SRA appeal fine to suspension | SDT lawyer

The Law Society Gazette has reported that the SRA sucessfully appealed against a fine of £2000 that was imposed by the SDT in July 2013. A suspension order was imposed as the sanction was not sufficient to maintain public confidence in the profession.

The Law Society Gazette dated 17th December 2014 has reported on the case of Kamar Uddin, the sole partner in the Birmingham firm of Res Ipsa Solicitors, who was fined £2,000 by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for misconduct in relation to the non payment of an expert witness who had given evidence in relation to a housing repair claim.

Mr Uddin had been made bankrupt in July 2013 so the fine of £10,000 was reduced to £2,000 bearing in mind this was an isolated agreement and the harm done was not sufficiently serious to justfiy suspension.

The case was reported in the SRA regulatory risk committee papers that also showed that there is an increase this year of cases which demonstrate ‘very serious misconduct’. This might explain why practitioners who represent solicitors before the SDT have noticed an increase in requests for advice following a period where the tribunal seemed to be reducing it’s caseload.

Jeremy Barnett is a Barrister in chambers in Leeds and London, who specialises in representing solicitors in relation to SRA matters, including fraud, clients account/escrow accounts, Legal Practice funding [Axiom] and interventions by the SRA.