Alison Clare Banerjee

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

Alison Clare Banerjee, an employment law solicitor at Hunt and Coombs LLP, admitted six allegations of misconduct between September 2021 and January 2023. She provided misleading information to the Employment Tribunal (falsely blaming IT/Mimecast issues for not receiving emails), misled Client A about a wasted costs order, agreed a settlement and withdrew Client A's claim without instructions (signing a settlement agreement on his behalf), falsely told Client A his hearing had been adjourned, misled Client B that there was "an offer on the table" when none existed, and misled Client C that his case was listed when it had not been. The Tribunal found the misconduct involved serious, deliberate and repeated dishonesty causing significant harm to clients. An application for anonymity (based on her depression and suicide risk) was refused. The matter was resolved by agreed outcome. She was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £12,000.

Duties found breached:

• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues
• No conflict between current clients
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank

Aggravating factors:

• Serious, deliberate and repeated acts of dishonesty
• Misled both clients and the Employment Tribunal over a period of time
• Experienced solicitor with direct control over her actions
• Caused significant harm to clients, preventing them from pursuing their claims

Mitigating factors:

• Previously exemplary record
• Health issues (Major Depressive Disorder)
• Admissions made
• Cooperation via agreed outcome