The High Court has backed the decision to shut down a Manchester firm on the grounds of suspicions that its owner was dishonest.
In IPS Law LLP & Anor v Solicitors Regulation Authority His Honour Judge Hodge KC ruled that the intervention into IPS Law was justified and that the organisation had discharged the burden of proof.
The IPS senior partner, sports lawyer Christopher Farnell, who was also suspended by the SRA, was alleged to have dishonestly been involved in what were described as ‘dubious investment schemes’ where people entrusted large sums of money to the practice.
The SRA’s case was that emails were sent by Farnell in which he told the investors that the funds remained held in the firm’s client account when in fact payment out of those funds had been made to third parties. The investigation report also identified a case where an individual had made payments in the expectation of investing in a football club but he had never received any shares.
According to the judgment published last week, Farnell argued in court in a January hearing that there were never any grounds for finding rule breaches or for suspecting dishonesty, and the intervention should be withdrawn on the basis it was disproportionate.
His representative criticised the SRA for not having paid sufficient attention to the terms of the relevant engagement letters and submitted that Farnell had mistakenly said that monies remained in the practice’s client account when in fact they did not.
The SRA submitted that even if this matter started as an innocuous mistake, it was never corrected. It was followed up with emails from Farnell by which he continued to convey the impression that funds were coming back imminently, whilst at the same time funds were continuing to make their way out of the account.
In one case, where £1m was received into the client account and confirmation was sought that the money was still there, Farnell said that ‘funds remained held by ourselves at IPS Law and that going forward you will receive an email from me updating you every four weeks. This has been diarised from today’s date and will not be missed’. By that time, the court heard sums totalling £385,000 had already been paid out of the account.
The judge concluded: ‘I am satisfied that these were dubious investment schemes, to which Mr Farnell should not have been lending his name, his bank account, and his support. I am satisfied that the continuing risk to investors, who have still not received back their money, and potentially to others who might be approached to invest in similar schemes, fully justified the intervention in the present case, notwithstanding the drastic effect it has had upon Mr Farnell and his practice.’
The judge questioned why it had taken so long for the SRA to bring an investigation, given that reports about IPS Law were made as far back as July 2023 but the forensic investigation report was produced only in August 2025. ‘I do find it difficult to understand the reasons for the delay in this case, unless this was attributable to a lack of resources,’ added Hodge. ‘[But] the fact that it should have been done earlier is no reason why such intervention should now be set aside.’
Since the ex tempore judgment, a different court has wound up IPS Law over outstanding six-figure debts owed to Global Sports Data and Technology Limited, a consultancy headed by technologist Jason Dunlop and football manager Russell Slade.
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