Legal Services

A solicitor from East Sussex has been jailed for deceiving clients and stealing more than £1.7 million.

https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2023-04-14/former-solicitor-who-stole-17-million-from-clients-jailed-for-fraud

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) expects to use its proposed new power to demand information from solicitors about economic crime several hundred times a year, it has emerged.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/sra-to-use-new-economic-crime-power-hundreds-of-times-a-year

A disgraced struck-off solicitor has made a “concerted effort” to fraudulently obtain judgment from two courts in a bid to extract money to which he is not entitled, the senior King’s Bench master has ruled.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/ex-solicitor-tried-to-fraudulently-extract-money-from-escrow-account

A partner in a large Midlands law firm, who tried to “trick” an elderly farmer out of part of his protected tenancy in the way he sent notices to quit, has been suspended for a year.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/partner-suspended-for-trying-to-trick-farmer-out-of-tenancy

The insurer of London law firm Jirehouse – whose founder was jailed last year for fraud – has failed its ongoing bid to exclude liability for £6m in losses suffered by a client.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/high-court-solicitor-did-not-condone-partners-16m-fraud

A trainee solicitor who stole more than £100,000 of client compensation to fund a gambling habit – severely damaging the law firm he worked for – has been jailed for two years.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/trainee-jailed-for-using-client-damages-to-fund-gambling-addiction

A solicitor-turned-barrister has been rebuked by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) for sending an offensive email that wished harm or even death on its recipients.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/solicitor-turned-barrister-rebuked-for-offensive-email

An unregistered barrister who defrauded his grandmother of more than £10,000 has been disbarred. Darren Stapleford, called by Inner Temple in November 2012, was convicted at Chichester Crown Court in 2016 of five counts of fraud. He was sentenced to four years imprisonment on each count to be served concurrently and ordered to pay £8,000 in compensation.

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/barrister-who-defrauded-his-grandmother-disbarred/5115399.article#.ZA-G3JdLS6o.twitter

The former director of one of the country’s biggest legal aid firms was today accused of ‘utterly brazen fraud’ against the Legal Aid Agency.

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/sra-accuses-former-legal-aid-boss-of-utterly-brazen-fraud/5115419.article#.ZA-Gm4elX9U.twitter

A solicitor who lost £230,000 of a client’s money by moving it into her personal bank account and then investing in a scheme which turned out to be a scam has been struck off.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/solicitor-lost-230k-of-client-money-after-falling-for-investment-scam