SDT: Conditions on solicitor’s return to practice
A solicitor who practised as a sole practitioner for over three years without authorisation after her partner left has been suspended for nine months.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) described Michelle Niaz as “an experienced solicitor who was aware of her regulatory responsibilities” and had the procedural knowledge required to replace a partner, as she had done previously.
As well as her “overarching duties as a solicitor”, Ms Niaz was COLP and COFA of Lewis Mitchell Solicitors in Lancashire and “therefore had enhanced specific responsibilities to ensure compliance”.
The tribunal heard that Ms Niaz, 53, qualified at Lewis Mitchell in 2015, becoming a partner the year after.
Ms Niaz had various partners at the firm, the last of whom left in January 2020. He was not replaced, leaving her as the sole partner.
In a statement of agreed facts and outcome, approved by the SDT, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) said it had told Ms Niaz in March 2020 that, if wanted to practise as a sole practitioner, she needed its approval – the effect of the partner’s departure was that the firm was no longer regulated.
The regulator wrote to her again in January 2023, asking her to submit a new authorisation application as soon as possible. In response she applied for authorisation for a new firm, Lewis Mitchell Ltd.
The SRA pointed out that her current firm had practised without authorisation since January 2020 and said it was minded to refuse the application, which she withdrew.
Ms Niaz told the SRA that she had carried out reserved activities and provided a list of conveyancing matters where this had happened.
Lewis Mitchell Solicitors closed in September 2023 and the SRA granted authorisation for Lewis Mitchell Ltd two months later.
Ms Niaz admitted the allegations against her, with the exception of recklessness, which the SRA agreed to withdraw.
As well as practising as a sole practitioner without authorisation from January 2020 to September 2023, she admitted holding client money during that period.
The SRA’s investigating officer established that, at the end of January 2023, Ms Niaz had a balance of £1.3m in her client account.
The solicitor also admitted failing to maintain proper accounting records between 2016 and 2023.
The SRA said Ms Niaz failed to obtain accountants’ reports for six years from 2016 to 2022. When she did so retrospectively and gave them to the SRA in 2024, they were all qualified by her failure to carry out reconciliations.
In mitigation, she said that a solicitor she had expected to supervise and support her had unexpectedly left the business in 2016, and said the breaches arose from misunderstanding and inexperience – not any intention to avoid her regulatory obligations.
The start of the period also coincided with the pandemic, which made recruiting a new partner “exceptionally difficult”.
The solicitor was suspended for nine months, after which the SDT ordered that conditions should be imposed preventing her from being a sole practitioner, partner or member in a law firm, and a compliance officer. She is not permitted to hold client money either.
Ms Niaz was ordered to pay costs of £22,140.
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