An experienced solicitor who asked firm clients to pay fees into his personal bank account has been struck off the roll.
Guy Hurst, admitted in 1997, received sums of £2,000 and £5,000 while he was working for south east firm Eric Robinson Solicitors, later explaining he needed the money to pay for his divorce and medical treatment for his son.
After his departure from that firm he joined consultancy firm Keystone Solicitors, where he repeated the misconduct, receiving £3,000 directly from a client. Hurst had also misled Keystone by stating he was not subject to any Solicitors Regulation Authority regulatory investigation.
Hurst declined to play any part in disciplinary proceedings and was not present for his one-day hearing at the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal in June.
The tribunal found that Hurst had provided incentives to clients to pay funds to his personal account and gave no explanation to them of the consequences. He had acted alone and was solely responsible for his actions.
‘The respondent’s motivation had been his financial difficulties and personal gain,’ said the ruling. ‘The tribunal further considered that the respondent was a very experienced solicitor with more than 25 years of experience and that the respondent’s misconduct in requesting and receiving funds from clients to his personal account had been planned and deliberate and repeated for at least three times.’
According to the judgment, a former client had emailed Eric Robinson in 2021 regarding a £2,000 payment made to Hurst. The client had already been invoiced for £5,000 by Hurst – well in excess of the original £700 fee estimate. There was no record of any extra work being done by Hurst, and he later admitted to the firm that he had needed the money.
Another client was invoiced for ‘professional services in connection with the sale of property’ but this was not made with an Eric Robinson Solicitors letterhead.
Keystone had asked Hurst to sign a compliance agreement when he joined stating he was not subject to disciplinary procedures. He omitted to mention the SRA investigation but was found out when he mentioned it in response to an application form to join a bank panel portal used by residential conveyancers. Keystone reviewed Hurst’s files and found the extra £3,000 payment from one client, which the firm has since paid back.
Hurst was struck off and ordered to pay £6,282 costs.
