A firm has been fined over £12,000 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) for misconduct in handling client money, while a solicitor has received a rebuke for misconduct in the administration of an estate.
Kings Lynn firm Hawkins Ryan was fined £12,366 and ordered to pay costs of £1,350 after the SRA found it had breached rules in relation to client money and failure to provide relevant information in response to numerous requests from those instructed to administer an estate, causing delays and increased costs.
Between 17th June 2022 and 7th December 2023, the firm transferred £23,348.50 from its client account to its office account for work pertaining to an estate after it received confirmation that it was not instructed to administer it.
Between 30 May 2022 and 7 December 2023, the firm transferred £31,718.50 from its client account to its office account without providing a bill of costs or other written notification of the costs incurred to the estate or its beneficiaries.
The firm continued to hold funds in respect of the estate when there was no longer any reason for it to retain such funds, between 19 December 2023 and 17 May 2024.
Hawkins Ryan also failed to account for £271.25 to the estate for interest accrued on the £48,766.17 it received into its client account on 30 May 2022.
The SRA found that the above caused the estate to incur delays and increased costs by failing to provide relevant information in response to numerous requests from those instructed to administer it.
The financial penalty was reduced by 15% in recognition of the fact that the firm cooperated with the investigation and admitted the allegations prior to its referral to adjudication.
Separately, Susan Mary Carpenter, a solicitor of Powell & Co in Sutton Coldfield, was rebuked by the SRA over misconduct regarding the administration of an estate.
Ms Carpenter was instructed on 26th May 2022 to act in the administration of the executors A and B’ mother’s estate. The estate included a property occupied by one of the executors.
During the administration of the estate, a dispute arose about the property between executor A as a beneficiary of the estate and executor B as the occupant of the property. The executors’ respective interests then conflicted, and they were no longer aligned in their duties as executors to administer the estate.
As a result of the dispute, Ms Carpenter’s duty to act in the best interests of the executors became conflicted. On 11th February 2025 Ms Carpenter sent a letter to executor B demanding they vacate the property. The SRA found that the content of that letter went beyond what would be considered appropriate professional communication.
The SRA described Ms Carpenter’s letter as “derogatory and personal in tone, inappropriate in a solicitor-client relationship and likely to cause, and did indeed cause, distress to the recipient”.
Ms Carpenter admitted to the SRA that by continuing to act for both executors in the estate when a dispute arose, she acted in a matter where there was a conflict of interest, or a significant risk of such a conflict, and in doing so breached paragraph 6.2 of the Code of Conduct for Solicitors, RELs, RFLs.
She agreed to the rebuke and agrees that she will not deny the admissions made in this agreement or act in any way which is inconsistent with it.
The SRA said it considered it appropriate to publish the agreement in the interests of transparency in the regulatory and disciplinary process. Ms Carpenter agreed to the publication, and to pay the £600 in costs.
