A former managing partner who withheld pension contributions to prop up his ailing firm has agreed to be struck off the roll.
Guy Adams, admitted in 1979 and an equity partner with south west firm Pardoes Solicitors, admitted dishonestly allowing employee and firm contributions to be allocated to the office account.
This continued for almost a year and caused the pension arrears to reach more than £57,000 by July 2020. The payments were brought up to date the following year.
Adams also admitted retaining around £7,700 in legal aid payments intended for professional disbursements.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority began investigating the firm after four reports from former and current employees alleging a failure to make pension contributions. The firm’s accounts showed that no payments had been made between September 2019 and July 2020.
Adams, based in the firm’s Bridgewater office, was the compliance officer for finance and administration and told the SRA that problems had started when fee income in the conveyancing team fell, which was then exacerbated by the pandemic. He did not advise the staff of the decision not to pay the pension contributions. He had known that cash flow was an issue and that he authorised the decision to delay payments to use monies for the running of the firm, without consulting his two other equity partners.
On the issue of disbursements, investigators found that funds had been received before November 2019 and still not distributed by May 2021. Adams could not explain why the payments had not been made or transferred back to the client account but he had rectified it as soon as he became aware.
In mitigation, Adams said management of the firm had been split between just three equity partners after the departure of several colleagues. When he took over as managing partner the firm had lost its clinical negligence department and a big slice of its fee income, putting the business under pressure. Adams had ensured that everyone was paid and on occasion did not draw anything for himself.
On the pension payments, he had always intended that the firm would make good any deficiency and no-one had ultimately lost financially. He apologised to all concerned and has retired from practice.
The firm went into administration last year and is in the hands of new owners.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal said Adams had sole and direct control of the decision to withhold pension payments, and that his misconduct was aggravated by his dishonesty and its planned and deliberate nature. Adams was struck off and ordered to pay £6,000 costs.
