A former solicitor has appeared in the High Court as a litigant in person to appeal his strike-off.
Admitted in 2019, Jack Grunhut was employed as a consultant solicitor at Middlesex firm Berlad Graham from 2020 to 2022, after working in an equivalent role post-qualification at Taylor Rose TTKW.
Grunhut came before the disciplinary tribunal in December 2023. He was found to have backdated an application for stamp duty land tax relief, taken out loans from clients and received payments for referring clients to a short-term lender.
Grunhut argued that his conduct arose from a lack of supervision and his inexperience. He denied acting dishonestly.
Around June 2020, he drafted and obtained a deed of trust which purported to have been made a year earlier. This was sent to his client, who signed and returned it. Grunhut submitted he had drafted the document to show the client what the deed of trust would have looked like, and believed that the document returned to him had indeed been signed in 2019.
The tribunal found his evidence ‘implausible’ and that he had made no attempt to show the document he created was intended to be a draft.
At the High Court on Wednesday, Grunhut appeared before Mrs Justice Lang, where he apologised to the court for being unrepresented. ‘I have had extensive advice from counsel that this appeal has high chances of being successful. Counsel gave me a lot of advice for free, but could not prepare and attend the hearing for free and I could not afford to pay’, Grunhut explained.
Turning to the allegations, he said: 'I am extremely embarrassed by my conduct and failures, but the tribunal reached the wrong conclusion in relation to matters, especially in relation to sanction.'
Grunhut argued the SDT appeared to have accepted that the backdated deed of trust was sent to HMRC and relied upon by it, which he said was not correct.
‘Although I accept it was foolish and naive of me to produce it, no-one ever relied on it and it was never submitted,’ Grunhut added.
The case continues.
