Andrew Christopher Aitchison

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

The Respondent, an assistant solicitor in a PI department, missed (or believed he had missed) limitation dates or service deadlines on several client matters and, on six occasions over a three-year period (2011-2014), created and backdated letters to clients to conceal his errors, including ahead of a Lexcel re-accreditation audit. The letters were placed on files but never sent to clients. The Tribunal found all six factual allegations proved and found dishonesty proved on the Twinsectra test (objective and subjective). With no exceptional circumstances, the Tribunal struck the Respondent off the Roll and ordered costs of £5,500, not to be enforced without permission given his limited means.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations
• Integrity
• Act in the client's best interests
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• No conflict between current clients
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Repeated, planned and systematic conduct over a three-year period
• Six separate occasions of backdating letters
• Experienced solicitor with over 10 years' PI experience who knew better
• Concealment of professional errors to mislead clients and file reviewers
• Harm caused to clients and to reputation of the profession
• Remained silent until complaint made by a client

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary findings
• No direct financial gain from the conduct