Decision record
Seth Lovis
Allegation / charges
Breaches, Solicitors' Accounts Rules
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
Seth Lovis, a solicitor and director of Seth Lovis & Co Solicitors Limited, admitted two allegations: causing duplicate litigation funding claims to be submitted to two funders (Funder A and Funder B) for the same 21 client matters in breach of the funding agreements, and misusing client money received for unpaid professional disbursements (ATE premiums) by transferring it to office account or paying it to Funder A. The Tribunal found breaches of SRA Principles and Accounts Rules proved. The Firm collapsed into administration in March 2019, with around 65 staff losing their jobs. The Tribunal found culpability and harm at the highest level, characterising the conduct as a gross departure showing lack of integrity (no express finding of dishonesty). The Respondent was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay agreed costs of £35,000.
Duties found breached:
Aggravating factors:
- Misconduct was deliberate
- Repeated over a protracted period (at least 2016-2018)
- Involved significant sums of money
- Conduct was plainly prohibited
- Respondent was highly experienced (26 years) and ought to have known better
- Motivated by self-interest to keep the Firm operating
- Did not demonstrate genuine insight; position was ambiguous and vague
- Was COFA of the Firm
Mitigating factors:
- Made admissions and accepted responsibility
- Cooperated with the investigation and Tribunal proceedings
- Self-reported the Firm to the SRA
- Attempted to make good via a £10,000/month repayment scheme (though only one payment made)