Switalskis Solicitors: Sheffield solicitor struck off for knowingly overcharging client £272,000 for no work

A Sheffield solicitor who took advantage of “vulnerable” clients to wrongly charge them hundreds of thousands of pounds has been struck off.

Alex Richard Guy, former director and head of the Court of Protection Department at Switalskis Solicitors, admitted to raising bills amounting to almost £272,000 for work not undertaken while acting as one client’s deputy. He also billed another client £59,000 for work that was not chargeable. All money has since been returned by the firm.

Guy also admitted using a third client’s money to buy himself £3,100 worth of luxury Apple products and keeping an iPhone 11 Pro Max worth £1,500 for his own use.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard that Guy’s conduct was dishonest, deliberate, occurred over a period of time, and involved taking advantage of vulnerable people.

Guy, who began practicing in 2008, had initially been charged with transferring more than £900,000 from clients’ bank accounts into his own name, but these allegations – which he denied – were dropped as part of an agreed outcome with the Solicitors Regulation Authority on the eve of the tribunal hearing.

Guy also applied for the SDT to embargo his judgment for at least six months pending the outcome of an ongoing police inquiry – but the tribunal rejected this, saying criminal proceedings were still speculative and chose to publish its ruling in full.

Guy’s misconduct came to light through an internal investigation by Switalskis, who identified concerns about the raising of bills for work not undertaken, which was reported to the SRA and led to his immediate suspension.

Guy was appointed as deputy to make decisions on behalf of clients in relation to their property and affairs. One such client had been awarded a £1.5m lump sum and periodical payments after a clinical negligence claim, most of which was paid into his deputy account.

Guy then rendered bills that were not permitted by appointed costs judges. The invoices, worth £273,000, were based on just 65 hours of work recorded on the ledger.

In his mitigation, Guy said he sincerely apologised to all involved and while there were personal circumstances that affected his decision-making, he was ashamed of his actions and thoroughly embarrassed.

He was struck off and ordered to pay £17,000.