This development arose after it was proven that on various occasions between 2002 and 2012, he had withdrawn sums from a client’s account in order to make a payment to a second client, without permission, along with other breaches.

He was admitted to the Roll of Solicitors in 2007.

On the 28th May last year, Mr Rollings admitted that he made a number of failures, including failing to act with integrity and protect client money and assets.

It was also found that he had transferred money held in a client account of Burges Salmon LLP from one client to another. Also, Mr Rollings made untrue statements in order to transfer the sum of £32,575.44 from the ledger, Mrs SH, to another ledger, referred to as SSE&T.

Investigations were conducted by the law firm after a client of Mr Rolling’s department raised concerns about a payment that had been made on her behalf to HMRC, which was authorised by the struck off solicitor. The investigation found 37 “irregular” transactions, which resulted in a £6,291.37 shortage on the client account.

In the proceedings, Mr Rollings accepted the transfer of money was made to SSE&T to repay the earlier improper withdrawal, however he denied making misleading or dishonest comments.

The solicitor had also acted for the husband of a client in the administration of her estate, where the solicitor made untrue statements in relation to the administration of the estate.

Mr Rollings claimed that after listening to the opening submissions from the SRA’s legal representative, Mr Bullock, regarding allegations of dishonesty, it had “opened his eyes slightly” and he no longer felt the need to dispute the facts any further. He stated he would “put his hands up and accept punishment”.  It was stated that he never felt he was being dishonest but an element was present, and that “upset him”.

In his defence, he claimed he was told “he was doing an excellent job; nobody ever checked his work, everything was always signed off; all the bills were paid and there was never any cause for concern.”  

The Tribunal stated that Mr Rollings had “destroyed his professional life as a result of what he described as pressures upon himself”, adding that he had disobeyed account rules and “deliberately misled people.”

The tribunal ordered Mr Rollings to be struck off, on top of the amount claimed for the investigation by the firm, totalling at £16,000.