A solicitor has been suspended by the Solicitors Regulation Authority just a month after a judge ruled that she had warehoused a claim for unpaid fees.
The regulator said there was reason to suspect dishonesty by Sadhana Soni in relation to her practice at central London firm Denning Sotomayor Ltd. It was also stated there was reason to suspect that Soni had failed to comply with the SRA principles and accounts rules.
Not only is Soni suspended from practice, but Denning Sotomayor and her new firm Jaoim Ltd, based at the same Berkley Square address, have also been shut down by the SRA.
Soni, admitted in 1998 and a corporate transaction specialist, has no record of any disciplinary issues in the past. She is the founding director of Jaiom Ltd which trades as Magnaius. Her LinkedIn biography states that she has been with the firm for 18 months, having been a director at Denning Sotomayor for eight years.
Soni was recently a named defendant in litigation brought by a property company where she had worked in-house. The claimant had applied for an interim injunction to restrain her from acting as a solicitor for a particular client in alleged breach of confidentiality obligations.
Soni, who was represented by Denning Sotomayor in proceedings, had brought a counterclaim for unpaid fees, but this was thrown out by Master Davison who ruled that the delay in bringing proceedings was too long. Davison said the defendants had been ‘guilty of tactical manoeuvring’ and struck out their counterclaim. It is not known if this case is related in any way to the SRA intervention.
