News reaches us that an Edinburgh solicitor has been accused of dealing drugs from the law firm where he worked as a partner.

According to the BBC News website, he is alleged to have supplied cocaine to four men from the offices of Allan McDougall Solicitors in Dalkeith in January 2009. One of the men later died of a suspected overdose. He denies charges of possessing and supplying class A drugs, has been bailed and is due to stand trial in December.

So, does the legal profession have a drugs problem? I conducted my own deeply unscientific survey of the BBC News site and came up with the following:

• A solicitor in Nottingham convicted of smuggling £15 of cannabis in her bra to a client in custody (2007) She got 15 months in jail.
• A London solicitor convicted of fraud and attempting to pervert the course of justice by inter alia providing false alibis to drug gang members (2007) He got 14.5 years in jail.
• A Glasgow solicitor convicted of supplying heroin and diazepam to a client in Barlinnie Prison (2006) She got 2 years 8 months in jail.
• A senior defence solicitor convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice by concocting lies for a man (actually a BBC researcher in a sting op) caught in possession of cocaine (2006) He was sentenced to 3 years in jail.

I follow this with an article from The Times which suggests that drug use in legal circles is "absolutely endemic" and the link to LawCare - an advisory and support service to help lawyers, their staff and their immediate families to deal with health problems such as depression and addiction, and related emotional difficulties.

Posted on Absolvitor: Scots Law Online.

Labels: criminal law, Edinburgh, News