A tribunal has agreed to lift an indefinite suspension against a solicitor more than 15 years after it was imposed. Christopher John Coates successfully applied to return to the profession after showing the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal that he had taken active steps to rehabilitate himself and keep up to date with the law.
Coates had initially wanted to lift the suspension to bring the matter to a close and end the embarrassment of living under a constant ban. But making the application had ‘reawakened’ his wish to practise and he showed a letter from a former training partner who had offered him work as a solicitor if the suspension was lifted. The tribunal said the profession could ‘take comfort’ from the fact he would be helped back into the profession by someone overseeing his progress.
Coates, formerly with a Cardiff firm, was sanctioned in 2008 after the tribunal found he misled a third party over a property purchase and solicited loans for a client company by falsely representing what the loans were for.
Seeking to have the suspension lifted, he said it had been an ‘aberration in his life with devastating consequences’. He now recognised he had been ill during the period in which he committed misconduct and appeared before the tribunal.
Since that time, his mental health had improved and he had learned how to deal with challenging circumstances. Medical reports presented to the tribunal verified that Coates had been in good physical and mental health for a ‘significant’ period of time.
While working as a property consultant, he had attended several conferences on property law, created a network group for Welsh landlords and had built a reputation based on ‘expertise, trust and good sense’.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority withdrew its initial opposition to Coates’ application, subject to restrictions on his practising certificate.
The tribunal accepted that Coates had showed ‘genuine insight into and remorse for’ his misconduct, and his health had improved to such a degree that there was little risk to the public in letting him return. Coates agreed to pay £1,859 to cover the costs of the application.
