Krama & Co

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

The Respondent, an unadmitted clerk at CK Solicitors, handled an insurance storm-damage claim for Mr and Mrs R. He failed to issue proceedings but falsely told the clients that proceedings had been issued, had succeeded, and that he was awaiting a settlement of around £165,000, leading them to make arrangements to purchase a property. He also gave false and misleading information to a conveyancing colleague, CA, including claiming he was travelling to Southampton to collect a cheque. The Tribunal found all three allegations proved (breaches of Rules 1.02 and 1.04) and expressly found dishonesty on both the objective and subjective Twinsectra tests, attaching no weight to the unsupported claim of an avoidant personality disorder. As the Respondent was unadmitted, the Tribunal made a section 43 order restricting his employment by solicitors and ordered agreed costs of £10,800, not to be enforced without leave given his limited means.

Duties found breached:

• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues
• No conflict between current clients
• Not mislead third parties or opponents

Aggravating factors:

• Deception sustained over a period of around two months
• Multiple distinct untruths (fabricated issue of proceedings, settlement, settlement sum of £165,000, purported travel to Southampton to collect a cheque)
• Clients (Mr and Mrs R) acted to their detriment, arranging a property purchase in reliance on the false settlement, having been living in a caravan
• Misled both clients and a professional colleague (CA)
• Failed to take repeated opportunities to correct the false position

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary matters
• Admitted the underlying facts and that he knew his conduct was wrong
• No personal financial gain
• Asserted (unsupported by medical evidence) an 'avoidant personality' condition