The Solicitors Regulation Authority held a solicitor disciplinary tribunal hearing recently into the actions of Paul Ireland.
The respondent was sanctioned as the sole practitioner of Paul Ireland Solicitors, based on Manchester Road, having admitted failings.
He can remain practicing if he abides by the terms of a restriction order for the next two years.
It was alleged that he failed to comply with an order of the tribunal dated September 10, 2020, and in doing so breached principles of the code of conduct for solicitors.
Another alleged breach was that he maintained books of account where a cash shortage of £38,988.61 existed as of January 31, 2022.
The panel further alleged that transferred a client’s money from a client account to an office account on seven occasions, without first delivering a bill or other written notification of costs to the client.
Moreover, it was alleged that he failed to take adequate steps to ensure his compliance with the firm’s regulatory obligations, and that the firm complied with September 2020 tribunal order.
The panel heard that, due to Ireland’s failure to comply with the tribunal’s order, the SRA commenced a new forensic investigation of the firm at the beginning of 2022, which identified a number of breaches of SRA accounts rules.
The previous order was imposed after he was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay a further £10,000 in costs for a catalogue of accounts errors, as he was ‘unable to take control’ of his company accounts and admitted not knowing interest should be paid back to clients.
A solicitor disciplinary tribunal heard he failed to keep client ledgers, a cashbook or carry out reconciliations for two years from spring 2016 until he hired a bookkeeper in February 2018.
The hearing outcome for his latest failures states: “The tribunal found the level of seriousness of the respondent’s misconduct to be high.
“His culpability involved improper transfers from the client account to the office account, as well as a failing to comply with an order of the Tribunal.
“The respondent, as the sole owner and manager of the firm, was in direct control of the client account and was aware, or should have been aware, of shortages which had persisted from the date of the previous report.
“The respondent was an experienced solicitor who would have been expected to understand and comply with the requirements of SRA accounts rules in his role.”
The tribunal assessed that the respondent’s repeated breaches SRA accounts rules had caused harm not only to Client A, but to the reputation of the profession.
“Client money is sacrosanct. The respondent’s failure to comply with the earlier order also had the potential of undermining the authority of the tribunal, and diminishing public trust and confidence in the profession,” an outcome report states.
“The tribunal concluded that the respondent did not appear to have gained any insight into his conduct, nor had he attempted to refresh or improve his knowledge of SRA account rules to avoid future breaches.
“In order to protect the public and the reputation of the profession from future harm, the tribunal considered the appropriate sanction to be a period of suspension on the respondent’s ability to practice.”
Ireland has been suspended from practice for a year, bus suspended for two years should he comply with the terms of a restriction order, and ordered to pay agreed costs of £27,000.