Neil
Brown
Employee
7176010
Decision - Employee-related decision
Outcome: Control of non-qualified staff (Section 43 / Section 99 order)
Outcome date: 23 October 2025
Published date: 18 November 2025
Firm details
Firm or organisation at time of matters giving rise to outcome
Name: City Solicitors Ltd trading as Farani Taylor Solicitors
Address(es): Mermaid House, 2nd Floor, 2 Puddle Dock, London, EC4V 3DB
Firm ID: 560013
Outcome details
This outcome was reached by SRA decision.
Decision details
Who does this decision relate to?
Neil Brown whose last known address was in Romford, Essex.
A person who is or was involved in a legal practice but is not a solicitor.
Summary of decision
The SRA has put restrictions on where and how Mr Brown can work in an SRA regulated firm. It was found that:
Mr Brown, who is not a solicitor, was involved in a legal practice and has occasioned or been a party to an act or default which involved such conduct on his part that it is undesirable for him to be involved in a legal practice in any of the ways described in the order below.
The facts of the case
Mr Brown was head of litigation at City Solicitors Limited trading as Farani Taylor Solicitors. He worked at the firm from January 2018 to November 2022 when he left.
During January 2022 to November 2022, while acting for a client, Mr Brown misled his client that he had instructed a medical expert and obtained a medical report, when he had not.
Mr Brown's actions were found to be dishonest.
Decision on outcome
An order pursuant to section 43(2) of the Solicitors Act 1974 was imposed as Mr Brown's conduct meant that it was undesirable for him to be involved in a legal practice without the SRA's prior approval.
Mr Brown's conduct was serious because it involved dishonesty and such behaviour risks affecting public trust and confidence in the profession.
Mr Brown was also ordered to pay a proportion of the SRA's costs of £600.
What our Section 43 order means
- no solicitor shall employ or remunerate him in connection with his/her practice as a solicitor;
- no employee of a solicitor shall employ or remunerate him in connection with the solicitor's practice;
- no recognised body shall employ or remunerate him;
- no manager or employee of a recognised body shall employ or remunerate him in connection with the business of that body;
- no recognised body or manager or employee of such a body shall permit him to be a manager of the body; and
- no recognised body or manager or employee of such a body shall permit him to have an interest in the body
except in accordance with the SRA's prior written permission.