Pure Legal Collapses — 5,800 Cavity Wall Claims Transferred, Creditors Get Nothing
Pure Legal (Liverpool) collapsed with 5,800 cavity wall insulation claims which were transferred to SSB Group. Creditors were owed £40 million and expected to receive nothing. The collapse was part of a cascading chain: Tegamus Law (2019) → Pure Legal (2021) → SSB Group (2024) → JMR Solicitors (2024), each inheriting and then failing with the same toxic portfolio of claims. Sources Law Gazette: Pure Legal collapse bill tops £7m Legal Futures: SSB Law victims pile pressure on SRA
SSB Law Collapses with £200m+ in Debts — Thousands of Clients Pursued for Costs
SSB Law (Sheffield), a specialist in high-volume cavity wall insulation claims, entered administration with debts exceeding £200 million. Thousands of former clients were pursued for substantial adverse legal costs despite “no win, no fee” assurances. The SRA placed interim restrictions on four solicitors and issued disqualification orders against two non-solicitor directors — the most serious non-solicitor sanction available. Sources SRA: Cavity wall insulation claims handled by SSB Group Law Gazette: SRA ready to move on SSB prosecutions
LSB Damns SRA Over SSB Law Collapse — Regulator Ignored Five Years of Red Flags
An independent review by Carson McDowell (commissioned by the Legal Services Board) found the SRA failed to act on over 100 reports between 2019 and 2024 about SSB Law’s conduct. The regulator miscategorised complaints as “service” issues and permitted transfer of thousands of client files to JMR Solicitors despite internal warnings — JMR also subsequently collapsed. The LSB initiated unprecedented enforcement action against the SRA itself, which formally apologised and accepted all recommendations. Sources SRA apologises and fully accepts recommendations of SSB review Law Gazette: SRA ignored five years of red flags Law Society: SSB collapse independent review
