Partner struck off after "misappropriating" £200,000 from clients

AN EQUITY partner in a North Yorkshire law firm has been struck off for misappropriating more than £200,000 from clients.

Noel William Pugsley, 43, formerly a partner at Askew Bunting, was based at its Guisborough office, specialising in wills and probate.

Mr Pugsley was struck off and ordered to pay the Solicitors Regulation Authority costs of just over £10,000 for the case after a tribunal last month.

He allegedly stole £203,785 from four clients over a 13 month period. Mr Pugsley also forged a decree absolute, leading one client to believe she had obtained a legal divorce when in fact she was still married.

An internal investigation at Askew Bunting was undertaken after Pugsley admitted he was experiencing “personal difficulties.”

It was found that Pugsley had misappropriated £107,000 between 14 March and 24 April 2014 from a client account.

The firm replaced the shortage from cash reserves and sent a detailed report to the SRA setting out its investigation into Pugsley’s conduct.

They found he had stolen £34,785 from a client in March 2013, £40,000 from another in December 2013, and £22,000 in April 2013 from a different client.

Mr Pugsley was also accused of misleading his client on the progress of her divorce, fabricating a final order ending her marriage, in 2014. At the time, the court said, Pugsley was on the roll but did not hold a current practicing certificate. He said he had panicked and things had gone wrong “as this was not my area.”

Mr Pugsley sent monies from client ledgers to unrelated client ledgers to conceal inactivity on unrelated files.

In June 2014 a forensic investigation officer from the SRA began investigating the firm’s accounts and Mr Pugsley’s actions.

Mr Pugsley was admitted to the roll of solicitors on 1 July 1999, was made a salaried partner at the firm in 2006 before becoming an equity partner in 2009.

He told the FIO that he “had got into a state at work over the last 18 months” and with hindsight should have spoken to someone at the firm about his issues sooner. He said he was not “in a correct state of mind.”

He said he had been under pressure to increase turnover as the firm attempted to recover from the credit crunch. By 2011 a partner had left, and Mr Pugsley took on their duties.

After allegations came to light, he agreed that he would receive no further payments and retire from the partnership, having previously held a third of the equity in the business.

He advised the FIO that he had used the monies to make payments to other clients where he had failed to progress matters. He insisted and the court agreed that he had not attempted to benefit himself financially, personally taking nothing from the client accounts.

The respondent did not appear and was not represented at the hearing. He told the court this was due to ill-health and “dire” financial circumstances which meant he could not afford to travel to London.

A statement from the tribunal said that “a solicitor of integrity would have understood that his professional and fiduciary duties meant that client monies were sacrosanct.” It said he had “failed to act with integrity.”

Mr Pugsley was declared bankrupt in May 2015 and is currently unemployed.