Michael Usher

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

Michael Usher, a member, COLP and COFA of Ushers Solicitors LLP, was found to have practised without professional indemnity insurance after his Chancery Pii policy expired on 31 March 2017. His claimed replacement policy with AmTrust never came into force because the premium was never paid and finance was declined. He failed to notify the SRA that the firm had entered the Extended Indemnity Period and Cessation Period, accepted new instructions (Clients One) during the Cessation Period, and continued practising without insurance instead of closing by 30 June 2017. On 28 July 2017 he sent an email to the SRA apt to mislead it into believing the firm had PII, and on 31 July 2017 completed a PII proposal form to Hera with untrue statements that the firm was insured by AmTrust. The Tribunal found all allegations proved beyond reasonable doubt and expressly found dishonesty (applying Ivey) in relation to Allegations 1.5 and 1.6. Given the seriousness and dishonesty, with no exceptional circumstances, the Respondent was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £8,000.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations
• Honesty
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Act in the client's best interests
• Proper termination and return of instructions
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Handle inadvertently received material
• Firm governance, systems and compliance
• Professional indemnity insurance
• Cooperate openly with regulators

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty
• Deliberate and calculated conduct
• Continuing misconduct over several months
• 42 days with no PII cover of any sort
• Misled both regulator (SRA) and prospective insurer (Hera)
• Experienced solicitor and COLP
• Concealment of the position

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary findings