Law firm director struck off for misleading clients

A former law firm director in the UK misled clients for six weeks about the progress of their case because he was too ‘embarrassed’ to admit he was struggling, a tribunal has heard. According to a Law Gazette report, Rodney Etherington, a solicitor for 12 years, admitted acting dishonestly when he wrongly told two estate beneficiaries that he had already made an application to the court. He told them, through e-mails, a telephone conversation and an instruction to his secretary, that he was waiting for a response from the court, when he knew the application had yet to be made. The underlying matter was a contentious dispute over the way a mother’s estate assets should be dealt with. Two of her sons had contacted Etherington repeatedly in 2018 asking for updates. The misconduct came to light when one of the sons contacted someone else directly during Etherington’s absence on holiday. In an agreed outcome made with the Soliciters Regulation Authority (SRA), Etherington admitted his misconduct and agreed he should be struck off the roll. In mitigation put forward by Etherington but not agreed by the SRA, he said he had no previous disciplinary matters and had shown insight into the seriousness of his misconduct. He stood to receive no financial gain from his actions, and was acting to ‘buy time’ in an effort to submit the court application as soon as possible. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal accepted the agreed outcome and ordered he be struck off and pay £2 800 costs.

Full Law Gazette report