Solicitors

A jailed solicitor involved in the UK’s biggest ever tax fraud must repay £3m of his ill-gotten gains or face a further nine years in prison, a judge at the Old Bailey has ruled.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has written to 6,500 law firms asking them to make a declaration that they have a firm-wide risk assessment complying with the anti-money laundering regulations.

A solicitor who took client payments into his own bank account rather than through the virtual law firm he worked for has agreed to leave the profession for at least five years. The firm lost £50,000 as a result.

A solicitor who stole thousands from friends he acted for and laundered money stolen from a grandmother has been jailed.

A solicitor who spent £46,600 of a disabled client’s interim payments on costs and disbursements instead of on rehabilitation, has been fined £50,000 by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has savaged two witnesses who gave evidence on behalf of the Solicitors Regulation Authority against a Yorkshire sole practitioner.

A solicitor who helped himself to almost £88,000 from a dementia victim for whom he was acting under a power of attorney has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

A solicitor has been sanctioned for sending a client a cheque for his damages which bounced – one of four regulatory settlement agreements reached by the SRA with solicitors and a firm.

A partner who said she felt “threatened and intimidated” by clients who would not accept her advice to discontinue has been struck off for lying about the progress of their cases.

A partner who misled beneficiaries about the progress of a case to resolve a dispute over estate assets and then found himself “too embarrassed” to tell them the truth has been struck off.