William Harris struck off after systemic AML breaches and withholding £102k in client funds
A solicitor who ignored anti-money laundering (AML) regulations for six years and failed to return over £100,000 in client money has been struck off the roll.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) found that William Joseph Harris, 71, showed “widespread and fundamental non-compliance with critical regulations” during his time as a sole practitioner, calling his conduct “systemic failures throughout the six years of his sole practice”.
Harris, who qualified in 1980, ran William Harris Solicitors in Lancaster between 2018 and 2024. His work focused mainly on conveyancing and probate. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) closed the firm last year after discovering serious breaches in accounts rules and AML procedures.
Embed from Getty ImagesRegulatory scrutiny began in 2023 when Harris submitted overdue qualified accountant’s reports. These revealed major deficiencies in the firm’s compliance, including missing AML safeguards and failures in client money handling.
In a statement of agreed facts and outcome, Harris admitted misconduct and said he had “struggled” to manage as a sole practitioner.
The tribunal heard that in December 2019, Harris told the SRA in a formal declaration that he had a firm‑wide risk assessment in place. Four years later, he admitted during an interview that he did not even know what such an assessment was. The SDT described the declaration as “a very serious example of dishonesty given his position as a solicitor and COLP, in a high‑risk area, and in response to a direct regulatory inquiry.”
Throughout his practice, Harris failed to establish the mandatory AML policies, controls, and procedures required by law. Between January 2022 and September 2023, he handled transactions for 63 conveyancing clients worth a combined £8.8 million without conducting adequate customer due diligence or source‑of‑funds checks.
The SDT said Harris had demonstrated a “casual disregard” for the formal requirements of client checks, adding: “The firm’s vulnerability to money laundering and terrorist financing, underscored by £8.8m in unverified funds, posed a direct threat to the integrity of the legal profession and public safety.”
In addition to the AML breaches, Harris repeatedly failed to return client funds. At the time the firm was shut down, there were 54 residual client balances totalling £102,000. In probate matters, some beneficiaries were left waiting years for their inheritances — in some cases, they died before receiving them.
The tribunal also found that Harris repeatedly ignored rules requiring timely submission of accountant’s reports. He failed to obtain reports for the 2020/21 and 2021/22 financial years within the required six‑month deadline, only producing them in October 2022 before waiting another eight months to submit them to the SRA. He failed to obtain a report at all for 2022/23.
The SDT concluded that striking Harris off was “the only reasonable and proportionate sanction to mark the seriousness of the misconduct, protect the public and maintain the reputation of the profession.”
Alongside being removed from the roll of solicitors, Harris was ordered to pay almost £30,000 in costs.
