Interventions: Two claims firms a mile apart in Liverpool
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has closed down four law firms this week, two of which were both consumer claim practices in Liverpool.
The other two were both connected to a solicitor recently accused of ‘warehousing’ a claim.
The SRA said it has intervened in Langton Law, and the practice of sole director Kathryn Langton, over her failure to comply with SRA Principles, code of conduct and the accounts rules.
It was only established in April 2023 and specialised in housing disrepair, undisclosed commissions, and employers and public liability claims. The firm listed six other members of staff on its website.
According to Companies House, Ms Langton, who qualified in 2009, was also a director of McDermott Smith for two years until 26 March 2024. McDermott Smith, which handled volume consumer claims, collapsed into administration in July.
BPS Solicitors, located less than a mile away from Langton Law, was closed down on the basis that it and director Alistair Kenyon Davies had “failed to comply with the rules applicable to them as a manager of the firm, and the firm itself”.
BPS handled housing disrepair, mis-sold financial products, undisclosed commissions and business energy claims, as well as private client work.
Mr Kenyon is an experienced solicitor who qualified in 1988 – and the SRA has intervened in his personal practice too – and the website listed three other solicitors on the team.
Meanwhile, the SRA has intervened in the practice of Sadhana Sodi of central London firm Denning Sotomayor – which it has closed down too – saying it had “reason to suspect dishonesty by Ms Soni as a manager of the firm”. She was its sole director.
She had also failed to comply with the SRA principles and accounts rules, it alleged.
This meant the SRA also shut down Jaoim Ltd, of which she was also a manager. There is no record on Companies House of a company with this name, however.
We reported last week that the High Court struck out a counterclaim brought by Ms Soni and Denning Sotomayor on the basis that they had ‘warehoused’ it until the claim against them was “done and dusted”.
In a ruling from 16 July but only published last week, Master Davison said the “inference of tactical warehousing” was not rebutted because the firm paid security for costs into court and applied to re-amend the counterclaim six years ago.
The firm and the solicitor were “in serious breach of the overriding objective”, Master Davison concluded.
Back in 2017, Western Avenue Properties Ltd and Kalpesh Patel obtained an interim injunction to restrain Ms Soni, who had been their in-house lawyer for 11 months before setting up Denning Sotomayor, from acting for a particular client because of the confidentiality obligations she owed them.
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