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News: Record fine from SDT
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) has handed down a record fine to a solicitor who took an unfair advantage of his former client.
Nigel Harvie, who worked at a firm with his name in Oxford, was fined £305,000 by the tribunal at a hearing last month. The previous highest amount was £50,000, handed down to firm Fuglers LLP, while the most an individual has been fined is £40,000.
Mr Harvie was also ordered to pay £37,016.40 costs at the hearing, held at the SDT in Farringdon Street, London, on 24-26 February. In a prosecution brought by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), the SDT heard Mr Harvie admit that:
Mr Harvie denied that he used his position as a solicitor to take unfair advantage for himself or another party, but the SDT upheld this allegation as well.
In return for paying for the care and living costs of a lady, for whom he had acted previously, Mr Harvie acquired ownership of her house. The house was valued at £300,000 in 2005 when the arrangement began and over the next five years, Mr Harvie paid out in the region of £200,000.
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Nigel Harvie, who worked at a firm with his name in Oxford, was fined £305,000 by the tribunal at a hearing last month. The previous highest amount was £50,000, handed down to firm Fuglers LLP, while the most an individual has been fined is £40,000.
Mr Harvie was also ordered to pay £37,016.40 costs at the hearing, held at the SDT in Farringdon Street, London, on 24-26 February. In a prosecution brought by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), the SDT heard Mr Harvie admit that:
- He entered into a financial arrangement with a former client without advising her to take independent advice, and where his own interests conflicted or potentially conflicted with the interests of the former client
- He acted towards his former client in a way that was contrary to his position as solicitor
Mr Harvie denied that he used his position as a solicitor to take unfair advantage for himself or another party, but the SDT upheld this allegation as well.
In return for paying for the care and living costs of a lady, for whom he had acted previously, Mr Harvie acquired ownership of her house. The house was valued at £300,000 in 2005 when the arrangement began and over the next five years, Mr Harvie paid out in the region of £200,000.
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