Richard Herne & Co: One of Kingly’s trading names
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has imposed its largest-ever fine, just shy of £4m, on the former non-solicitor owner of collapsed law firm Kingly Solicitors.
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 have revealed 310 improper transfers from client accounts to companies linked to Nurul Miah, causing a shortfall on the firm’s client account of over £10m.
The SRA said: “These were used for inappropriate purposes such as loan repayments and to buy assets unrelated to the business. The SRA also uncovered forged statements attempting to conceal these unauthorised transactions.”
It has passed its findings and supporting evidence to law enforcement.
As Kingly was an alternative business structure, the SRA is able to fine individuals who worked there up to £50m; had it been a traditional firm, the limit would have been £25,000 and the SRA would have had to refer him to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, which has unlimited fining powers.
The SRA said a fine was appropriate “to remove the direct benefit Mr Miah received as a result of his conduct”.
It placed his conduct at the very top of its fining guidance, meaning it was not linked to his income, given that Mr Miah’s actions were “intentional”, involved the misuse of client money, and caused “significant harm both to clients and personnel at the firm”.
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 last year, but the SRA does not take likelihood of payment into account when setting fines given the importance of deterrence. All fines are paid to HM Treasury.
The biggest fine previously handed out by the SRA was £232,000 to London firm Mishcon de Reya in 2022 for anti-money laundering rules breaches.
The biggest fine issued by the tribunal to date is £500,000, separately to City firm Clyde & Co and US firm Locke Lord, and the biggest for an individual is £305,000 to solicitor Nigel Harvie.
The SRA has also disqualified another non-solicitor, Lalou Tifrit, who was a consultant assisting Mr Miah and is not a solicitor, from working in a regulated firm without SRA permission
It said that he “caused or allowed client money to be improperly withdrawn from the firm’s client accounts”. He currently works at The Surprise Pub Company Ltd.
Colin Buckingham, also a non-solicitor and Kingly’s head of finance and administration, has been disqualified from holding that post in another SRA-regulated firm without its permission. He currently works at Greystone Solicitors in Luton.
He “failed to identify and/or prevent the improper withdrawal of client money from the firm’s client accounts” but the SRA said he “did not act with a lack of integrity or dishonesty”.
Finally, solicitor Simon Hutcheson, who was a manager at the firm from August 2019 and Kingly’s head of legal practice from March to August 2020, was fined £26,766 for the same failure as Mr Buckingham, 65% of his annual gross income.
The figure was then reduced by 20% to reflect his co-operation with the SRA and help in preventing further harm to client money. He currently works at Hawkfield Homes.
The SRA accepted that the shortfall was “not intentional” on Mr Hutcheson’s part and that he did not direct the improper withdrawals, nor did he benefit from them.
“Although Mr Hutcheson was an experienced solicitor, the culture at the firm was toxic and chaotic,” it went on. “Mr Hutcheson was a director and compliance officer at the firm but had limited control over its operations.”
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, last year’s consumer protection review.
One of the largest interventions in the SRA’s history, the SRA collected 220,000 files from the various offices, including more than 90,000 wills and deeds, and secured £22.5m of client money.
SRA chief executive Paul Philip said: ‘Mr Miah’s dishonesty impacted thousands of people. We stepped in to safeguard their interests – closing the firm, securing files and returning money to clients.
“This action concludes our investigations. We have made sure law enforcement are being provided with all the relevant evidence to consider. Meanwhile, we continue to review how best to protect client funds, with further steps to be announced later this year.”
Mr Miah was also ordered to pay costs of £41,670, Mr Tifrit £28,230, and Mr Buckingham and Mr Hutcheson £1,350 each.
Yet when my friend complained to SRA about financial abuse against her deed by a solicitor and his cronies who forged her deeds and stole her money and property the SRA did nothing. So what this game of some solicitors being above the Law and whose palms did they grease?