A solicitor has been ordered to pay more than £4,500 in costs and a fine after she made unintentional breaches by practising in a personal capacity without insurance.
Jane Thirza Moir, a former employee at Goodwin Cowley Limited, self-reported to the Solicitors Regulation Authority about breaches she said were unintentional. She conducted legal matters from home without professional indemnity insurance as she believed if she did not charge for her legal services and advised clients she did not have professional indemnity insurance, she would be able to act for them ‘because they were close family friends or friends of close family friends’.
Moir added: ‘I found out two days ago this is incorrect as a result of a change in the rules and have endeavoured to obtain insurance retrospectively.
‘I am unable to do so, having contacted Imperial who confirmed that I needed a minimum fee income of £22,000.00 or projected fee income of that amount and could not cover me retrospectively in any event.’
The rule changed in November 2019 meaning solicitors were no longer entitled to act for family and friends without PII provided they do not accept remuneration.
Moir conducted ‘several’ conveyancing matters for friends whilst working from home during the pandemic. In her self-report she said client monies were received in breach of accounts rules in accounts over which she had no personal control, but were not designated client accounts.
Fining Moir £768, the SRA said: ‘Whilst she of course ought to have ensured that she was informed of the rule change, this appears to be a genuine case of oversight rather than a lack of honesty or integrity.’
The regulator said though the ‘nature of the allegation remains a serious one’ a fine was appropriate and referral to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal was not necessary.
