Partners were secretly removed from their own firm by a disgruntled manager who then informed them that he was its new owner.

The dastardly plot came to light during a High Court battle between one of the partners and the Solicitors Regulation Authority, which closed the firm down last year. High Court judge Sir William Blackburne described how Essex firms Lillywhite Williams and Nationwide Solicitors had effectively merged, but that the former firm's partners, Andrew Williams and Ian Lillywhite, fell out with Nationwide's principal, Naresh Chopra. Relations between them degenerated to such a degree that Williams declared it was "no longer safe" to allow Chopra into the building unattended, and changed the locks.

Legalfutures reports that Chopra responded by somehow persuading Companies House to remove Williams and Lillywhite as members of their own firm. Sir William said that Chopra then turned up at the partners' Dagenham office and informed them "that he, Mr Chopra, now owned the LLP". A stand-off ensued and police were called, who were presumably disappointed to find three middle-aged men waving staplers at each other and sweating. Officers defused the situation by making them leave the building.

(l-r) Williams, Lillywhite, Chopra and Dan the paralegal.

Both firms were subsequently closed down by the SRA and Chopra's practising certifcate was suspended. It has, however, been restored, though with conditions which mean he cannot own or manage a firm. Or to operate as a sole practitioner, just in case he was planning to get rid of his next bosses on the sly.