Solicitor’s dishonesty could cost compensation fund £600,000


Costs: Solicitor made round sum transfers

A sole practitioner who admitted dishonesty misappropriating £100,000 of client money could end up costing the compensation fund over £600,000, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) has said.

The SDT heard that Elizabeth Marion Emberton’s motive was funding her business, and she tried to conceal what she was doing by false accounting.

It comes on the back of a case we reported last week from which the cost to the compensation fund could be £900,000.

In an agreement with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), Ms Emberton, born in 1948 and qualified in 1972, accepted she had breached a position of trust.

“Her actions were planned – when she needed money for the business she would either just transfer monies from client account to office account or raise an invoice, regardless as to whether it was properly due and whether there were sufficient monies in that particular client account.

“The respondent has caused harm to clients in using their money to run her business. The respondent attempted to conceal the misconduct by false accounting.”

Ms Emberton admitted dishonestly misappropriating client money to a value of £99,900 and making “round sum transfers on account of costs” to a value of £328,800.

The SDT said it noted that the total shortage on client account “could exceed £600,000 based on claims made on the compensation fund”.

Ms Emberton’s misconduct was discovered after the SRA received a qualified accountant’s report for her firm, Emberton Solicitors, based in Enfield, Middlesex.

The SRA closed Embertons in October 2016, suspending Ms Emberton’s practising certificate.

The sole practitioner’s agreement with the SRA stated: “She had a scheme in place where she would improperly subsidise office bank account with client monies.

“False invoices would be raised on ledgers for clients where funds were usually available, but no physical bills were prepared, and the funds improperly transferred from client bank account to office bank account.”

The SRA’s investigation officer found that 67 unjustified invoices had been raised from nine client files she examined.

The SDT noted that Ms Emberton was dealing with “extremely challenging circumstances” during the time of her misconduct, which had a “negative impact on her heavy workload and how she was coping with her responsibilities at the firm”.

The sole practitioner said she was “suffering from stress and depression, but did not realise it” and she had “employed staff who made financial mistakes”.

However, she “did not seek to contend that her circumstances affected her decision making to the extent that she did not appreciate that her actions were dishonest”.

Finding that there were no exceptional circumstances which would justify a lesser sanction than striking off, the SDT commented: “This was a sad case, in which the respondent’s long and otherwise unblemished career was brought to a dishonourable end.”

The SDT ordered that Ms Emberton be struck off the roll and ordered to pay £29,200 in costs.





Leave a Comment

By clicking Submit you consent to Legal Futures storing your personal data and confirm you have read our Privacy Policy and section 5 of our Terms & Conditions which deals with user-generated content. All comments will be moderated before posting.

Required fields are marked *
Email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Blog


GEO – the impact of AI on digital marketing for law firms

GEO represents the biggest change in online business generation that I can remember. You cannot afford to stick with the same old engine optimisation techniques.


What the law can learn from fintech’s onboarding revolution

Client onboarding has always been slow. It’s not just about the paperwork and manual workflows; it’s also about those long AML checks and verifications.


Civil enforcement – progress at last with CJC report

‘When do I get my money?’ is a question that litigators acting for successful parties are used to fielding. The value of judgments is of course in the recovery made.


Loading animation