SRA: Solicitor showed no remorse
A solicitor who paid out money he was holding, having given an undertaking not to do so, has been fined a third of his annual income by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).
However, this only led to a fine of nearly £3,500 for “a reckless disregard for his regulatory obligations and for the risk of harm to the other party”.
Godwin Ehujor is a consultant solicitor at South London firm Clapham Law and acted for a client in the sale of a property. A separate law firm (Firm B) was instructed to act for the client’s wife in the transaction.
According to a notice published yesterday, Mr Ehujor provided Firm B with an undertaking in January 2020 that Clapham Law would hold the net proceeds of sale in its client account until the parties agreed their respective shares in the proceeds, failing which the matter would be referred to court or arbitration for settlement.
In return, Firm B undertook to remove their client’s matrimonial home rights restriction from the title of the property.
The sale of the property completed the following month but in December 2020, in the absence of agreement between the parties, Mr Ehujor’s client issued proceedings for a declaration as to the beneficial entitlement to the net proceeds of sale.
Almost 16 months later, in May 2022, during a case management conference, the client’s counsel informed the court that he was professionally embarrassed and could no longer act. He said this was because he had been informed that his legal fees had been paid from the net proceeds of sale.
At the direction of the court, evidence provided by the firm showed 16 payments totalling £37,500 had been made, including to the firm and counsel for their fees, for costs orders made against the client in the proceedings, and to the client.
The SRA said this conduct lacked integrity and damaged public trust, and breached the rules on undertakings.
A fine was “an appropriate and proportionate sanction” for what was Mr Ehujor’s “serious failure to comply” with his regulatory obligations. It had continued for a long time and had the potential to cause “serious harm”. The solicitor had also shown “no insight or remorse”.
Applying the SRA’s fining guidance led to a penalty of 32% of his annual gross income and a figure of £3,478. He was also ordered to pay costs of £1,350.
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