Timeline: Property deals probe linked to solicitor Christopher Hales

July - A routine Law Society inspection raises concerns about 13 property transactions conducted by solicitor Christopher Hales.

August - A report into the Hales transactions is submitted to the Law Society guarantee fund sub-committee (GFSC).

September - The GFSC suspends Hales' practising certificate and proceeds to prosecute him before the Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal (SSDT).

October - Sheila Kirkwood, an associate of MP Michelle Thomson, is appointed secretary to the GFSC.

14 January - The Council of the Law Society lodges a complaint with the SSDT requesting an investigation into Hales.

13 May - Law Society fiscal Paul Marshall attends an SSDT hearing on the Hales case. Hales does not attend but emails to say he accepts the "averments of professional misconduct".

July - The Law Society publishes its interim findings which conclude Hales "must have been aware that there was a possibility that he was facilitating mortgage fraud".

31 October - The Hales case features in the SSDT annual report.

18 December - Law Society director of financial compliance Ian Messer "informally" tells the Crown Office about the Hales case during a regular quarterly meeting. Clients' names are not discussed.

28 April - Mr Messer "informally" raises the Hales case again at the next quarterly Crown Office meeting. Clients' names are not discussed.

7 May - Ms Thomson is elected as SNP MP for Edinburgh West

1 July - Following a "detailed look" at the Hales case, the Law Society asked the GFSC for approval to refer it to the Crown.

3 July - The Law Society formally presents the SSDT's unredacted Hales report to the Crown Office, external. Prosecutors are shown his clients' names for the first time.

9 July - The Crown instructs Police Scotland to investigate Hales's property transactions.

27 September - The Sunday Times publishes excerpts from the unredacted SSDT Hales Report naming Ms Thomson as his client, external. She denies any wrongdoing.

31 September - Ms Thomson surrenders the SNP whip until police investigations into her links with Hales are concluded.

1 October - Law Society chief executive Lorna Jack pledges to look more deeply into the delay in notifying the Crown of the Hales case and the links between Ms Thomson and Ms Kirkwood.

6 October - Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland confirms the police investigation could be widened to encompass anyone suspected of criminality in the Hales transactions.