Solicitor Struck Off for Misusing Clients Funds

Tue, 26 May 2009

A woman has been banned from practising as a solicitor after being found to have deliberately and improperly used clients’ funds for herself. Susan Neville from Bognor Regis was found to have used nearly £450,000 of her clients’ money for herself, for the benefit of third parties and for swapping clients’ funds between accounts. A solicitors disciplinary tribunal labelled the accounts at the former Neville and Jones Partnership law firm as chaotic, though her partner, Thomas Jones, avoided being struck off.

Mrs Neville was ordered to pay £24,800 in legal costs, whilst Mr Jones received a £5,000 fine and ordered to pay £2,700 costs. The findings follow a three year long investigation after the Law Society initiated action against the firm in March 2006. An examination of the lawyers accounts revealed cash shortages on client accounts totalling £445,863.44 between January 8th 2004 and August 31st 2006.

Mrs Neville admitted she had been wrong to use the funds, but insisted that no clients lost any money as a result of her actions. Instead, she claimed to have borrowed the money to pay off VAT, and pointed to a breakdown caused by various events in her personal life as the cause for her actions.
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