Satnam Singh Talwar

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

Satnam Singh Talwar, director/owner and COLP/COFA of QC Law Limited, acted for Client B in a financial dispute against existing/recent Client A, creating a conflict of interest. He ignored a paralegal's warning (14 July 2022), the Firm's Conflicts Policy he had approved, and an email from enforcement service Equivo (12 August 2022) declining instructions due to the conflict, not terminating the retainers until October 2022. He also failed to self-report to the SRA despite stating he would. He admitted all allegations, including lack of integrity and recklessness. The Tribunal approved an agreed outcome of 6 months' suspension followed by a 3-year restriction order barring COLP/COFA/manager/owner roles, plus costs of £17,773.20. No express finding of dishonesty was made.

Duties found breached:

• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues
• Integrity
• No conflict between current clients
• No own-interest conflict

Aggravating factors:

• Seniority and position as COLP (and COFA, owner, director); solicitor of 19 years' experience
• Awareness of facts that should have led him to conclude there was a conflict or risk of one
• Ignored internal advice (email of 14 July 2022, Equivo email of 12 August 2022) and the Firm's own Conflict Policy he had approved
• Failed to self-report to the SRA despite confirming he would do so

Mitigating factors:

• Single episode of misconduct
• Early admissions, accepted breaches and showed contrition/insight
• Stepped down as COLP and accepted interim conditions