Case Study: Solicitor before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal accused of dishonesty
Steve Roberts from our Professional Disciplinary team was instructed to advise and represent a solicitor, who following an SRA investigation, faced a hearing before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal into allegations of dishonesty.
Background:
The solicitor was a senior associate in a private client team of a large East Midlands based firm. The allegations against her was that she had sent correspondence to her client’s relatives, which she knew was misleading by omission, in relation to the dates that the client’s application for lasting powers of attorneys had been sent to the Office of Public Guardian. The allegations included dishonesty and as such, had they been found proven, the client would likely have been struck off the Roll of Solicitors, therefore ending her career.
Our Approach:
The allegations were denied by our client. Steve worked tirelessly preparing detailed responses, witness statements and collated numerous detailed character testimony. Steve worked collaboratively with specialist Counsel, Kevin Saunders, on legal arguments and representations that the client’s correspondence had been truthful and accurate and that dishonesty by omission was not consistent with legal principles in the leading case of dishonesty in Ivey.
The Outcome:
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal believed our client’s evidence regarding her belief at the time of the correspondence and also found that the correspondence was factually correct. The Tribunal accepted that our client was working under a significant workload, with limited administrative support, managing not only her own caseload, but also supervising a wider team. Following a three day hearing, the Tribunal were persuaded that there had been no misconduct, so the allegations were therefore dismissed and no costs order made.
The outcome was particularly satisfying as the client had previously been advised both other leading professional discipline solicitors that she should make at least partial admission. Our tenacious approach certainly paid off much to the delight of our client, who now retains an unblemished record as a solicitor.
