ABSTRACT
This chapter uses the solicitors as a primary exemplar because they have probably been the subject of most direct regulatory activity related to fraud in recent years. The Society has however implemented relatively independent regulation since 1986 under various brands, namely the Solicitors Complaints Bureau, the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors, the Law Society Regulation Board and ultimately, from January 2007, the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Fraud has usually been perceived as requiring a police investigation and criminal prosecution. The reality is that many law enforcement agencies (LEA) have neither the expertise nor the resource to investigate the vast majority of fraud that is committed. Many corporate frauds could probably never take place without the assistance or at least the tacit acceptance of professional advisers both internal and external to the company. The professional as primary perpetrator of fraud is a familiar figure when it comes to money being stolen from clients.
