P J Warner

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

Two solicitor partners admitted failing to notify lenders of material facts, failing to act in mortgagee clients' best interests, and failing to supervise staff and a struck-off solicitor (Osili) who continued to operate in the firm's name. The Tribunal found these failures allowed clear mortgage fraud to occur. Each solicitor was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £12,000 costs each. The third respondent, an unadmitted conveyancing clerk, was found to have backdated letters to mislead the FIO and repeatedly changed her account; she was made subject to a Section 43 order and ordered to pay £6,000 costs. Total costs assessed at £30,000. No express finding of dishonesty was recorded.

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• No acting against a former client
• Report serious misconduct of others

Aggravating factors:

• Failure to supervise permitted clear mortgage fraud to take place which might give rise to serious losses for lender clients
• Mortgage fraud was a well appreciated risk at the time
• Failure to notify mortgagee clients of unusual circumstances
• Warner backdated letters and provided them to the FIO intending to mislead, and repeatedly shifted her account, misleading the SRA

Mitigating factors:

• First and Second Respondents had no previous disciplinary record and provided strong character references
• They were not conveyancers and had been naive, taken in by struck-off solicitor Osili who concealed his practising conditions and impending strike-off
• They did not benefit financially from Osili's continued involvement
• They relocated offices and reported Osili to the police; subsequent SRA inspection (as Henshaw Solicitors) found no concerns
• Tribunal satisfied neither solicitor was a danger to the public; genuine remorse and shame expressed