Bully-Banks, the anti-bank pressure group founded by claims consultant and former barrister Jeremy Roe, is proud of its independence, stating on its website that it is not connected to any one law firm.
Yet Bully-Banks’ relationship with Russell Jones & Walker seems to be rather close.
As Legal Cheek can exclusively reveal, the company secretary of the outfit behind Bully-Banks, Ordinary People in Business Limited (“a company formed by Bully-Banks’ members to aid in the campaign process”), is none other than Russell Jones & Walker partner John Deane.
The close ties between Bully-Banks – which is co-ordinating complaints by the owners of small and medium-sized businesses against the conduct of banks when selling interest rate swap agreements – and Russell Jones & Walker don’t stop there. As you can see below, the “campaigning group” likes to plug its fave law firm on Facebook…
Meanwhile, at a conference held by Bully-Banks at Birmingham’s Holiday Inn last month, Legal Cheek’s spies report that Russell Jones & Walker was granted an exclusive slot to address delegates.
For its part, Russell Jones & Walker has been happy to disclose that Bully-Banks recommends its members go to them for legal advice.
When asked about his firm’s close relationship with Bully-Banks, John Deane referred us to his fellow Russell Jones & Walker partner Fraser Whitehead, who stated only: “I am quite happy for you to register a complaint with the Solicitors Regulation Authority. I don’t think what you’re doing is proper.”
Bully-Banks’ Jeremy Roe did not respond to our request for comment.
