A solicitor who failed to transfer disbursement monies to barristers chambers and medical agencies has been struck off the roll.
Martin Rounthwaite was also found by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal to have failed to inform the Solicitors Regulation Authority for two years that his firm was in financial difficulties. He also breached an undertaking to another firm and moved practices without telling his existing clients what was happening.
Rounthwaite, who did not engage with disciplinary proceedings and was not present at his hearing in July, had been a solicitor since 1999 and was sole practitioner and compliance officer with Greater Manchester firm Pro-Law Network.
Following a complaint from medical reporting agency Ramsey Norbert, he was found to have failed to pay more than £8,000 in respect of six clients.
Further investigations found Rounthwaite owed £24,000 to three other suppliers: barristers 1 Chancery Lane and Liverpool Civil Law, as well as Expert Medical Ltd. These disbursements were for 14 client matters and came to £24,000.
The disbursements were used to pay for the firm’s running costs such as bills, overheads and salaries (including Rounthwaite’s and members of his family) and they remain outstanding.
The tribunal said Rounthwaite was solely responsible for financial transactions in the firm and misused client monies for personal and other professional purposes, as he ‘flagrantly disregarded’ the duties incumbent upon him.
It was also found that the firm was in financial trouble in 2017 but this was not disclosed to the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Instead, the regulator was told in 2019 by his insolvency adviser that Rounthwaite intended to enter an individual voluntary arrangement as he owed £225,075 to 15 creditors.
He was declared bankrupt soon after and Rounthwaite was required to conduct an orderly closure of the firm. Through his adviser, he claimed to be talking to two other firms regarding transfer of live files and that he was in the process of finalising letters to clients.
He then confirmed the firm was closed and existing matters had moved to MWG Solicitors, where he was now employed. But when the SRA got in touch, MWG stated that no files had been transferred and Rounthwaite had left the same day.
The solicitor was also found to have acted dishonestly in giving an undertaking to another firm which had been handling a personal injury matter transferred to Pro-Law in 2013.
Rounthwaite had undertaken to advise this firm as soon as the claim was settled, but in the event he never said that costs had been agreed at £72,000, leaving the firm to find out from insurers when it followed up to find out what had happened.
The tribunal said there was no mitigation for what was serious, dishonest misconduct. Rounthwaite was struck off and ordered to pay £39,460 costs.
