Harris + Harris Partner, Neil Howlett, acted for one of the Defendants in Operation Alison, between and 1997 and 2004. This was one of the largest ever fraud investigations into a firm of solicitors. The case involved allegations of fraud by partners and fee earners at Robinsons, a major criminal defence practice based in Cheltenham and Bristol. They were alleged to have systematically defrauded the Legal Aid Board over a number of years. The case occupied one courtroom and a senior judge at Bristol Crown Court continuously for nearly 4 years, with a series of trials, some of which lasted more than 12 months. 22 defendants were convicted or pleaded guilty. Our client was dropped out of two trials at short notice before the Crown accepted our arguments that his health was so poor that it would not be fair for him to be tried.

The scale of the case was exceptional. 38 properties were searched in January 1995, in the full glare of the press. 21 tonnes of documents were originally seized by the police, and occupied a whole floor at Stroud Police Station. The volume of additional documents received was so great that a warehouse had to be rented for them. The case was based upon 96,000 legal aid forms, and 3000 witness statements. Nearly 15,000 documents were subject to forensic examination. Papers were scanned into an electronic storage system, and with charts & schedules were presented to the jury on screens specially installed in the court. The Police issued 35 CD's of documents, and 200,000 pages of documents for use in Court. Real-time transcripts of the trials were distributed by e-mail.

Neil Howlett said, "Managing this case was a major challenge. It was pretty daunting when the first disclosure arrived in 54 boxes, but that was only the start. In addition to organising and analysing all this data, we also had to work with numerous experts, the prosecution and other defence teams. We were one of the few teams who did not include a QC, which was the client's choice. It was also important not to lose sight of our client as a human being. Although we achieved a good outcome, I regret that the prosecution did not accept our representations much earlier."

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• Neil Howlett
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