Andrew Paul Rose

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

Andrew Paul Rose, a senior associate solicitor at Chan Neill Solicitors LLP acting for Client A in a substantial dental negligence claim, filed an original claim form in November 2018 stating the value was limited to £5,000 (requiring only a £205 court fee) when he knew the claim was worth far more (potentially over £500,000), because neither the client nor the Firm had put him in funds for the correct £10,000 fee. In May 2019 he amended the claim form himself to show a value in excess of £200,000 and a £10,000 court fee, and served this falsified document on the Defendant without following CPR Practice Direction 17 and without paying the higher fee. The misconduct came to light when he left the Firm in 2021; the client's claim was subsequently struck out for invalid service. The Tribunal made express findings of dishonesty (applying Ivey) on both allegations, as well as lack of integrity. Rose admitted the allegations and dishonesty. His mitigation (bereavement, health issues, lack of firm support, no personal benefit, full cooperation) did not establish exceptional circumstances under Sharma. He was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay £15,000 costs.

Duties found breached:

• No baseless or threatened misconduct report
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank

Aggravating factors:

• Misconduct was planned/not spontaneous (original false form and later creation of amended falsified form)
• Several months passed during which he could have rectified the situation but did nothing
• Highly experienced solicitor (qualified 2001, ~20 years in the field)
• Misleading the court and falsifying a document
• Direct control and responsibility; nobody asked him to act this way