A solicitor who failed to prevent a fraudster from taking advantage of his vulnerable client has been suspended for a year.

Anthony Gale initially acted for both the buyer and seller of a property in Harrogate but failed to spot warning signs of fraud or exploitation of a client who was autistic and had an estimated mental age of 12.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard that despite significant doubts about the client’s capacity to manage his financial affairs and enter contracts, Gale allowed the transaction to go through.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority submitted that case law established that solicitors carrying out a transaction for inexperienced clients were not justified in expressing no opinion when they could be rushing into a mistake, and solicitors needed to take a broader view of the scope of their retainer and duties in these circumstances.

Gale, a solicitor for 32 years, knew the client was subject to undue influence and/or financial abuse but did not make necessary enquiries, failing to meet him on his own and failing to advise him of the risks of transferring the property. Gale did not know the value of his client’s house, no money was being paid and there was no written agreement: the solicitor noted this was ‘mildly’ strange but allowed the transaction to happen.

In May this year, the buyer was convicted of four counts of fraud and one count of money laundering in relation to money and assets worth around £332,000. He was sentenced to five and a half years’ imprisonment.

Gale, who worked for Yorkshire firm Ison Harrison at the time, admitted misconduct including recklessness. On a separate matter, he also admitted signing a sale contract on a property when he was not instructed to do so after he moved to Yorkshire firm Lofthouse & Co. He has since started working with another practice.

The tribunal heard he had been fined £10,000 in 2018 over five conveyancing matters, where he acted without instruction or consent, failed to carry out due diligence and failed to register lender’s charges.

‘It was plain to the tribunal that Mr Gale had a complete blind spot with regard to the obligations to “know your client”, the risks of fraud in conveyancing transactions, management of conflicts of interest, and the obligations attendant upon accepting instructions from vulnerable clients,’ the latest judgment states. ‘The previous sanction imposed in 2018 had not rectified Mr Gale’s ineptitude in those respects, and had not protected either the public or the reputation of the profession from repeated harm.’

 

No mitigating features were found, despite Gale suggesting that he had a substantial workload at the time of the misconduct and was suffering mild depression. In an agreed outcome, he was suspended for 12 months and ordered to pay £12,000 costs.

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