James Beresford, 58, said to be Britain's highest earning solicitor, and Douglas Smith, 51, both from Beresfords Solicitors in Doncaster, appeared before the Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal in central London to face 11 allegations of "serious" professional misconduct.

The pair made millions of pounds from personal injury claims for miners under the Government's coal health compensation claim. The court heard that in one case the firm deducted a "success fee" from the widow of a miner, leaving her with a total payout of just £217.73.

This was despite already having claimed £2,431.08 in costs from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Timothy Dutton QC, appearing for the Solicitors' Regulatory Authority (SRA), accused the men of failing to act in the best interests of their clients and failing to give them adequate advice.

He also said they broke rules governing solicitors' practice and entered into conditional and contingency fee agreements with third parties against their clients' best interests.

The court heard that Beresford and Smith made arrangements with the Union of Democratic Mineworkers (UDM) and its support company, Vendside, that breached solicitors' practice rules.

Mr Dutton said payments made by Beresfords to UDM/Vendside were effectively referral fees, but were disguised as being in lieu of union subscriptions.

The court heard that Beresfords expanded rapidly with the advent of the coal claims. By 2004 the firm had a gross profit of £8,758,743 and by 2006 the profit had risen to £36,205,805.

The court heard that Beresfords acted in more than 83,000 cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and more than 14,500 cases of Vibration White Finger (VWF).




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