Solicitors charged €340k too much

Two solicitors overcharged by €340,000 for their work on administering the estate of a woman who left €14m to the St Vincent de Paul charitable society, the High Court has heard.

Gerard Williams Sandys and Bryan C Brophy, of Sandys and Brophy, Sea Rd, Galway, yesterday failed in a challenge to a decision by the Law Society to refer a complaint about the alleged overcharging to society’s Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns dismissed their challenge and he affirmed a July 2013 decision of the Law Society’s complaints and client relations committee (CCRC) to refer to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal a complaint about the two solicitors’ alleged failure to send to the Vincent de Paul an estimate of their costs for administering the estate.