Conveyancer offered discounts - to clients paying him directly

A salaried partner who persuaded clients to pay into his personal bank account has been banned from the profession.

Philip Harris was found to have provided nine different clients with his own account details for work he had completed on behalf of Milton Keynes firm Gough Thorne.

Harris was a newly-qualified licensed conveyancer who joined the firm in May 2020 as a member of the LLP. From August 2021 to December 2021, he was employed as a salaried partner.

A routine firm audit found that from February 2021 onwards, Harris told clients he could cut costs if they paid him directly. On five occasions he gave his personal account details on the firm’s headed paper as he offered huge discounts.

The firm dismissed Harris following an internal investigation and reported him to the Solicitors Regulation Authority. 

In an agreed outcome with the SRA, Harris admitted receiving payments and that his conduct was dishonest. He had cooperated with the investigation and returned the monies owed to the firm.

The SRA said: ‘Mr Harris has demonstrated a concerning pattern of behaviour. This conduct was not isolated as it has been repeated on nine separate occasions. If Mr Harris continued to work in a legal practice, there is a serious risk this conduct might occur again. If such conduct were to be repeated in the future, it would pose a risk to client money and clients and/or the legal practice could be disadvantaged.’

Harris was made subject to a section 43 order preventing him from working for any regulated firm. He agreed to pay £675 costs.

Last November, an adjudication panel disqualified Harris as a licensed conveyancer for four years, ruling that while he had been dishonest he was also young and inexperienced at the time and in a position of seniority and responsibility ‘which far outweighed his abilities and understanding’.