Andrew Stuart Coates

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Andrew Stuart Coates, a solicitor and COLP at Kennedys Law LLP, faced a single allegation that between 1 August 2017 and 28 February 2018 he failed adequately to investigate concerns about the Firm's involvement in the purchase and sale of units in the Grosvenor Hotel Bristol development, and allowed the Firm to continue acting, in breach of Principle 8 of the SRA Principles 2011 and Outcome 7.3 of the SRA Code of Conduct 2011. The development was later found to involve substantial fraud by the client Mr Varma. The Tribunal found the allegation NOT PROVED, concluding that given the limited information actually known to Mr Coates at the time (he received only 'headlines' before the meeting and was not given full information by Mr Ko, including about payments to third parties and banking arrangements), the investigative steps he took were reasonable and adequate. No express finding of dishonesty was made against Mr Coates. The co-respondent Mr Ko was dealt with separately by an Agreed Outcome.