Stamp: Solicitor certified ID documents
The head of commercial property at a law firm who certified a client’s ID documents as true and complete copies without seeing the originals has been struck off.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) said it was “not persuaded” by Nicholas Andrew Jackson’s claim that he was “coerced” into making admissions by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).
Mr Jackson, a solicitor at Chester firm Cullimore Dutton, denied certifying ID documents for Person A as ‘true and complete copies of the original documents’ without seeing the originals.
The tribunal heard that during the SRA’s initial investigation, Mr Jackson “admitted twice that he did not see the original documents”.
However, he argued at the tribunal that “he felt bullied and trapped into making untrue admissions” during an investigation by his law firm and “pressurised” by the SRA “into making statements that did not reflect his genuine belief at the time of events in question”.
The SDT said it did not accept that the law firm’s investigation had been “tainted by coercion” and Mr Jackson had not challenged its fairness at the time.
“His admissions there aligned with those made to the regulator and were therefore reliable.”
The tribunal also rejected an application made on the eve of the hearing by Mr Jackson, who represented himself, to stay the proceedings as an abuse of process by the SRA.
Mr Jackson, who qualified in 2002, was head of commercial property at Cullimore Dutton between June 2021 and January 2023.
He acted for a company in a property purchase in May 2022. Person A, who had significant control of it, emailed a copy of his passport and his driving licence to Mr Jackson. Company A needed a mortgage and the lender’s solicitors asked Mr Jackson to send photo identification certified by his firm.
Mr Jackson responded by attaching a copy of the passport and driving licence, which he dated as being certified on 6 July 2022 with the name of the firm.
A file review by Cullimore Dutton found no information about whether he had seen the original documents before certification.
The law firm launched an investigation. Mr Jackson said he had known Person A for many years and he took “a commercial approach to the certification”. In January 2023, he was dismissed and reported to the SRA.
The SDT rejected the solicitor’s assertion that he had seen the originals during a WhatsApp video call with Person A, finding on the balance of probabilities that no such call had taken place.
It was satisfied that Mr Jackson “had not met Person A in person to inspect the originals at any point between May and July 2022, as he had been required to do to carry out a true certification”.
The SDT described him as “an experienced property lawyer aware of the significance of proper certification and the safeguards it gives”.
It said: “His motivation was unclear though it may have been to smooth the process along without following the correct procedure in order to minimise any possible delay.
“His failure to certify the documents in the correct way could have been nothing but a planned course of action.”
He was struck off and ordered to pay £30,480 in costs.