Lisa Michaelson

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

The Respondent, a salaried partner, was found to have dishonestly raised eight bills totalling £21,048.05 on the estate of PB (deceased) after work had been completed, transferring a tax refund from client to office account without informing the executor, creating a cash shortage on client account. The bills were included in her bonus calculations. The Tribunal found the allegations, including dishonesty, proved to the higher standard in respect of the PB estate but not proved in respect of the Receivership of Mrs E. She was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs subject to detailed assessment.

Duties found breached:

• No taking unfair advantage
• No improper use of client money

Aggravating factors:

• Improper transfer of £21,048.05 from client to office account via eight bills for work not done
• Failed to inform executor of tax refund and that bills had been drawn/paid
• Bills used to calculate her bonus
• Evasive and not credible when giving evidence

Mitigating factors:

• Conduct entirely out of character
• No substantial gain
• Under great stress with difficult pregnancy/medical difficulties
• No previous propensity to dishonesty; good character references
• Not considered a danger to her clients