John Martin Lewis

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

The Respondent, a solicitor at Allington Hughes Limited, on 15 January 2019 caused/permitted the wrong completion date to be reported to the Welsh Revenue Authority to avoid a late registration penalty, breaching Principles 2, 6 and 7. The Tribunal found he knowingly and consciously amended the date on the TR1 after submission, knowing it was incorrect and untrue, and that this conduct was dishonest. The matter was resolved on an agreed outcome on the papers. He was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £2,979.

Duties found breached:

• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank

Aggravating factors:

• Conduct was dishonest
• Respondent knowingly and consciously amended the date so as to avoid a penalty, knowing the amended date was incorrect and untrue

Mitigating factors:

• Admitted the allegation including dishonesty
• Cooperated by agreeing the outcome