involved
3.1. Applicants should identify the name of the solicitor responsible for any loss.
4. The circumstances of your loss
4.1. We normally require that the "dishonesty" or "failure to account" referred to in Articles 56 and 57 of the Solicitors (Northern Ireland) Order 1976 must have occurred within the course of a solicitor/client transaction of a kind which is part of the usual business of the solicitor.
5. Your Claim
5.1. We have the power to make a further grant in respect of the reasonable costs of an applicant's solicitor or other professional adviser relating to a claim where a grant is authorised.
5.2. We may not, however, be prepared to make such a further grant or may grant less than the full costs if it is our opinion that all or part of the costs should not have
5.3. been incurred, or might have been saved by an earlier approach to us, or were not incurred wholly or exclusively in connection with the claim, or we are of the view that the costs incurred are unreasonable or excessive.
5.4. For any loss sustained, or any sum of money that came into the possession of a defaulting solicitor, it is our policy not to authorise a grant to any applicant which would result in an aggregate sum exceeding £750,000, inclusive of all interest and costs, being paid from a combination of the Compensation Fund and any applicable Insurance.
5.5. We may also, in considering any claim, take into account the need to maintain sufficient funds in the Compensation Fund to meet the claims of other applicants.
6. When did the loss first come to your attention?
6.1. We may extend this period if satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances relating to the reasons for any delay which justify the extension of the time limit.
7. The Statutory Compensation Fund is a fund of last resort
7.1. In some cases, we may require an applicant to institute civil proceedings including, where appropriate, insolvency proceedings against the solicitor in respect of the loss suffered. The purpose of the proceedings may be to recover all or part of the alleged loss or to quantify precisely the amount of such loss. No applicant should institute proceedings unless and until our written consent has been obtained and the question of who is to be responsible for the costs has been decided, otherwise any application for a grant in respect of such costs may be rejected. If any successful applicant for a grant behaves in such a manner as is likely to prejudice such proceedings, we may require repayment of all or part of a grant and will exercise appropriate civil remedies to compel this. An applicant will be required to acknowledge the foregoing in a receipt to be signed by him/her before payment of a grant is made.
8. Your current Solicitor
8.1. If you currently instruct a solicitor to assist you with making a claim, please provide his/her details. Please note that we will correspond with your current solicitor on your behalf. Should you require independent legal advice from a qualified solicitor, a Directory of Solicitors is available to view on our website.
9. Supporting Documentation
9.1. At all times, the burden of satisfying us that a loss has been suffered within the scope of the Compensation Fund rests with each applicant, but we will give guidance and, so far as possible, for the purpose of the application, allow an applicant reasonable access to records under our control or to which we have access.
9.2. Every applicant for a grant out of the Compensation Fund must satisfy us that any alleged dishonesty is evidenced either by:
9.2.1. the conviction of the solicitor (or their employee), or by a finding of fraud in a civil action,
9.2.2. evidence leading to an inevitable presumption of theft.
9.3 Where an application is based on failing to account, the application must be supported by sufficient documentation to substantiate that a failure to account has occurred, and that the applicant is suffering or is likely to suffer hardship.
10. Other information
10.1. Where an applicant has suffered hardship resulting from the actions of a solicitor, applicants are encouraged to provide evidence of hardship to prove any claim.