Richard Gregory Barca

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

Richard Gregory Barca, an experienced solicitor, admitted three allegations: acting in an own interest conflict by loaning his vulnerable client Mrs JWB £27,000 at 60% annual interest secured by charge over her home (ultimately benefiting over £49,000 and taking unfair advantage); making a misleading claim in a witness statement served in litigation; and acting for Mr K in litigation on a third party's instructions without confirming with Mr K. An allegation of dishonesty was withdrawn by the Applicant; the Tribunal found lack of integrity but made no finding of dishonesty. The Tribunal found culpability high on allegations 1.1 and 1.3 and low on 1.2. It imposed a fine of £20,000 and ordered agreed costs of £26,000.

Duties found breached:

• No taking unfair advantage
• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• No acting against a former client
• No conflict between current clients
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Conduct in relation to Mrs JWB continued for almost 2 years with continued benefit from 60% interest
• Client was vulnerable and at risk of losing her home and livelihood
• Respondent benefited by over £49,000 in interest without ensuring independent legal advice
• Failure to deal promptly with correspondence from R Solicitors causing unnecessary costs
• Ought reasonably to have known conduct breached obligations to protect public and reputation of profession
• Previous appearance before Tribunal on 28 May 2015 (Reprimand, costs £2,600) also for breach of Principle 6

Mitigating factors:

• Respondent was wholly contrite
• Number of good character references
• Cooperated with regulator and proceedings
• Made admissions
• Motivated in part by desire to help Mrs JWB keep her home
• Misleading witness statement was a careless mistake, not deliberate; genuinely believed authority existed to act for Mr K