Zimbabwean-born UK lawyer struck off after misleading investors

A Zimbabwean-born lawyer based in the United Kingdom has been struck off the roll of solicitors after a disciplinary tribunal found that she abused her professional position to mislead a group of Zimbabwean nurses who had invested £31,000 in a property deal.

Julie Condliffe, 48, who was admitted as a solicitor in 2012, was found to have falsely represented to three members of a Zimbabwean investment syndicate that they were purchasing a residential property in northeast England.

According to findings by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT), the investors collectively paid £31,000, but no property was ever transferred to them.

Condliffe subsequently described the arrangement as a residential purchase lease option, a characterisation she maintained when responding to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and during civil proceedings brought by the investors.

The case has attracted attention within the Zimbabwean community in the UK, where Condliffe had established a profile as a lawyer and community figure.

Originally from Harare, Condliffe had been approached through the Zimbabwean community and was regarded as a well-known and influential figure. She had appeared at conferences and podcasts and had published four books.

The tribunal found that Condliffe used her professional credentials to gain the confidence of the investors.

It concluded that she "clearly exploited her professional status to promote the trust and credibility arising from being a qualified solicitor".

The tribunal said her conduct had consequences beyond the individual investors.

"Ms Condliffe's misconduct had a significant impact on the wider community and, in particular, on the Zimbabwean women she claimed to be empowering. She caused significant damage to the reputation of the legal profession. The harm she caused was clearly foreseeable," the tribunal said.

At the time of the transactions, Condliffe was the sole director of PropertyPro World Limited (PPW), the company involved in the property arrangement.

The three prospective investors entered into agreements with Condliffe in 2018, allegedly unaware that PPW already owned the property they believed they were purchasing.

One of the investors later told the tribunal that she believed Condliffe was acting on their behalf after helping broker the investment.

Condliffe subsequently emailed the investors saying that she would personally handle the transaction because of her specialist legal knowledge.

She also sent communications indicating that the property was being transferred to them.

In one message, she told the investors: "The property will be yours from tomorrow."

The relationship subsequently deteriorated, and in 2021 the investors launched civil proceedings against Condliffe in the county court.

The dispute was eventually settled for £19,000.

Condliffe denied deliberately misleading the investors, arguing that she genuinely believed the arrangement constituted a lease-option purchase and that any inaccurate representations resulted from an honest misunderstanding.

A central part of her defence was a first-option agreement purportedly sent to one of the investors in 2018, which referred to a purchase lease.

However, the SRA challenged the authenticity and reliability of the document, pointing out that the registered office address for PPW appearing on the agreement was not occupied by the company until 2020.

The tribunal said the discrepancy "gravely damaged Ms Condliffe's credibility".

After considering the evidence, the SDT found that Condliffe's conduct warranted the ultimate professional sanction and ordered that she be struck off the roll of solicitors.

She was also ordered to pay £48,000 towards the costs of the disciplinary proceedings.

Condliffe had subsequently owned London-based firm Creative Legal Solutions, which was shut down by the SRA in 2025.

The tribunal's findings bring to an end Condliffe's career as a practising solicitor and underscore the professional consequences of using legal credentials to establish trust in commercial dealings.