A City law firm owner who falsified bank statements to hide a £2.1 million shortage in the client account has been struck off the roll. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal also found that Jude Fletcher, who practised with London firm Fletcher Day, misappropriated almost £1m of client money for his own gain – going by a different name for six years to conceal what he was doing.
Fletcher, admitted in 1999, did not appear at the hearing and largely did not engage with the disciplinary process.
The tribunal said he had abused his position as the sole person with access to one of the firm’s accounts and had been proven to be dishonest. ‘Mr Fletcher was wholly and solely responsible for the circumstances giving rise to his misconduct,’ added the tribunal. ‘He was an experienced solicitor who was fully aware of his regulatory obligations; he acted in total disregard of those obligations for his own purposes.’
The Solicitors Regulation Authority closed down Fletcher Day in 2023 after being alerted by the firm’s compliance officer that HM Revenue & Customs had issued a winding petition over a £1.2m outstanding debt.
It was found that Fletcher had provided the firm’s cashier with a Metro Bank statement showing that £2.1m was held in the account. Only Fletcher himself could access this account, which was in the name of the LLP, while the firm had three accounts with Lloyds.
But forensic investigators found that there was just £3,242 cash in the Metro account and a shortage of £2.1m in the Lloyds accounts. Part of the shortage was caused by regular payments being made to an individual called Jude Grammer, which was an alias of Jude Fletcher.
The SRA told the tribunal that by transferring funds from the firm’s Lloyds client account into the Metro account to which he had sole access and then making payments to himself or others out of the Metro account, Fletcher deliberately sought to misappropriate client funds.
The tribunal found that Fletcher knew that he had taken client monies and used those monies in an impermissible way. Taking client funds for his personal benefit, fabricating the appearance of legitimate transactions, and operating accounts to which only he had access was all dishonest conduct.
The tribunal further found that when the firm was still operating, Fletcher had provided the SRA with falsified bank statements to conceal the true financial position. He had also misled clients who believed that he had safeguarded their monies.
Fletcher was struck off the roll and ordered to pay £65,000 costs.
