A dual qualified practitioner has been suspended from the bar for two and a half years following a sanction by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

Mark Lorrell, qualified as a solicitor and as a barrister, was found by the SDT to have breached solicitors accounts rules and to have acted for two clients in circumstances amounting to a conflict of interest.

Lorrell was ordered to be struck off by the tribunal in 2018. He successfully appealed the SDT’s sanction in the High Court earlier this year, and was instead suspended from practice for two years. 

As a result of the disciplinary action, the Bar Standard Board also brought charges of professional misconduct, and this week a tribunal suspended Lorrell for two years and five months.

Lorrell can begin practising as a barrister again on 7 December 2020, as the sanction takes into account the time he has not practised because of the BSB’s interim suspension procedure.

Sara Jagger, BSB director of legal and enforcement, said: ‘The tribunal’s decision to suspend Mr Lorrell shows the serious consequences that can result from a barrister being found in breach of the rules of another regulator.’

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