Richard Herne & Co: One of Kingly’s trading names
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has banned the former owner of collapsed law firm Kingly Solicitors from working in financial services.
The order is based on the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) to fine Nurul Miah, also known as Neil Mia and Neil Miah, a record £4m.
The SRA decision – which also included banning him from working at a law firm – was made in September 2024 but only published in May 2025.
The FCA had approved Mr Miah as a senior manager of Oracle Consultants, a company providing investment services to retail clients, since 2016. In April 2017, the SRA approved him as the sole owner of the unconnected Kingly.
The 16-office firm – which had grown rapidly through acquisition – was shut down by the regulator in 2020 following serious concerns about the misuse of client funds.
This put 180 staff out of work and left creditors owed £17m.
Investigations revealed 310 improper transfers totalling £28m from client accounts to companies linked to Mr Miah, causing a shortfall on the firm’s client account of over £10m.
The SRA said that, although Mr Miah was not a solicitor, “he was an experienced professional in financial services” and exercised “considerable control” over the firm’s operations.
Mr Miah was made bankrupt in 2024, but the SRA does not take likelihood of payment into account when setting fines given the importance of deterrence.
The FCA order withdraws its approval of Mr Miah’s role at Oracle and prohibits him from “performing any function in relation to any regulated activity carried on by an authorised person, exempt person or exempt professional firm”.
Mr Miah had 28 days to challenge the decision but did not do so.
The FCA said he was not a fit and proper person to handle regulated activities: “Mr Miah’s misconduct demonstrates a clear and serious lack of honesty and integrity such that he is not fit and proper to perform regulated activities.”
Therese Chambers, the FCA’s executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said: “Mr Miah dishonestly used client money for his own benefit. He has no place in financial services. We have banned him to protect consumers and help maintain confidence in the financial system.”
Kingly Solicitors, which changed its name in 2019 from RH Legal, traded under several different names around the country: Richard Herne & Co, Hancock Quins, Austin Ray, Ray Nixon Brown, Beesons, Coles, Hughmans, and Giffen Couch & Archer.
It was the first of the consolidator collapses of recent years, followed by the likes of Metamorph Law and Axiom Ince, and contributed to the pressure on the SRA compensation fund and, in turn, the SRA’s consumer protection review.
One of the largest interventions in the SRA’s history, it collected 220,000 files from the various offices, including more than 90,000 wills and deeds, and secured £22.5m of client money.
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