The Solicitors Regulation Authority has charged two solicitors with alleged misconduct connected to the Horizon IT scandal and referred both to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.
The SRA, which regulates solicitors across England and Wales, is taking action against Jane MacLeod, the former Post Office general counsel from 2015 to 2019.
The regulator is also pursuing Nick Gould, a partner who represented former sub-postmistress Seema Misra in successfully overturning her conviction in 2021.
MacLeod was called before the Horizon IT public inquiry in 2024 to answer questions about internal document disclosure and the legal advice she gave on how cases should be defended.
Gould worked as a corporate partner at Aria Grace Law until 7 February 2025 and has since taken on a legal consultant role at Impact Lawyers.
Jonathan Peddie, executive director of investigations, enforcement and litigation at the SRA, confirmed the referrals and set out the scope of what the charges cover.
“We have referred two cases to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. The cases refer to conduct that took place in the period after the main events of the Post Office Horizon scandal,” Peddie said.
Peddie stressed that investigations into conduct directly related to the scandal itself remain active, with the SRA cooperating with both the inquiry team and the Metropolitan Police.
“Our wider investigations are still ongoing. This includes issues relating directly to the Horizon scandal, where we are working closely with the Inquiry team and the Metropolitan Police. We can and will act if we find that solicitors we regulate fail to meet our standards,” Peddie added.
The Post Office scandal resulted in more than 900 subpostmasters being wrongly prosecuted for theft and fraud between 1999 and 2009, caused by faulty software developed by Fujitsu.
Questions over legal fees emerged in January last year following MPs’ calls for transparency, revealing that a host of City law firms had raked in millions while many victims were still awaiting compensation payouts.
The Post Office was represented by several major firms during the scandal and its aftermath, most notably Herbert Smith Freehills, which advised on the Horizon IT scandal and related litigation, alongside Womble Bond Dickinson.
Burges Salmon and Fieldfisher were also appointed to represent the Post Office during the ongoing Horizon IT Inquiry, which concluded its hearings in December 2024.
The final inquiry report by Sir Wyn Williams is expected to be delivered this year, with its findings likely to have significant implications for those involved.
These charges form part of 20 live SRA investigations into firms and solicitors that acted for the Post Office, with the identities of those under scrutiny only now becoming public.
In March, the SRA disclosed that its investigations include “serious allegations of solicitors acting with a lack of integrity,” with a primary focus on the management of litigation and wrongful prosecutions of sub-postmasters.