A private client solicitor has been struck off after billing clients for wills and probate work he hadn’t done and authorising the transfer of £216,00o from a client account to pay for bills that had never been sent.
Associate solicitor Nicholas Devlin admitted creating inaccurate and misleading records in excess of the time spent on the matters against which they were recorded, as well as authorising the withdrawal of client monies without having sent corresponding invoices.
The conduct, which the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) found to be dishonest and reckless, was uncovered when a “worrying pattern” was identified by the head of wills, probate and inheritance at the firm.
Deborah Flynn noted Devlin was billing early but failing to produce documentation, recording 88 units for one client in May 2021 that were not drafted until October 2021, and recording 90 units in March 2022 for letters to more than 50 beneficiaries that were never sent.
In February 2023, Devlin provided a list of nine client matters where time was recorded and billed without work being undertaken. In multiple instances, he billed for drafting wills in early 2022 but did not send the drats to clients until late 2022 or early 2023, citing his workload when apologising for delays.
Between March 2020 and November 2022, Devlin also authorised around £216,000 to be transferred from the client account of Cartmell Shepherd to pay for bills that had never been sent.
Devlin “actively sought to suppress the discovery of these irregularities,” the tribunal heard. When questioned about aged debts exceeding £55,000, he instructed the credit control team to suppress the chasing of 31 out of 37 matters. He later admitted he had been “burying his head in the sand”.
“The actions I took were not for personal financial gain, they were to try to keep on or near billing targets,” Devlin said in mitigation.
“I felt my workload was being continuously increased and I struggled to cope. With hindsight I recognise that I should have said something to the firm, but I did not feel strong enough to.”
The firm denied Devlin had been under undue pressure and said he had requested increased fee targets, and “come forward on occasions requesting more work”.
All affected client accounts had since been corrected by the firm, which said clients had not suffered detriment but “there was a significant possibility that clients could have been disadvantaged had we not done so”.
Devlin, who was admitted to the Roll of Solicitors in 2015, admitted all allegations and breaches, including dishonesty. He no longer remains an employee at the firm.
The tribunal ordered that Devlin be struck off the Roll of Solicitors and ordered to pay costs of £10,000.
2 responses
We are told time and time again how effective computerised processes are and yet padded time recording and over billing continues
Firms that put pressure on staff to record their time so they can meet a billing target are fools.
A better way is to look at fees received and to analyse whether the fee earner is earning real fees rather than falsely recording time to meet an arbitrary target.
A simple solution. A partner signs off all invoices or the accounts department check all draft invoices against work done before sending to a client.
What a sensible reply from Mr. Robinson.