Solicitors

A former City partner, struck off twice by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal after challenging its first ruling at the High Court, has failed to overturn the second decision. Mrs Justice Carr said the end of Andrew Shaw’s career was a “professional tragedy” for him.

A sole principal who failed in a rare challenge to an intervention in the High Court last year has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, and ordered to pay over £70,000 in costs. It found that her judgement had been “impaired” by the influence of a “significant client”, who was also a struck-off solicitor.

Two solicitors have agreed to leave the profession rather than face a strike-off or suspension, one for overcharging estates, the other for not disclosing to either the Solicitors Regulation Authority or Legal Ombudsman that attendance notes on a file had been backdated.

A solicitor who was originally cleared by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has now been fined £5,000 after the decision was overturned by the High Court. It is the latest case involving the Axiom Legal Financing Fund, where solicitors borrowed hundreds of thousands of pounds, ostensibly to fund disbursements in personal injury cases, but instead used the money for general practice funding.

The High Court has imposed a nine-month suspension on a senior solicitor after he successfully appealed his striking-off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. Mrs Justice Carr said the misconduct was serious, but not at the highest level, and also criticised the SRA for the delay in bringing the case and some of the allegations it made.

A solicitor has been sanctioned over the potential conflict of interest of acting where he stood to financially benefit from the proceeds of the transaction he was dealing with while working at a leading London law firm. Separately, an IT worker and business development manager have been banned from the profession after criminal convictions.

A man who set up two fraudulent claims management companies and another who helped him stage car crashes have been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison between them. The City of London Police has thanked the solicitors targeted by the fraudulent referrals for their co-operation.

A City law firm shut down by the Solicitors Regulation Authority last month after its conduct had been referred to the regulator by the Court of Appeal has lost its bid to overturn the intervention. Mr Justice Newey said the risks of withdrawing the intervention into Neumans outweighed those of continuing it.

A solicitor who misled the court over the ‘student’ status of a client has been suspended indefinitely by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. The tribunal heard that the client told Mansoor Ali that he had been “paying money to agents” to get certificates from universities, with the aim of getting indefinite leave to remain in the UK.

A conveyancing solicitor has been rebuked and fined £2,000 after he dealt entirely with the daughter of the owner of a property in whose sale he acted, only for it later to emerge the seller had a lasting power of attorney in place that named his son as his attorney.

The Law Society has condemned the Solicitors Regulation Authority over plans to allow workplace training for solicitors to take place in organisations without any solicitors. The society warned that the proposals could “seriously undermine” high standards.

A partner has been struck off for dishonestly settling a personal injury claim for £5,000 without instructions, telling the client it had settled for £60,000, and then paying out the fictitious damages from unrelated client accounts.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has said it cannot explain why the number of interventions into law firms in the first five months of 2017 was twice the figure for the same period last year. The regulator said there was also a “noticeable increase” in the size of firm.

A solicitor who confessed to his law firm that he had faked a letter “within hours” of sending it to a client, has been fined £2,000 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Ian Giddings, based at the Warwick office of national family firm Woolley & Co, admitted creating and backdating the letter.

Reports of cybercrime from law firms reached record levels in the first quarter of this year, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has said. The figures are contained in the regulator’s latest Risk Outlook, which for the first time includes questionable investment schemes involving solicitors.