Law firm closed down by regulators after senior figure suspected of 'dishonesty'

A solicitors’ firm with an office in Maidenhead has been closed down by regulators after ‘suspected dishonesty’ from a senior member of staff.

Hunter’s Solicitors LLP, based in High Wycombe, operated several solicitors’ firms trading under different names, including Colemans Solicitors in Switchback Office Park, Maidenhead, and Kealy Farmar in Henley.

Colemans Solicitors, a long-established Maidenhead law firm dating back to 1948, entered administration in 2023 following ‘increasing overheads and a stagnant legal market’.

The business and assets were purchased by Hunter’s Solicitors in May of that year and it continued to trade under the Colemans name – until now.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) closed Hunter’s last week, as well as Colemans and other offices trading under different names across the South.

The money in the business’ accounts has been transferred to the regulatory body.

The reason for the closure is that there was ‘reason to suspect dishonesty’ on the part of senior Hunter’s staff member, Jeff Hazelgrove, in connection with the firm’s business, the SRA wrote.

In addition, three other managers of the firm are accused of failing to comply with rules applicable to them.

At this stage in the intervention, the SRA is unable to reveal much more about these matters.

This is not the first time Hunter’s has found itself in hot water with the regulators; in April last year, it was fined £24,820 for failures spanning more than three years.

From January 2021 to May 2024, the firm ‘did not put proper systems and checks in place’ to manage the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing.

It also ‘failed to take appropriate measures’ to ensure that relevant employees were aware of the law relating to these.

As such, Hunter’s Solicitors LLP was made to pay a financial penalty of £24,820 plus the £600 cost of the investigation.

The misconduct ‘showed a persistent disregard’ for the firm’s legal obligations, the SRA wrote, and was on the ‘more serious’ end of the spectrum.

Moreover, the firm only started following anti-money laundering rules because of the SRA’s inspection.

However, there was no evidence of any direct loss to clients, or harm caused – and the firm did ‘not appear to have made any financial gain’ from its misconduct.

As such, it was hit with a penalty ‘towards the lower end of the bracket’ of £24,820, reduced from £29,200 in light of the mitigating factors.

The aim of the penalty was to deter other firms from exposing the public to the risks that arise when solicitors do not comply with anti-money laundering legislation.

After the fine, Hunter’s Solicitors ‘put in place measures to ensure future compliance’.

The latest intervention is separate to that previous case.

The SRA closed down Hunter’s Solicitors on Wednesday, March 4, over the ‘suspected dishonesty’ of Mr Hazelgrove.

Three more people – Angelo Luiz-Barrea, Christopher Stocker and Howard Rind, all managers of the firm – have also ‘failed to comply with rules’ governing solicitors or legal practices, the SRA said.

Since the decision, the law firm and its branches are no longer available to be contacted and have disappeared from public listings.

Their websites now include only a notification of the SRA’s decision and contact details for their intervention agents, so that clients who were having legal work done by the firm can send enquiries.

The SRA is seeking out Hunter’s former clients with imminently pending legal matters, and will try to return any client money that Hunter’s was holding.

All clients will need to find a new solicitor; the SRA does not arrange for legal work to be taken over and cannot recommend an alternative solicitor.

Where there has been money paid for work not completed, clients can make applications for compensation.

The SRA’s intervention agents, Shakespeare Martineau LLP, can be contacted on 0300 247 2470 or via hunters-intervention@shma.co.uk

Representatives of Hunter’s Solicitors LLP could not be reached for comment.