A junior solicitor was struck off the roll after he was found to have misdated lasting powers of attorney.
Mathew Roy Church, admitted to the roll in September 2019, was in practice as a solicitor at Harvey Copping & Harrison LLP, in Canvey Island, having qualified with the firm. He was working in the wills and probate department at the time. He left the firm of his own volition in March 2022 to work for another firm.
In an agreed outcome, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found three allegations of misconduct proved, which Church admitted his conduct was dishonest. A fourth charge was also found proved and Church admitted his conduct in relation to that was reckless.
The SDT judgment said Church’s admissions in relation to dishonest conduct meant ‘the only appropriate and proportionate sanction’ was to strike Church, who was 26 at the time of the events, off the roll.
Church admitted allowing lasting powers of attorney (LPA) for his clients to be submitted to the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) which were signed and dated by the donors and attorney on the dates stated in the lasting powers when he knew the dates were misleading in relation to three clients.
He also informed another client, who approached the firm to obtain a health and welfare LPA for his mother, that the application had been submitted to the OPG 20 weeks earlier ‘when he knew or ought to known that such an assertion was misleading’.
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In non-agreed mitigation, Church said he had gained no material personal benefit from his actions, was newly qualified with 1-2 years PQE, felt ‘poorly trained’, and had no problems in relation to any LPAs since joining a new firm.
Church was struck off the roll and ordered to pay £1,000 costs.
Harvey Copping & Harrison Solicitors said it ‘strenuously refuted’ the criticisms made by Church of the firm in his non-agreed mitigation.
