I have seen one or two old threads on this, so I thought I would start another.
Has anyone been experiencing new queries from the OPG where a trust corporation acts as attorney on an LPA and an employee of the (entirely separate legal entity) firm acts as certificate provider?
I can see there are three scenarios where the answer to who can act as certificate provider may change:
- A partner of the firm and director of the trust corporation.
- A partner of the firm but not a director of the trust corporation.
- A non-partner employee of the firm and not a director of the trust corporation.
My understanding was that in scenario 1 the partner/director couldn’t act as certificate provider, and I think this is clear in the legislation.
In scenarios 2 and 3, my understanding was that the partner/employee could act. However, we are now finding that the OPG is taking issue with scenario 2; and it seems that others may be experiencing an issue with scenario 3.
It seems that the issue relates to the interpretation of “Business Partner”, and the independence of employees of a law firm, where a company connected to it acts as attorney.
Ben Taylor
Roythornes Solicitors