Samantha Anne Lee

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

Samantha Anne Lee, a director, COLP and COFA of Lee Syms Ltd (trading as Swain & Co), admitted three allegations that she failed to ensure unpaid professional disbursements from Legal Aid Agency Statutory Monthly Payments were paid or transferred to client account, instead allowing the monies to fund the firm and her remuneration, creating a client account shortage and leaving third-party suppliers owed over £647,000 when the firm entered administration in November 2020. She admitted recklessness (not dishonesty) and lack of integrity. Dishonesty was originally alleged but the SRA and Tribunal agreed it was not proportionate to pursue given the agreed sanction, and it was withdrawn. Dealt with on the papers by agreed outcome, the Tribunal struck her off the Roll and ordered her to pay costs of £6,582.88.

Duties found breached:

• Act only on proper, lawful instructions
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• No improper use of client money
• Prompt accounting and return of money
• Accounting records, reconciliation and reports

Aggravating factors:

• Reckless conduct in the extreme (admitted recklessness)
• She and her firm benefited from the use of client and public money
• Misconduct continued over approximately 5 years
• Conduct was deliberate
• Led to a client account shortage (£610,621.07 on 5 Feb 2019; £263,508.45 unreplaced)
• Third-party suppliers owed over £647,000 at date of administration
• As COFA she ought to have known the LAA disbursements were client money

Mitigating factors:

• Cooperated with the SRA investigation and made early admissions
• Inherited the improper process from the predecessor firm
• Relied on accountancy advice which did not stress immediate remedy
• Did not appreciate the monies were client money / shortfall until Sept 2020
• Wanted to maintain the firm as a going concern to protect 50 employees' jobs
• No direct personal financial gain claimed; sincere regret

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["review_dishonesty_finding_cue_present"]