Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal chief steps down following office lease fiasco
The head of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) has stepped down from her position following news the tribunal is being forced to exit its offices.
SDT chief executive Geraldine Newbold’s exit follows news solicitors will be forced to pay an extra £1.2m towards the tribunal’s new premises after its landlord decided to sell the building last month, legal news website Roll on Friday first reported.
The exit comes after the SDT in September told the Legal Services Board it had “agreed new terms with the landlord for 10-year leases” on both floors on its current premises.
The tribunal was however forced to return a revised statement to the LSB after its landlord revealed plans to sell the building £17.5m.
LSB chair Helen Phillips later called on the SDT’s leadership to “learn lessons” from the situation, and “consider what it might do differently next time such as getting a lease agreed in writing.”
Newbold’s resignation also follows the UK government’s decision to hike the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA’s) fining powers, in a bid to prevent cases from being sent to the SDT.
The decision to up the SRA’s maximum fines from £2,000 to £25,000 is set to let the solicitors’ watchdog deal with more cases, instead of passing them onto the SDT.
The SDT and LSB were approached by City A.M. for comment.