Mr Glover, formerly of Carrickfergus firm Glover & King, pleaded guilty to 29 counts of fraud by abuse of his position and one of forging documents.

Belfast Crown Court heard that he had used client funds to pay urgent bills. The money has since been repaid in full.

In a statement, the Law Society of Northern Ireland said Mr Glover — who was suspended from practice as a solicitor in June 2015 — has been referred to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for serious breaches of the Solicitors Accounts Regulations.

It continued: “The Society’s professional conduct department undertakes a programme of inspections to ensure that solicitor firms comply with their professional duty to protect client funds.

“The Society’s inspectors visited Mr Glover’s firm in February 2015 and identified misappropriation of client funds. Mr Glover was suspended from practising as a Solicitor in June 2015 and his conduct reported to the PSNI.

“The Law Society’s responsibility is to protect the public from misconduct by members of the solicitor profession. The Society maintains a compensation fund for this purpose and will compensate any member of the public who suffers a financial loss as a consequence of misconduct by a solicitor.

“In this case no client of Mr Glover’s firm suffered a financial loss as the misappropriated funds were repaid in full.

“Mr Michael Glover is no longer practising as a solicitor and is no longer associated with the firm of Glover & King.”