James Preece

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

James Stephen Preece, called to the Bar in 2017 (Inner Temple) but who had not completed pupillage and held no practising authorisation, worked as a case manager for MB Law Ltd. On 13 September 2019 he appeared at an ex parte hearing before Deputy District Judge Butler on behalf of a mother, obtaining an order transferring a 2.5-year-old child from the father's care to the mother. The Tribunal found that he made a series of reckless statements to the court and failed to correct the court's misunderstanding that he was appearing as counsel, referring to himself without qualification as a 'criminal barrister'. The father was not present and unable to respond, and the child was moved as a result of the order. The Tribunal found Charges 1, 2 and 3 established in respect of certain statements, and addressed Charges 7-11. Mr Preece did not attend and was not represented; charges were treated as denied. The Tribunal characterised the relevant statements as 'reckless' rather than making any express finding of dishonesty. The BSB confirmed there were no previous disciplinary findings, and applied for costs of £4,770. The matter was referred to the Treasurer of Middle Temple for action.

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead the court
• Prosecutorial duty of disclosure
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report