The former boss of a major criminal legal aid firm has been barred from leading another legal practice after withholding taxpayer money intended for disbursements.
Trevor Howarth, who was director and owner of One Legal, was made subject to a disqualification order by the Solicitors Regulation Authority five and a half years after the company went under. Howarth is now barred from acting as manager or head of legal practice with any SRA-regulated firm.
One Legal mostly undertook legal aid work and held a contract for criminal work with the Legal Aid Agency. It had offices in the north west and in London and had expanded significantly when it bought the well-known firm Kaim Todner in 2016, becoming one of the biggest criminal practices in the country.
After the firm ceased trading and went into administration in December 2019, the SRA received complaints alleging that it had failed to pay invoices submitted by expert witnesses in criminal proceedings.
Investigators found a minimum client account shortage of almost £54,000, caused by the firm receiving money from the Legal Aid Agency to pay disbursements in 36 matters. The missing payments spanned the 18 months before the firm’s closure.
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Instead of being used to pay the experts’ fees, the money was transferred to the firm’s client account and then onto its business account.
The SRA found that Howarth’s conduct breached his duties as a manager by allowing cash shortages in the client account and failing to pay disbursements. He was disqualified and ordered to pay £1,350 costs.
Richard Botting, who was the head of finance and administration with One Legal, was also disqualified from holding any manager or employee role within a law firm. He must pay £1,350 costs.
Howarth was previously a director with Stobart Barristers. He had previously been legal director with the Stobart road haulage group where he established a panel of barristers for the haulage company’s legal needs. He once controversially described traditional legal aid firms as ‘wounded animals waiting to die’.
One Legal remains in administration after more than five years, with administrators’ total costs amounting to £312,761 as of January this year. The business owes around £5m, of which nothing is likely to be paid back.
