[1]Closure: SRA eventually had to intervene in the practice
A solicitor who repeatedly failed to complete a firm closure notification (FCN) – whilst holding onto his clients’ files, wills and money after his practice shut down – has been suspended for two years.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard that Grenville Royston Young was a sole practitioner based in Portsmouth, from 1996.
In October 2019, he told the SRA he intended to close his firm on 31 March 2020 and become a freelance solicitor. But he failed to send an FCN to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and ignored repeated requests to do so for two years.
When he finally did in March 2022, it revealed he had kept £17,900 in his firm’s client account, two live files and 50 wills and deeds. But there was no run-off cover in place.
At an SDT hearing in April, Mr Young, who qualified in 1981 and specialised in wills, probate and property, was accused of failing to co-operate with the SRA’s investigations between November 2019 and April 2023, and failing to co-operate with the SRA and its agents following its intervention into his practice.
The hearing proceeded in his absence, as he had failed to engage with the process.
The SRA sent numerous emails and letters to Mr Young from November 2019, asking him to complete an FCN, and reminding him of his regulatory obligations. Most were ignored.
Mr Young told the SRA he would only respond to letters, not emails. Then when the SRA posted “numerous” letters and documents relating to the case, he refused to take delivery of them.
He mentioned facing “significant health difficulties”, but failed to produce any medical evidence.
And when SRA investigators visited his Mr Young’s home, he told them to “go away”.
On 17 January 2022, the SRA gave Mr Young one week to submit his FCN, or his case would be referred to the SRA investigators. He wrote back the next day saying he “underwent a serious operation” in November 2021 and would “complete the FCN when he was well enough to do so”.
After he finally sent the FCN in March 2022, the SRA asked why he was still holding client money and live files, but Mr Young ignored each request.
The files, he said, “were being stored in a self-storage unit in Portsmouth until they could be properly shredded”.
In April 2023, the SRA resolved to intervene in the practice but Mr Young ignored the notice which explicitly stated he should not withdraw any client money, withdrawing hundreds of pounds and even using the firm’s debit card to pay for shopping at Morrisons.
He subsequently claimed that he had not practised through the firm and instead had been a locum for others.
The SRA told the tribunal: “He flagrantly prioritised his own interests over those of his clients.”
The SDT ruled both allegations were proved, and also found aggravating factors in the case.
“Mr Young’s conduct was deliberate, calculated and repeated as two years passed before he filed the FCN. He failed to deal with outstanding issues which resulted in the intervention.”
Mr Young was suspended for two years, fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £11,900. “The immediate suspension reflected a conclusion that Mr Young’s conduct was objectively wrong, professionally inadequate, and deserving of one of the most severe sanctions available to the tribunal,” it said.
The tribunal said the case also “presented a warning that experienced professionals could make serious errors in judgment”.
It went on: “Solicitors have a duty of care to their clients even after deciding to cease operating a firm, and solicitors cannot afford to forget or simply not meet this obligation.
“As legal professionals, they should ensure they have retained professional objectivity and seek help from the regulator where there was a danger of such objectivity being compromised.”