Employment partner Mark Mansell was due to be prosecuted over his role in a high-profile non-disclosure agreement involving the disgraced Harvey Weinstein.
By Jemma Slingo2021-01-08T11:11:00+00:00
A solicitor who caused a £20,400 shortfall on his firm’s client account and lied to the regulator has been struck off by the disciplinary tribunal.
Chidi Umezurike, admitted in 2005, was sole principal of Kent-based firm CK Law Limited when he made improper transfers and retrospectively amended ledgers in order to keep the firm trading.
According to findings by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, Umezurike also ‘knowingly lied’ to the regulator about judgment debts during an investigation and allowed a shortfall of at least £20,433 to exist on the firm’s client account. The shortfall was caused by client money, in the form of unpaid professional disbursements, not being paid or transferred to the account.
By John Hyde2021-01-07T11:09:00+00:00
An inexperienced solicitor who admitted dishonestly amending an email to cover a mistake has been handed a temporary ban from the profession.
Harina Zoey Panesar-Jagdev was suspended for six months after it was accepted by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal that her case fell into the ‘small residual category’ where striking off would be a disproportionate sanction.
Her suspension was rubber-stamped by the tribunal after the solicitor and Solicitors Regulation Authority agreed on the outcome.
The tribunal heard that Panesar-Jagdev, now 31, had been qualified for two years when she acted for a client in 2018 over the sale of a leasehold flat. At the time she had been working for Bradford firm LCF Residential.