SDT Orders Matthew Moss Solicitor Strike Off Over Side Hustle

• Employment solicitor Matthew Moss has been struck off after secretly earning tens of thousands of pounds on an online legal advice website.
• Financial records revealed Moss collected over £81,000 from JustAnswer while earning roughly £45,000 from Optimal Solicitors across a similar period.
• During an internal redundancy notice period investigation in June 2024, Moss falsely claimed the incoming payments were earned by his brother.
• The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal ruled that his deliberate deception and failure to disclose secondary employment constituted severe dishonesty.
• Moss agreed to the strike-off outcome with the regulator and was ordered to pay £5,759 in legal costs.

Under an agreed outcome with the Solicitors Regulation Authority, Moss accepted that his dishonesty warranted a mandatory strike-off from the roll of solicitors, alongside an order to pay £5,759 in legal costs.

An employment practitioner who secretly earned substantial revenue providing advice on an online platform while employed full-time at a law firm has been permanently removed from the profession following a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal side hustle hearing.

Matthew Moss, who worked predominantly remotely from Cheshire for Optimal Solicitors starting in September 2019, engaged in unapproved secondary work for several years before his conduct was uncovered. In the Matthew Moss SDT decision, the tribunal determined that his actions represented a fundamental breach of core professional obligations. Under an agreed outcome with the Solicitors Regulation Authority, Moss accepted that his dishonesty warranted a mandatory strike-off from the roll of solicitors, alongside an order to pay £5,759 in legal costs.

The undisclosed arrangement came to light in May 2024 after Optimal Solicitors informed Moss that he was being made redundant. During his three-month notice period, the firm’s legal director grew concerned regarding the quality and quantity of his work output. A subsequent review revealed that Moss had transmitted numerous emails from his corporate account to his personal address containing documentation of external payments.

The firm suspended Moss and conducted a formal investigation meeting in June 2024. When questioned about external employment, Moss falsely stated that he had not worked for any other entity over the previous four years. He claimed that payments from the US-based website JustAnswer were actually earned by his brother, who allegedly utilised Moss’s bank account, and asserted he was not at liberty to explain his brother's role.

Although Moss resigned shortly after the interview and later cited acute anxiety and psychological distress during the questioning, the regulatory findings confirmed he had intentionally misled his firm. The case highlights how SRA solicitor secondary employment dishonesty can escalate when a practitioner chooses concealment over transparency during an employer's internal enquiry.

Moss began providing advice as a legal expert on JustAnswer around 2021 without informing Optimal Solicitors or seeking written authorization. His employment contract strictly required written consent for any outside work that could conflict with the firm’s business interests or interfere with his primary job obligations.

Financial documents uncovered by the firm demonstrated that Moss earned significantly more from his side project than from his firm salary. Accounting spreadsheets indicated payments from JustAnswer totaling approximately £81,000 between October 2022 and June 2024, whereas his income from Optimal Solicitors was roughly £45,000 across the same period. Bank screenshots suggested his external income may have been higher still, recording £39,103.25 in transfers between July 2023 and January 2024 alone.

The Optimal Solicitors JustAnswer case offers essential risk management lessons for legal management, compliance officers, and HR directors. Firms must ensure robust oversight of remote personnel and maintain explicit policies governing external engagements and digital advisory platforms.

Legal personnel must be left in no doubt that concealing secondary employment and offering false statements during an investigation constitutes serious dishonesty under SRA Principles. Following the Matthew Moss solicitor strike off outcome, compliance leaders should proactively review outside-employment policies and remind staff that deceptive conduct will inevitably result in professional prohibition.

Law firm compliance officers and HR heads should review outside-employment policies regarding online legal advice platforms, ensuring staff understand that concealing secondary work and lying during an internal investigation constitutes severe professional dishonesty under SRA Principles that will lead to a mandatory strike-off.

Source: Original reporting via Legal Cheek