Ronald Stephen Simms, admitted in 1991, agreed to leave the solicitor profession after he accepted his actions could be interpreted as harassment, The Law Society Gazette reports.

Mr Simms and a woman known as “colleague A” joined the firm’s Leeds office in 2014. According to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, he began exchanging messages with her – some of which were deemed to be inappropriate.

While driving back from a work meeting in 2017 with A, who was driving, Mr Simms placed a hand on her thigh. At a meeting two months later, before A went on maternity leave, he made an inappropriate comment about her sex life, pregnancy and subsequent leave.

The woman told Capsticks about the messages and the car incident in December 2018. The firm reported the matter to the SRA four months later. Last year, the regulator decided that proceedings should go to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. That decision was rescinded after Mr Simms agreed to be removed from the roll.

He accepted that he had sent unwanted and inappropriate messages to A and admitted touching her thigh and making the comments about her sex life and pregnancy. He apologised to the firm and agreed to pay costs of £13,000.