By John Hyde2021-02-19T09:43:00+00:00
A solicitor and pillar of his local community has been struck off after misleading a client for months about an impending payment.
Gregory Stuart Saunders, formerly a partner with national firm Clarke Willmott, misled the client through emails saying that £38,000 settlement monies from a litigation would be paid imminently. In fact, Saunders had sent the client a draft settlement agreement but had not made initial contact with the other party and had not progressed the matter.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard that, in December 2018, Saunders promised the client the money would be ‘like a Christmas present’, but the issue dragged on through to February 2019, when the client complained that nothing had been received.