Easy to learn.
The SRA has fined a solicitor for dumping rubbish bags containing client information outside his office.
Trevor Nicholas Senkatuka was the sole practitioner of the now-defunct firm, Windsor Croft Solicitors, in Essex. The local council fined him for fly-tipping on the pavement outside his office. Council workers took photographs of the bags which revealed that they contained private client information.
“The public would not expect a solicitor to put client information at risk in this way," said the SRA in its decision. “The public expect their private information to be treated in the utmost confidence by the profession.”
The SRA said that Senkatuka also failed to report the breach of confidentiality caused by the fly-tipping to the regulator or the Information Commissioner's Office. And there was no evidence that he had contacted the affected clients.
The regulator also found that Senkatuka had failed to supervise a caseworker, Mr Mashate, who he wrongly thought to be a barrister. Mashate had never been called to the Bar, but seemed to have duped Senkatuka with his CV and a letter purporting to be from Lincoln’s Inn. Senkatuka admitted to the SRA that he should have done more to investigate Mashate’s credentials.
In one matter, Mashate drafted a claim for a client that was “procedurally flawed to the point where it could not be corrected”, said the SRA. As a result, the claim was struck out. Senkatuka admitted that he had only supervised Mashate once a month, which the SRA said was insufficient.
The regulator also found Senkatuka failed to close his firm in an orderly fashion. The SRA fined the litter-bug solicitor £2,000 and ordered that he pay £600 in costs.
Comments
Why wasn't Mr Senkatuka struck off? Deliberately dumping client files on the street, not understanding professional or data protection obligations, not caring who is managing client files... that's a breach of most of the SRA Principles in my eyes. I still can't get my head round how accidentally leaving a briefcase on a train and not owning up to it for a week receives a harsher penalty than a man who is this incompetent.
I think the difference is lying about it.
Did he give an undertaking not to practice again?
Still to be prosecuted by ICO for data breach?
Closing the firm makes it all ok?
Firm closure happened to coincide with SRA action?
The difference is deliberate deception. The individual relating to the train tried to hide what had happened. Dishonesty is an aggravating factor.
Now I'm not going to speculate as to the ethnicity of Mr Trevor Nicholas Senkatuka, but I just want everyone to ask themselves whether they think that the SRA would have reached the same decision if they were presented with a white, male, middle-aged, heterosexual, lightly balding, partner dumping sacks of confidential documents outside of A&O?
Worth noting that the BSB cleared Mr Mashate of all wrongdoing.
[email protected] lets not forget the SRA have recently released their diversity data. This has coincided with some strange decisions. Me thinks that they are trying to row back. It has never been a principled organisation just a self serving oligarchy with no conception of making decisions based on consistency and the rest of us can either suck it up. There is of course an alternative we could rise up! Anyone up for a bit of sedition?
Mr Mashate is a brilliant name for a horror film villain.
I had a dump in the street once.
Wasn't caught though.