Leon Raymond Heron

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

The Respondent, a sole principal conveyancing solicitor, acted for two clients (YW and SL) in a joint property purchase where a clear conflict of interest existed. YW funded the deposit and completion monies and intended to be sole beneficial owner, while SL only assisted in obtaining the mortgage, yet the Respondent registered them as joint tenants, failed to respond to YW's query letter, failed to ensure a Declaration of Trust was executed, and failed to take or record proper instructions. The Tribunal found allegations 1, 2, 3 and 5 proved but found allegation 4 (diminishing trust in the profession, relating to abandoned file storage) not proved. No dishonesty was alleged or found. Given a prior 1997 finding involving a similar pattern of conflict-of-interest conduct, the Tribunal struck him off the Roll and ordered costs of £10,000.

Duties found breached:

• Act in the client's best interests
• No conflict between current clients
• Competence

Aggravating factors:

• Previous Tribunal findings in 1997 involving a similar modus operandi (conflict of interest in conveyancing/mortgage matters)
• Turned a blind eye to obvious conflict of interest issues
• Failed to respond to client YW's letter of query and failed to take/record instructions

Mitigating factors:

• Financial difficulties cited by the Respondent
• Tribunal found the SRA had behaved badly in failing to check the position of clients regarding file storage