Senior lawyer jailed for child sex crimes stripped of right to practise law

Convicted child sex offender and former senior associate permanently banned from practising law.

A former senior solicitor at two top international law firms has been permanently struck off the roll after being convicted of child sex offences.

Stuart Cottis, who was admitted to the roll in September 2002, was removed from the legal profession after admitting to multiple child abuse crimes, including sexually assaulting a child and attempting to commit further offences.

Cottis worked as an associate at Ashurst from July 2012 until January 2021, before taking up a role as senior associate at Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP in May 2022. His employment at the firm ended in June 2023.

In 2023, Cottis appeared at Southwark Crown Court, where he admitted to attempting sexual communication with a child and arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence. He was sentenced to 36 months in prison and made subject to an 11-year sexual harm prevention order.

His legal troubles deepened the following year. In November 2024, he received a further 10-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to intentionally touching a child aged between nine and 10 and to sending sexual communications to a person under 16.

At the time of the disciplinary tribunal hearing, Cottis was unrepresented and incarcerated. Despite this, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) proceeded with striking him off the roll, declaring that his conduct left no room for mitigation.

The tribunal concluded that the gravity of Cottis’s offences was beyond question. “Within the sphere of regulatory and disciplinary conduct, there could be no mitigation to minimise the harm,” the judgment stated. “The seriousness of the misconduct was self-evident and no sanction less than a strike off would be sufficient to protect the public and the reputation of the profession.”

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) brought the case to the tribunal after being alerted by both of Cottis’s former employers. Ashurst LLP’s compliance officer for legal practice and in-house counsel at Eversheds Sutherland each reported the matter to the regulator, prompting the investigation that ultimately led to his disbarment.

The SDT ruled on an agreed outcome between Cottis and the SRA. Alongside being struck off, he was also ordered to pay £3,870 in costs to cover the SRA’s application.

This case marks one of the most serious examples of professional misconduct dealt with by the legal disciplinary system in recent years. Legal industry leaders and regulatory bodies have reiterated the importance of maintaining public trust in the profession, especially in cases involving offences against children.

While Cottis’s name is now permanently removed from the roll of solicitors, the impact of his actions—and the trust he violated—has cast a shadow over a once-prominent legal career. The SDT made clear that the decision to strike him off was not just a response to criminal conduct, but a necessary action to uphold the integrity of the legal profession.

The ruling underscores that no solicitor, regardless of position or seniority, is beyond accountability when their actions bring the profession into disrepute and threaten public safety.