Prominent criminal defence and human rights solicitor Karen Todner has agreed to pay a £25,000 fine after admitting her firm broke the rules by holding onto disbursements.
During a hearing earlier this week at the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, Todner made a joint application for an agreed outcome with the SRA, which was approved by the tribunal.
As well as the fine, Todner agreed to pay £21,000 costs and to the addition of restrictions on her practising certificate. She must no longer act as a compliance officer in any regulated firm and must not act as a signatory to any client or office accounts or authorise transfers beyond a £100 limit for routine office expenses.
Todner admitted that while in charge of London firm Kaim Todner Solicitors Limited, she caused or allowed sums received by the firm for unpaid professional disbursements to be retained in the office account for longer than allowed. At the time, client ledgers wrongly showed the same monies had been paid out to counsel.
Allegations were admitted in relation to three separate clients. Todner also admitted causing or allowing a minimum cash shortage of almost £100,000 to build up on the client account, and to failing to comply with her obligations as the firm’s compliance officer.
The tribunal is set to publish its full judgment in around four weeks.
Following the conclusion of the case, Todner, whose clients include the so-called ‘Pentagon Hacker’ Gary McKinnon, said she wanted to put the matter behind her.
The prosecution has taken around 16 months, after Todner initially applied to have it thrown out on the grounds of abuse of process. She issued judicial review proceedings arguing that in July 2020 an ‘authorised decision-maker’ at the SRA had decided not to refer the matter to the tribunal. Five months later, she submitted, a second adjudicator presented with the same material decided to refer the case after all.
In a statement, Todner said: ‘I hope by taking the actions I have, that I have exposed that which I believe to be an abhorrent practice, namely that at the SRA, legal advisers are routinely appointed as adjudicators in their own cases.
‘However, the SDT and a single judge at the High Court has endorsed such practice and without the support of the Law Society, I am unable to take the application for judicial review any further.
‘The way in which the solicitor’s profession is regulated is sorely in need of reform, including the method of appointment of adjudicators, the oppressive costs regime which only large firms can sustain and the instruction of only one firm to prosecute all matters. If the Law Society is not prepared to lead the way in this reform, then perhaps it is time for a new association to be formed for the whole profession to guide us and represent our interests.’
