The Solicitors Regulation Authority has stepped in to handle the affairs of a former Metamorph firm which had been the last to survive.

Parrott & Coles, based in Aylesbury, had closed in July after holding out for six months after most other firms in the Metamorph group had been shut down by the regulator.

The SRA said today it had also intervened into Parrott & Coales and appointed an agent to manage the firm, which previously employed around 30 people.

The regulator’s notice added: ‘It is necessary to intervene to protect the interests of clients or former clients, the interests of beneficiaries of any trust of which the firm is or was a trustee, or the interests of the beneficiaries of any trust of which a person who was a manager or employee of the firm is or was a trustee.’

Richard Sauvain, managing partner of the firm, said in July the business was working on closure for this month.

He added: ‘We are trying to arrange closure in an orderly manner in order to protect client’s interests and ensure that their cases can be transferred to other solicitor’s firms.’

In December and January, the SRA closed a total of seven entities which traded under 14 names. An intervention means the regulator takes control of all client files and all money held by the firm.

The initial interventions resulted in the SRA collecting nearly 1,600 boxes of live matters and an estimated further 61,000 boxes of wills, deeds and closed matters.

 

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