A solicitor of almost 30 years who misled his clients about the progress of their £200,000 claim and missed crucial court deadlines has been struck off.

SDT-sign

Philip Burbidge made no attempt to explain his conduct and did not engage either with the Solicitors Regulation Authority investigation or the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal hearing last month.

The tribunal said it was not clear why Burbidge had tried to cover the lack of activity on his clients’ case, but it was likely he failed to make progress and matters then ‘spiralled away’ from him.

Burbidge, 59, had worked as a consultant solicitor with south-west firm Battens when he was issued proceedings in 2016 on behalf of two clients in a construction dispute. He wrote to say the firm was awaiting a response from the defendants to various protocol letters when he knew this information was false: the letters were not sent for another two months.

Defendant representatives started to enquire why matters were not progressing, but Burbidge failed to comply with requests. An unless order was made giving the claimant until 2 March to file and serve the case, but this was not filed in time.

In October 2018 the defendant successfully applied to strike out the claim, with Burbidge’s clients ordered to pay more than £100,000 in costs.

The tribunal heard that Burbidge failed to inform his clients about a stay in proceedings and then the applications for unless orders. He wrote to the clients with an update on the strike-out two weeks after the hearing and left on sick leave the same day.  He did not return to the firm.

Lawyers pursuing a professional negligence claim on behalf of the clients made a report in 2019 to the SRA regarding Burbidge’s conduct.

The tribunal found the solicitor had been dishonest with his clients and consistently failed to respond to communications from the defendants. Instead he chose to repeatedly provide inadequate responses that resulted in the claims being struck out.

The tribunal added: ‘As an experienced solicitor, he would have been aware of the risks associated with failing to respond to communications from the other side in ongoing litigation and court hearings, and of failing to respond to another parties without prejudice offer within the stipulated time frame; it was unreasonable to take such risks.’

Burbidge, a solicitor since 1995, was struck off and ordered to pay £16,600 in costs.

Topics