SDT: Deliberate and repeated misconduct
A private client lawyer who billed clients for work he had not done has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT).
Nicholas Devlin authorised the transfer of around £216,000 from client accounts over almost three years to pay for bills that had never been sent to clients or paying parties.
The SDT said Mr Devlin, who worked at Carlisle-based Cartmell Shepherd, “actively sought to suppress the discovery” of irregularities.
When questioned by the law firm about aged debts, he “instructed the credit control team to suppress the chasing of 31 out of 37 matters”.
The SDT said he later “admitted he ‘was burying his head in the sand’, fearing that sending the bills would trigger client contact and requests for progress he had not made”.
Mr Devlin, admitted as a solicitor in 2015, began work as an associate in the wills and probate department at Cartmell Shepherd in 2019. The tribunal said the lawyer, who admitted dishonesty, no longer worked there.
In a statement of agreed facts and outcome, approved by the SDT, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) said Cartmell Shepherd was able to identify and rectify the issues caused, meaning no client suffered financial loss – but there had been “a significant risk” of it.
It came to light in July 2022 that Mr Devlin had been creating time records that were “inaccurate, misleading and in excess of time actually spent”.
Cartmell Shepherd’s credit control and debt recovery team sent him a list of aged debts in 37 matters, totalling over £55,000, and asked if there was anything credit control could “actively chase”.
He replied, referring to only six cases. Credit control asked: “Is everything else to be suppressed?”. He answered: “Please for now”.
But, going through Mr Devlin’s old debts when working out his bonus, his head of department picked up on his “worrying pattern” of billing early on and then not doing the work.
Quizzed about his files in January 2023, Mr Devlin said he recorded 90 units in one matter for letters to over 50 beneficiaries that he had not actually done.
The following month, he admitted to nine matters where he had “recorded time, and raised bills, without having done the actual work” and a further five where “it appeared that he had not done the corresponding work”.
Mr Devlin admitted acting dishonestly by creating records between March 2020 and November 2022 that were misleading about the time he spent on the client matters against which they were recorded.
He admitted acting with a lack of integrity over the same period by “authorising the withdrawal of client monies without having sent corresponding invoices to the relevant client or paying party”.
When questioned as part of his firm’s disciplinary process, the solicitor said: “The actions I took were not for personal financial gain, they were to try to keep on or near billing targets…
“I felt my workload was being continuously increased and I struggled to cope. With hindsight I recognise that I should have said something to the firm, but I did not feel strong enough to.”
However, Jonathan Carroll, director and COLP at Cartmell Shepherd, told the SRA that Mr Devlin had “never been under undue pressure and has himself requested increased fee targets (and salary to go with them)”.
Despite being authorised to “stop taking new work, to stop taking work he saw as disruptive or unproductive, to block out his diary, and to use additional support staff”, he had “come forward on occasions requesting more work”.
The agreed statement put forward strike-off as the sanction and the SDT said: “Given the deliberate and repeated nature of his misconduct, the tribunal concluded that striking off was the only appropriate sanction, there being no exceptional circumstances.”
Mr Devlin was also ordered to pay £10,000 in costs.
Leave a Comment