Sentley Robert Wilson and Ian Edward Huntingdon

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Two partners in Sentley Wilson Bowen were found to have breached the Solicitors Accounts Rules resulting in a minimum client account shortage of £75,470.36 through improper transfers from client to office account labelled 'fees', 'interim fees' and 'progress fees' where no bills had been delivered. Wilson, the senior partner, directed the transfers and was found dishonest under the Twinsectra test. Huntingdon, though not found dishonest, was held to have abdicated his responsibilities as a partner and turned a blind eye, having a prior disciplinary record. Both were struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs jointly and severally (subject to detailed assessment). A £500 compensation award to JMB was made enforceable as a High Court order.

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead the court
• No improper use of client money
• No improper solicitation or touting

Aggravating factors:

• Minimum cash shortage of £75,470.36
• Improper 'progress fees' and 'interim fees' transfers on conditional fee arrangement matters where no bills delivered
• Instructing cashier not to correct a duplicated overtransfer
• Wilson's dishonest misuse of client funds to keep firm afloat
• Huntingdon's prior disciplinary history (indefinite suspension in 1994)
• Huntingdon delayed reporting concerns due to concern about his own financial position
• Huntingdon turned a blind eye to what was going on

Mitigating factors:

• Huntingdon eventually reported Mr Wilson's activities to The Law Society
• Huntingdon's level of culpability lower than Mr Wilson's
• Transfers made without Huntingdon's authority or knowledge
• Firm suffered from cash flow difficulties and collapse of case funders (ICF/Invaro)