Satnam Singh Talwar

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

Mr Talwar, a solicitor, director, owner and COLP/COFA of the Firm, acted for Client B in a financial dispute against an existing/recent client (Client A), giving rise to a conflict of interest or significant risk of one. He was reckless, ignored internal warnings and his own Firm's Conflict Policy, failed to terminate the retainers promptly, and failed to self-report to the SRA despite saying he would. He admitted all allegations including lack of integrity (Principle 5) and recklessness. The Tribunal, dealing with the matter on the papers by agreed outcome, found high culpability. No express finding of dishonesty was made. He was suspended for 6 months followed by a 3-year restriction order preventing him from holding COLP, COFA, manager or owner roles, and ordered to pay costs of £17,773.20.

Duties found breached:

• Integrity
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No conflict between current clients
• Report serious misconduct of others

Aggravating factors:

• Seniority and position as COLP (and COFA)
• Awareness of facts that should have led him to conclude there was a conflict or risk of one
• Ignored internal advice (paralegal email of 14 July 2022) and the Firm's own Conflict Policy which he had approved
• Failed to self-report to the SRA despite confirming he would do so
• Error spotted by paralegal but he failed to act and continued to act

Mitigating factors:

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