Edward Foster banned after tribunal uncovers £2.33m client fund transfers

Tribunal strikes off solicitor after £2.3m in client funds funnelled through improper transfers.

A solicitor at the centre of a multimillion-pound financial scandal has been struck off after the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) found he abused client accounts and acted dishonestly in handling mortgage funds.

Edward Richard Foster, formerly chief executive and majority shareholder of County Solicitors Limited, faced a damning judgment after investigators uncovered that more than £2.33 million from mortgage lenders passed through the firm’s client account and into the hands of a third party.

The tribunal sat between 17 and 20 October 2022 and examined allegations against Foster alongside two colleagues: solicitor Robert James Newman, and fellow director Rashpal Kaur. Foster did not attend the hearing. Newman, who served as the firm’s Compliance Officer for Legal Practice (COLP), was represented, while Kaur appeared in person.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) argued that Foster caused or allowed improper transfers from County Solicitors’ client account between 2017 and 2018. Investigators identified a string of transactions, including transfers of £53,860, £23,190, £20,000, £62,000 and £37,777, as well as at least £162,000 shifted from client to office accounts in a single month. Even more serious were the findings relating to mortgage advances. Between July 2017 and December 2018, County Solicitors received £22.9 million in mortgage funds across 129 transactions. Instead of sending these sums directly to sellers’ solicitors, the money was passed to The Foster Partnership (TFP), a separate business run by Foster. In nine tested cases, £2.33 million was channelled in this way without informing the lenders. Certificates of title, which should only have been signed by authorised solicitors, were submitted to lenders bearing signatures from individuals not employed by the firm.

The tribunal applied the dishonesty test set by the Supreme Court in Ivey v Genting Casinos and concluded that ordinary decent people would regard Foster’s conduct as dishonest. He admitted the allegations, including dishonesty, shortly before the hearing. The SDT found he used client money to cover cashflow problems at the firm and to repay sums he claimed to have loaned personally. In some cases, records suggested repayments to Foster even though there was no evidence he had deposited the money in the first place.

While Foster bore the brunt of the ruling, the tribunal also made findings against his colleagues. Robert Newman admitted breaches relating to integrity and was suspended from practice for three months, starting 20 October 2022. The tribunal accepted that he had not known unauthorised staff were signing certificates of title but held him responsible for failings in the conveyancing processes he oversaw. Rashpal Kaur, the firm’s Compliance Officer for Finance and Administration, faced allegations over client account reconciliations, misuse of suspense ledgers, and permitting the firm’s accounts to be used as a banking facility. She admitted the breaches and was fined £3,000.

The SDT struck Foster off the Roll of Solicitors, bringing an end to his career in regulated legal practice. Newman was suspended for three months, while Kaur remained able to practise but with the fine imposed. The tribunal concluded that the scale of the misconduct, combined with Foster’s dishonesty, risked undermining public trust in the profession. “Public confidence was likely to be undermined by solicitors using client monies to overcome cashflow difficulties and repay personal loans,” the panel ruled.

The case highlights the SRA’s ongoing scrutiny of client account practices, particularly where firms attempt to use them as banking facilities — a breach that regulators have repeatedly warned against.